Wal-Mart vs The Morons: debate on adopting corporate rules to run the government

UPDATE: On January 20, 2012, Sam's Club named Rosalind Brewer CEO, the first woman and first African American to hold this position. Brewer will report directly to Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke.

An email has been circulating suggesting that the federal government should be run like Wal-Mart, and that Wal-Mart executives should be hired to run the U.S. government. These facts could also be considered in trying to figure out whether a corporate executive has the credentials to run the national government. The pros and cons for this idea are mentioned below.

PROs:
In 2000, Wal-Mart's assets totaled more than the GDP of 155 of the 192 countries in the world, with annual sales of more than $137.6 billion. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart every hour daily, equating to $20,928 profit every minute! Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined and more food than any other store in the world. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart. This lays the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE the guys who run Wal-Mart could fix the economy.

Some suggest that the President of the U.S. and all of Congress are corrupt morons who have led to the following debacles:
- U.S. Postal Service, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac are broken.
- The War on Poverty has been lost.
- The Department of Energy is an abysmal failure.
- Government run health care will not work.
- Veterans, children in poverty, the unemployed, and the homeless are increasingly suffering.

CONS:
The EEOC is suing Wal-Mart over allegations of sexual harassment of female employees in Alabama. Nearly three-quarters of a million women work as "sales associates" in Wal-Mart stores. On average these women earn $6.10 per hour, or $12,688 per year if they are permitted to work full-time. This wage puts many of their families below the poverty level — half even qualify for federal assistance under the food stamp program.

Current and former employees in California are suing Wal-Mart for sex discrimination in pay, promotion, and compensation. This will be the country's largest sex discrimination suit against a private employer if it is granted class-action status.

Women who make pants in El Salvador earn 15 cents for each pair; Wal-Mart sells these pants for $16.95 in its U.S. stores. Also, contractors in El Salvador force workers to take pregnancy tests. According to Brandeis University Professor Ellen I. Rosen, women in Central America who make clothes for Wal-Mart live in shacks lacking running water or plumbing while women in China live nine to twelve to a room in government-provided dormitories. Some of Wal-Mart's workers in the U.S. spend their nights in trucks of motel rooms without cooking facilities.

Wal-Mart's health insurance plan excludes contraceptive coverage. A suit, which is seeking class action status, has been filed in Georgia regarding this exclusion.

The Maine Department of Labor ordered Wal-Mart to pay the largest fine in state history for violating child labor laws. The Department of Labor discovered 1,436 child labor law infractions at twenty Wal-Mart chains.

Lawsuits pertaining to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations have been filed in Missouri, Arizona, California, and Arkansas.

Employees from Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Washington, Illinois, Iowa, and West Virginia have sued Wal-Mart for underpaying its hourly workers. Employees from Missouri and Kansas have filed class-action suits alleging "acts of wage abuse." These acts include neglecting to pay workers overtime, preventing rest and lunch breaks, and forcing them to "work off the clock."

A former employee in New Jersey reported being harassed and fired after telling his boss that he was undergoing a sex change. He won the case, and Wal-Mart was ordered to pay him $2 million.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed suit against the New Castle, Pennsylvania Wal-Mart for unfair labor practices. It alleges that Wal-Mart illegally discouraged workers of the Tire and Lube Express department from joining a union. The NLRB also filed a suit against the Jacksonville, Texas Wal-Mart for unfair labor practices. It alleges that Wal-Mart threatened meat cutters, interrogated them regarding their union sympathies, and fired those who are pro-union. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has filed a complaint with the NLRB alleging that two workers were fired because of their union organizing activities.

Following a vote in favor of union representation by the butchers in Jacksonville, Texas, Wal-Mart announced that meat cutting would end at 180 stores.

In the video Behind the Labels: Garment Workers in U.S. Saipan, Wal-Mart is featured as one of the retailers which contract with "sweatshops" in Saipan for the manufacturing of garments sold in their stores.

Bloggers' notes:
The U.S. government is set up to protect the individual rights of ALL citizens and should be run as a democracy. Wal-Mart is set up to protect the interests of its stockholders and deals with profits only...is out to make the most profit it can regardless of whether its employees are making a living wage. Wal-Mart may be customer friendly, as far as prices, but it leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to taking care of its own human resources as its many EEOC lawsuits suggest. If you compare Wal-Mart's pricing to other stores, you may find that its prices are the same or maybe only cents cheaper than other stores with better employee benefits and processes.

Also, Sam Walton's kids are multi-billionaires, according to Forbes Magazine, truly the top of the 1%! They and their stockholders are the ones who are living high on the hog at the disadvantage of their employees, many of them who are impoverished but possibly are happy to have a job, which provides some since of dignity, instead of living on food stamps which is probably worse.

As far as getting the best deal on food, this may not be the best food for the body. Wal-Mart has good food prices but a lot of food coming from outside the country, foods with a lot of preservatives and additives. As we age, we are becoming more cautious when it comes to these foods which could be killing us. It is probably better to eat less WALMART food and more nutritious foods and not stock up on canned foods and processed meats from Wal-Mart.

If you want a good deal on non-food items, go to Sears stores which are being liquidated as well as many others including some Bloomingdale's stores which are getting beaten by low prices of Internet stores, Wal-Mart, and Target which have taken a big chunk of their customer base.