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<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>With thanks to Tom Forbes @
Palousitics...</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG>(CNSNews.com) </STRONG>- Despite frequent and vocal complaints from
critics of the world's largest retail chain, Wal-Mart "has arguably done more to
help ordinary Americans, especially the poor and disadvantaged, than any other
institution in our society," according to the authors of a new book being
released nationally on Monday.<BR><BR>"Wal-Mart does far more for America's
working class than any labor union, bloated federal bureaucracy or pandering
politician," Richard Vedder, co-author of "The Wal-Mart Revolution" and a
visiting scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told
<B>Cybercast News Service</B> in a telephone interview.<BR><BR>Because of this
and other factors, "Wal-Mart is saving America," added Vedder, who also serves
as a distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University.<BR><BR>"I know
that sounds like an exaggeration," he said, but "the economic transformation in
U.S. retailing, which is personified by Wal-Mart, has been good for both America
and its economy."<BR><BR>While admitting he was "an agnostic" regarding the
retail giant when he began more than a year of research and writing for the
book, the author argued that "Wal-Mart's basic business strategies have had a
profoundly positive impact on America's productivity, wages, consumer prices and
other key economic variables."<BR><BR>Vedder stressed that neither he nor
co-author Wendell Cox, a public-private partnerships expert, received any kind
of assistance from the retail chain, even when they contacted the company
seeking information for their book.<BR><BR>Nevertheless, their research of
financial and academic studies led Vedder and Cox to a number of conclusions,
they said:<BR></DIV>
<UL><BR>
<LI>Wal-Mart workers are paid fairly - given their level of skills and
experience, and compared to other retail firms, Wal-Mart employees do
well;<BR>The chain's health-care coverage, retirement benefits and other
benefits are similar to those of other retail firms, and very few Wal-Mart
workers go without health insurance;<BR>
<LI>Big boxes mean big business, as communities with new Wal-Mart outlets
typically enjoy increased employment and incomes after the store opens;<BR>
<LI>Wal-Mart benefits the poor, in particular, in the form of lower prices and
new job opportunities; and<BR>
<LI>Attempts to keep Wal-Mart out of communities through zoning restrictions,
mandatory health insurance or special high minimum wages hurt citizens,
especially those with lower incomes<BR></LI></UL>
<DIV><BR>Vedder acknowledged that Wal-Mart and other big-box discount retailers
such as Target or Home Depot have been vilified as selfish retailers that
mistreat their workers, outsource American jobs, uproot communities and harm the
poor.<BR><BR>"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said.<BR><BR>"The
criticism of Wal-Mart follows a rich American tradition of attacking new retail
innovations," the author noted. "More than a century ago, some people were
concerned that the mail-order catalogs of Sears, Roebuck & Co. and
Montgomery Ward were destroying local retailing.<BR><BR>"In the 1930s, angry
small grocery stores attacked the new chains like A&P that brought lower
prices and greater choice to communities," Vedder said. "Congress even passed
laws to try to prevent stores from offering low prices to consumers, although
those laws were found legally flawed or ineffective."<BR><BR>He added that "the
anti-A&P campaign in the 1930s and the anti-Wal-Mart campaign 70 years later
are remarkably similar" since in both cases, "costly service providers have lost
out to more efficient companies that provide 'consumer welfare' to their
customers through low prices, greater choice selection and relatively good
service."<BR><BR><B>'Not an either-or proposition'</B><BR><BR>Chris Kofinis,
communications director for WakeUpWalMart.com, took a different view of the
conclusions drawn by the authors of "The Wal-Mart Revolution."<BR><BR>"I
challenge Vedder and Cox to walk a day in the shoes of a Wal-Mart worker who
struggles without affordable health care and gets paid a poverty-level wage,"
Kofinis told <B>Cybercast News Service</B>.<BR><BR>"I want them to walk a day in
the shoes of a manufacturing worker who had his job shipped overseas to China so
they can wax poetically about Wal-Mart's positive effects," he
added.<BR><BR>"But the truth is that Wal-Mart's negative effects far outweigh
any benefits people get from its 'everyday low prices,' and that's the tragedy
here," Kofinis said.<BR><BR>"This is not an either-or proposition. It never has
been, never will be and never needs to be," he said. "Wal-Mart can provide low
prices and be a responsible employer, but they don't want to. That's the
unfortunate part of all this.<BR><BR>"As long as companies like Wal-Mart
continue down this path of corporate irresponsibility, they are going to be the
focus of a growing political and social movement against them," Kofinis noted.
"It's really that simple."<BR><BR>Despite his praise for Wal-Mart, Vedder
readily agreed that the company "is far from perfect," as proven last month,
when the retail giant agreed to pay almost 87,000 employees <A
href="http://www.cnsnews.com/Nation/Archive/200701/NAT20070126c.htm"
target=_blank>over $33 million in back wages</A>. <BR><BR>So, given the
complaints from union-backed groups like WakeUpWalMart.com about the company,
what should be done about Wal-Mart? "Nothing," Vedder said. "Putting the
government in the position - for which it is ill-equipped - of picking winners
and losers in a market economy would be a disastrous policy."<BR><BR>Besides, he
added, Wal-Mart's influence may have peaked, since the company is starting to
lose market share to Internet retailers such as Amazon.com and
eBay.<BR><BR>"Change is progress," asserted Vedder.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>g</FONT><B></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></B>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=godshatter@yahoo.com href="mailto:godshatter@yahoo.com">Paul
Rumelhart</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=jampot@adelphia.net
href="mailto:jampot@adelphia.net">g. crabtree</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 09, 2007 7:32
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] low
wages?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>g. crabtree wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE cite=mid047701c74c57$91fc1130$6401a8c0@gmc type="cite">
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From a news story thoughtfully posted by Mr.
Solomon. It's unfortunate about Mr. Woods difficulties but the article
did point out one shining example of the untruths that the local anti
Wal-Mart wackadoo's continually spout...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New">"Woods had trouble finding other work that
paid as well as his Wal-Mart job"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And this is in Lewiston. A town with twice the
employment opportunities that Moscow currently (and for the foreseeable
future should our illustrious city council have its way) has. Sort of shoots
the theory that Wal- Mart comes to town and only provides crappy, low wage
jobs, that nobody in their right mind would want wouldn't you
say?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>g</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Let's see.
Racial harrassment, sexual harrassment, glass ceilings for female workers,
inadequate health care benefits, and unpaid overtime. I can see why
"crappy, low wage jobs, that nobody in their right mind would want" pretty
much sums it up. And that's just the items I've heard about in the news
lately.<BR><BR>I can't just look past all that because they happen to employ
people. I think standards are a positive thing, and that more employees
should set theirs higher.<BR><BR>I'm sure Mr. Woods was happy at some level to
have a paying job, but going through two years of that kind of harrassment is
too high a price to have to pay. I wonder if they fired the
manager.<BR><BR>Paul<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>