Wiley Wal-Mart

Honesty is usually a virtue, yet in this case, Wal-Mart's brutal honesty towards their "associates" (wage-based employees) benefits leaves me feeling dirty. Pointing fingers abound, especially about health care. The government thinks the private sector should take care of healthcare; employers, specifically very large employers, think healthcare has gotten so expensive it's no longer worth keeping as a benefit even if it means a healthier workforce.

And why am I getting all bothered about Wal-Mart's management policies? This business model is brutal not only to the employees, but to the environment that their employees must traverse and work in. I'm not totally opposed to all big box stores, but if a business is going to deliberately destroy local economies (from mom-and-pop stores to the local professionals like doctors, dentists, etc, essentially, the community) and then not take care of those very people whose communities have disintegrated, this qualifies as close to evil as anything else might.

Also noted is the open admission that employees are working longer with Wal-Mart, thereby costing the company more. There was some talk of Wal-Mart trying to force out seniors earlier, because they do cost so much in terms of healthcare. So, who is Wal-Mart going to off next?

For more, Robert Greenwald's new movie "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" opens in New York next Tuesday, at the Union Square Theater.

The memo (pdf) that got the tongues wagging.

Finally, for an illumination of the grind of today's working class, Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America."