Largest Private Employer Mooching Off Taxpayers - low wages - 15 billion in buybacks

[Bowden]

It's employees are supported by the taxpayers funding food stamps and Medicaid for them due to Wal- Mart paying out low wages and benefits and at the same time Wal-Mart has enough cash to pay out 15 billion for stock buybacks.


Is the Largest Private Employer Mooching Off Taxpayers to Keep Wages Low? | Daily Ticker - Yahoo! Finance


By Lauren Lyster | Daily Ticker 11 hours ago

As Wal-Mart (WMT) shareholders meet at the company's annual meeting, a recent report contends the countrys largest private employer relies on taxpayer-funded benefit programs to subsidize its low wages. In other words, since many Wal-Mart employees arent paid enough to subsist they have to rely on public programs like Medicaid and food stamps for basic needs.

Related: Fridays Wal-Mart Selloff Signals Lack of Confidence in the Consumer

The report is from the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce. It estimates a single 300-person Wal-Mart Supercenter store in Wisconsin likely costs taxpayers at least $904,542 per year and could cost more than $1.7 million.

(Note, according to the Huffington Post, the studys estimate is based on the assumption that those who qualify for the public assistance programs take advantage of the opportunities offered.)

According to CNN, the data is for Wisconsin because the state releases information about workers in its public health care program broken down by employer. Wal-Mart says the report overgeneralizes data from one state.

Nonetheless, the figures are staggering and concerning, so whats there to do? Raise the minimum wage to say $9 nationally, as President Obama proposed in his State of the Union?

Wal-Mart plans $15B more in stock buybacks - Yahoo! Finance

Wal-Mart plans $15 billion in stock buybacks; celebrity-laden annual meeting draws crowd

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- Wal-Mart's biggest news at its annual meeting on Friday was that the world's largest retailer will repurchase up to $15 billion of its shares at a time when the behemoth faces increased scrutiny from investors over its business overseas.
The buyback replaces the current $15 billion share repurchase program that Wal-Mart began in 2011. About $712 million is left under that program, according to the company.


The program comes as Wal-Mart encounters concerns over how it handled bribery allegations that surfaced last year at its Mexican unit. The company also is being pressured to increase its oversight of factories abroad following a building collapse in April in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,100 garment workers. Wal-Mart wasn't using any of the factories in the building at the time of the collapse, but it is the second-largest retail buyer of clothing in Bangladesh.

 

[LAM]

laze fare capitalism at it's best.....

the end result of the continued empowerment of capital over labor.

 

[Bowden]

laze fare capitalism at it's best.....

the end result of the continued empowerment of capital over labor.

It's a crock of shit.
Taxpayers paying employees healthcare costs and grocery bills because their employer is spending 15 billion on stock buybacks instead of paying their employees a living wage and funding employee benefits.
I have read that Wal-Mart managers tell their employees to go on welfare.

 

[LAM]

yep....and it's exactly why US large firms rely on so called "big government".

it's the same thing that occurred with the for-profit prisons. they pay the prison labors such low wages it's insufficient to cover their room and board so the tax payers have to pay the rest and the shareholders reap the profits.

 

[Jeeper]

Even though this offends people they still shop there. It is the same as people bitching about child labor wearing Nike's or using their iPhone.

 

[LAM]

Even though this offends people they still shop there. It is the same as people bitching about child labor wearing Nike's or using their iPhone.

many don't have a choice. Walmarts prices are low because they pay their workers shit, no bennies and also have their buyer's come in at 5% less every year or your contract gets axed. I used to work for a national IT provider and that's what they did to us when we wouldn't lower our rates. when you deal with Walmart they are the only one making any money and it all flows up to the top.

 

[Zaphod]

But if they paid their workers a wage that would actually provide a living just think of how that would devastate the shareholders. I mean, the shareholders come before everyone else these days. I don't know what the hell you guys are thinking.

 

[Dale Mabry]

I don't shop there, this is one of the many reasons. But if they started paying their employees a wage then they would need to raise the price of the low quality shit they sell there and people would complain about that. The vast majority of people don't think a problem through past their initial thought, I wouldn't expect this to be any different. The conservative answer is to tell the employees to get another job, the problem with this is that someone has to work there. So while a current employee who took another job wouldn't be on the government tit, their replacement would. It's pretty simple, Wal-mart's business plan works and any substantial change to it would fuck that up. It seems that the employees are unionizing, good for them.

 

[Bowden]

I don't shop there, this is one of the many reasons. But if they started paying their employees a wage then they would need to raise the price of the low quality shit they sell there and people would complain about that. The vast majority of people don't think a problem through past their initial thought, I wouldn't expect this to be any different. The conservative answer is to tell the employees to get another job, the problem with this is that someone has to work there. So while a current employee who took another job wouldn't be on the government tit, their replacement would. It's pretty simple, Wal-mart's business plan works and any substantial change to it would fuck that up. It seems that the employees are unionizing, good for them.

If Wal-Mart has 15 billion in cash on hand to buyback stock, they have enough excess cash flow over their operating cost margins to not have to raise their prices in-order to give their employees a raise and provide benefits at a level that would not require that their employees go on food stamps and Medicaid at taxpayer expense.

Wal-mart CEO receives a 18.1 million dollar compensation package and the Walton family is sitting on an estimated wealth of 102 billion.

There is no reason the taxpayers should be providing Wal-Mart employees assistance when Wal-Mart can easily afford to do so without raising their prices.

It would not cost Wal-Mart 15 billion in cash to raise employee salaries and provide benefits

 

[Swfl]

so are you saying that it's evil for a company to make a profit and distribute it back to the investors? you know the people who put up the capital for the company to do what it does. and when a company buys back stock it raises it's value because the quantity of the stock is reduced. some get the stocks value and are booted out so to speak, in a buy back, and others see the value of their stocks increase in proportion to the buyback. That is the company paying back its investors... this is not a bad thing. your only looking at it from a workers standpoint. isn't this what the socialists want where everyone is on the gov's payout? The liberal media outlets are just upset that walmart is paying anyone back. they think hey NOONE should make a profit as profits are pure evil, and I might add they have convinced a great number of people here the same thing... So what will the gov do? I bet they use this as a reason to raise Minumum wages. Which destroys the middle class and pushes MORE people into welfare. How you ask? when the minimum wage is raised all government programs adjust their baseline wages for benefits so more people qualify for handouts because the new welfare line has been raised. Don't any of you see how this is all part of the socialist plan to make us all poor and under the control of the government, Think Russia 1980.

 

[Bowden]

Wal-Mart is very helpful as to educating it's employees as to what they need to know related to benefit levels that are provided to employees at Wal-Mart so that Wal-Mart can use cash not for employee benefits but for buying back 15 billion dollars worth of stock and paying it's CEO 18 million a year.

Not to mention ensuring that the Walton family maintains it's 102 Billion dollar wealth instead of their being in the poor house by funding three million in cash out of that 15 billion allocated for stock buybacks for increasing it's employee salaries and benefits so they do not go on welfare at taxpayer expense.

In example starting on page 237 of the '2012 Wal-Mart associates benefits book'are detailed instructions on how to apply in all 50 states for Medicaid at tax-payer expense.

http://makingchangeatwalmart.org/files/2012/03/2012AssociatesBenefits.pdf

2012 Wal-Mart Associates Benefits handbook.

This is trickle up capitalism at its finest.
I am certain that everyone that pays taxes does not mind paying increased taxes to fund welfare benefits like Medicaid and food stamps for Wal-Mart employees so that Wal-Mart can buyback 15 Billion dollars worth of stock.

 

[Swfl]

wal marts business model works regardless of how the haters feel about it. you didn't say anything new in your last post man. same shit said a different way. I get you don't like it but if it sucked soo bad guess what there would be strikes protests etc. but the masses love walmart and as long as the cheapest business model is preferred this is what we get... if we didn't already pay over 50% of wages to the gov between payroll and sales taxes then about another 10-25% IS GONE BECAUSE OF INFLATION. so if we had lower taxes and more truly disposable money then guess what? people could afford to go to places and pay for premium service and get the level of service and better quality products that we used to be able to enjoy. but our gov is fucking bankrupt and they are putting in place every measure to squeeze every last penny out of everyone just to look like they still have it together, THEY DONT!!! so mis direct the attention to evil walmart. Not the gov and their stranglehold on the American people, no that isn't happening...

 

[Bowden]

If anyone ever wanted a reason as to why the levels of income disparity are increasing in the U.S. this is a perfect example of why.
Capital is being trapped at the top, is not 'trickling down' and it represents the failure of supply side trickle down economics.

Here we have a good illustration as to why Obamacare and big government socialism are becoming more attractive to many people.
In this case Wal-Mart employees are being forced into welfare programs as a direct result of Wal-Mart low wages and benefits.

Wal-Mart is using taxpayer funded welfare programs to compensate for gaps in their employee benefits and is intentionally providing detailed instructions to their employees as to how to obtain taxpayer funded welfare.
Wal-Mart is enabling the growth of big government socialism and making people dependent on government socialism in-order to enable it to buyback 15 Billion dollars worth of stock.

 

[Swfl]

If anyone ever wanted a reason as to why the levels of income disparity are increasing in the U.S. this is a perfect example of why.
Capital is being trapped at the top, is not 'trickling down' and it represents the failure of supply side trickle down economics.

Here we have a good illustration as to why Obamacare and big government socialism are becoming more attractive to many people.
In this case Wal-Mart employees are being forced into welfare programs as a direct result of Wal-Mart low wages and benefits.

Wal-Mart is using taxpayer funded welfare programs to compensate for gaps in their employee benefits and is intentionally providing detailed instructions to their employees as to how to obtain taxpayer funded welfare.
Wal-Mart is enabling the growth of big government socialism and making people dependent on government socialism in-order to enable it to buyback 15 Billion dollars worth of stock.

You said something different! I agree with you on this. Has anyone here ever read Porter Stansberrys piece on new American socialism? If anyone is interested pm me. It covers a lot of what everyone is concerned about, the merger of businesses and government. Great read

 

[Zaphod]

so are you saying that it's evil for a company to make a profit and distribute it back to the investors? you know the people who put up the capital for the company to do what it does. and when a company buys back stock it raises it's value because the quantity of the stock is reduced. some get the stocks value and are booted out so to speak, in a buy back, and others see the value of their stocks increase in proportion to the buyback. That is the company paying back its investors... this is not a bad thing. your only looking at it from a workers standpoint. isn't this what the socialists want where everyone is on the gov's payout? The liberal media outlets are just upset that walmart is paying anyone back. they think hey NOONE should make a profit as profits are pure evil, and I might add they have convinced a great number of people here the same thing... So what will the gov do? I bet they use this as a reason to raise Minumum wages. Which destroys the middle class and pushes MORE people into welfare. How you ask? when the minimum wage is raised all government programs adjust their baseline wages for benefits so more people qualify for handouts because the new welfare line has been raised. Don't any of you see how this is all part of the socialist plan to make us all poor and under the control of the government, Think Russia 1980.

The investors get paid through dividends and should get paid through the stock value naturally going up, not by artificially inflating it by the company buying back stock. Just because someone invests in a company does not entitle that person to automatically make a profit. That is the ultimate in entitlement.

 

[Bowden]

Anyone starting to get the picture yet as to what is going on?
The taxpayers are picking up the costs for the lack of Wal-Mart funded employee benefits.
All of it related to Wal-Mart having enough cash after operating costs to buyback 15 billion dollars worth of stock.

This example is specific to the costs to California taxpayers who are providing welfare that is derived from Wal-Mart employee low wages and benefits.
There are other examples out there as to the impacts to taxpayers of other states from this type of business model.

In the case of Wal-Mart, this type of business model of providing low wages and benefits to employees and as a result forcing employees into big government taxpayer funded welfare programs in-order to have enough cash after operating expenses to be able to distribute 15 billion dollars worth of capital in the form of stock buybacks is a good example of how Wal-Mart is facilitating the growth of socialism, big government and destroying the fiction of the theory of trickle down economics.

"Reliance by Wal-Mart workers on public assistance programs in California comes at a cost to the taxpayers of an estimated $86 million annually; this is comprised of $32 million in health related expenses and $54 million in other assistance."


http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/walmart.pdf

Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs

Use of Safety Net Programs by Wal-Mart Workers in California

Executive Summary

We estimate that Wal-Mart workers in California earn on average 31 percent less than workers employed in large retail as a whole, receiving an average wage of $9.70 per hour compared to the $14.01 average hourly earnings for employees in large retail (firms with 1,000 or more employees). In addition, 23 percent fewer Wal-Mart workers are covered by employer-sponsored health insurance than large retail workers as a whole. The differences are even greater when Wal-Mart workers are compared to unionized grocery workers. In the San Francisco Bay Area, non-managerial Wal-Mart employees earn on average $9.40 an hour, compared to $15.31 for unionized grocery workers?39 percent less?and are half as likely to have health benefits

At these low-wages, many Wal-Mart workers rely on public safety net pro grams?such as food stamps, Medi-Cal, and subsidized housing?to make ends meet. The presence of Wal-Mart stores in California thus creates a hidden cost to the state?s taxpayers.

Main Findings:
Reliance by Wal-Mart workers on public assistance programs in California comes at a cost to the taxpayers of an estimated $86 million annually; this is comprised of $32 million in health related expenses and $54 million in other assistance.

The families of Wal-Mart employees in California utilize an estimated 40 percent more in taxpayer-funded health care than the average for families of all
large retail employees.

The families of Wal-Mart employees use an estimated 38 percent more in other (non-health care) public assistance pro- grams (such as food stamps, Earned
Income Tax Credit, subsidized school lunches, and subsidized housing) than the average for families of all large retail employees.

If other large California retailers adopted Wal-Marts wage and benefits standards, it would cost taxpayers an additional $410 million a year in public assistance to employees

 

[Curt James]

The rich get richer.

GICH.

In related news...

"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. The conviction of the rich that the poor are happier is no more foolish than the conviction of the poor that the rich are."
Mark Twain

 

[LAM]

so are you saying that it's evil for a company to make a profit and distribute it back to the investors? you know the people who put up the capital for the company to do what it does. and when a company buys back stock it raises it's value because the quantity of the stock is reduced. some get the stocks value and are booted out so to speak, in a buy back, and others see the value of their stocks increase in proportion to the buyback. That is the company paying back its investors... this is not a bad thing. your only looking at it from a workers standpoint. isn't this what the socialists want where everyone is on the gov's payout? The liberal media outlets are just upset that walmart is paying anyone back. they think hey NOONE should make a profit as profits are pure evil, and I might add they have convinced a great number of people here the same thing... So what will the gov do? I bet they use this as a reason to raise Minumum wages. Which destroys the middle class and pushes MORE people into welfare. How you ask? when the minimum wage is raised all government programs adjust their baseline wages for benefits so more people qualify for handouts because the new welfare line has been raised. Don't any of you see how this is all part of the socialist plan to make us all poor and under the control of the government, Think Russia 1980.

your so stuck on buzz words like and socialism what about corporatism is better? if you ever bothered to read any of Adam Smiths works which you have not you would would realize that it is the owners of the means of production that dictate policy in capitalist country's.

and the basic fundamentals of capitalism show that the majority of profits of large firms are derived from paying workers low wages. wages so low that they can never amass any real wealth and become owners themselves, which means no social mobility.

you don't know jack squat about socialism, capitalism, or corporatism as the latter leads to the oligarchy and as history as shown the inevitable collapse of the economy.

so please tell how is giving large firms and corporations all of the power going to make things better for the majority when history and basic mathematics show the exact opposite?

 

[Swfl]

your so stuck on buzz words like and socialism what about corporatism is better? if you ever bothered to read any of Adam Smiths works which you have not you would would realize that it is the owners of the means of production that dictate policy in capitalist country's.

and the basic fundamentals of capitalism show that the majority of profits of large firms are derived from paying workers low wages. wages so low that they can never amass any real wealth and become owners themselves, which means no social mobility.

you don't know jack squat about socialism, capitalism, or corporatism as the latter leads to the oligarchy and as history as shown the inevitable collapse of the economy.

so please tell how is giving large firms and corporations all of the power going to make things better for the majority when history and basic mathematics show the exact opposite?

So what your saying is BIG business of any kind is evil and bad for the worker. What about smaller businesses in local communities? Are they evil too? The larger a business becomes the larger the target on its back is, from all angles.

I like how you didn't address almost anything specific i said. Pretty typical for you...

Lam I get the impression you have never stuck your neck out and started your own business where you had employees. If I'm wrong please correct me. What did/do you do to make money? My guess is union or government employee.

You are very well read and can quote people better than almost anyone I have ever encountered, but I don't feel that you have much boots on the ground experience. Please clear this up and set me straight, I know you will. When you do please be specific.

 

[LAM]

So what your saying is BIG business of any kind is evil and bad for the worker. What about smaller businesses in local communities? Are they evil too? The larger a business becomes the larger the target on its back is, from all angles.

I like how you didn't address almost anything specific i said. Pretty typical for you...

Lam I get the impression you have never stuck your neck out and started your own business where you had employees. If I'm wrong please correct me. What did/do you do to make money? My guess is union or government employee.

You are very well read and can quote people better than almost anyone I have ever encountered, but I don't feel that you have much boots on the ground experience. Please clear this up and set me straight, I know you will. When you do please be specific.

no that's not what I stated. but world history clearly shows that it is the OWNERS of the means of production that have the greatest effect of policy. real wealth is only created in the manufacturing or production of commodity's, everything else such as the wealth created by the financial innovations of the 80's is FAKE wealthy only generated on computers and on paper.

and yes I have started several of my own business but I never wanted to have any employees as I have NO desire to be in control of other people's lives and well being. that being the case I have always used contractors so they did not look at me as their sole source of work/income. most of my wealth was created via labor in the tech sector through high wages and stock options, the rest through my work as a mortgage broker were I broke just about every law there was by telling my clients exactly how the financial industry worked and by showing them all of my rate sheets, loan docs, etc. from the lenders that I used. so instead of gouging people to make a lot of money I educated them and made double that with out harming a sole. I only assume that as to date out of the many thousands of loans that I wrote and closed I've never received a single phone call, email or complaint from a past client about the services I rendered.

I'm sure your intentions are well meant but you are completely ignorant when it comes to economics and world history. nothing that has happened today in our society is NEW it has happened before in other country's in a different era but that changes nothing really. history clearly shows that the concentration of wealth leads to political corruption and economic collapses. in the US the means of production is owned privately and the majority of the nations income and wealth is concentrated in the hands of few private owners. so i'm rather confused where all this talk of socialism comes into play by people like you that love to throw that word around but in reality it just isn't there.

 

[maniclion]

If I do shop at a retail chain I always go to Target. We just got one in the last couple years and it is always clean and well stocked. The employees always seem happy and willing to help. They have tons of parking, you don't have the usual slew of cretins you see at K-Mart and Wal-Mart. The products they carry also seem to be of better quality. I think it has more to do with location than anything. The Target is in an upscale neighborhood and closest to an Airforce/Navy Base. Our Wal-Marts and K-Marts are closer to low income neighborhoods and Army bases. Yeah their is a difference between Army families and Airforce/Navy families...

 

[dave 236]

The super Targets are pretty awesome. Much better than WalMart

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[oufinny]

It's a crock of shit.
Taxpayers paying employees healthcare costs and grocery bills because their employer is spending 15 billion on stock buybacks instead of paying their employees a living wage and funding employee benefits.
I have read that Wal-Mart managers tell their employees to go on welfare.

The buy backs are funded by dirt cheap capital. This happened in the late 90s, 2004-2008 and now. It's a classic bubble that needs to burst.

 

[Swiper]

The buy backs are funded by dirt cheap capital. This happened in the late 90s, 2004-2008 and now. It's a classic bubble that needs to burst.

you sound like Peter schiff.

 

[Swiper]

It's a crock of shit.
Taxpayers paying employees healthcare costs and grocery bills because their employer is spending 15 billion on stock buybacks instead of paying their employees a living wage and funding employee benefits.
I have read that Wal-Mart managers tell their employees to go on welfare.

the crock of shit is the govt paying peoples healthcare & grocery bills . that shit need to stop

 

[Swiper]

laze fare capitalism at it's best.....

the end result of the continued empowerment of capital over labor.

try learning what laissez faire capitalism is. you sound like a dumb fool, as usual.

 

[blergs.]

It's a crock of shit.
Taxpayers paying employees healthcare costs and grocery bills because their employer is spending 15 billion on stock buybacks instead of paying their employees a living wage and funding employee benefits.
I have read that Wal-Mart managers tell their employees to go on welfare.

yeah wallmart is Fed UP!

 

[jay_steel]

wal-mart is a pile of shit any ways. Poor people just need to learn better money management skills and stop having kids they cant afford. It sad when i see a single mom and she has a Hispanic kid, black kid, white kid and ect and she cant even control them in the store. You can tell these kids were not brought to this world with love. I use to make 1,200 a month as an E3 in the Navy and lived out in town and took care of my self just fine. Never ate on the ship or lived on the ship. Life was hard but i did it. So its possible now i had no kids, but thats called being responsible and only having kids if you can actually take care of them.

Also it cracks me up when i see lower waged people with new phones, nice clothes, and ect. I consider my self upper middle class and i shop for clothes at target, costco, and get my jeans at the levi outlet (levis are the best jeans if you have big legs fyi) Most my shirts are free shirts i get from supplement companies or health stores to promote them. I would rather save my money then spend it on worthless consumable items that give me no return investment. A pair of 300$ jeans does nothing for me with improving my life.

 

[SheriV]

The super Targets are pretty awesome. Much better than WalMart

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I'm guilty of hitting walmart for cleaning supplies but only because target is a decent drive for me and walmart isn't.

I hate walmart...I hate absolutely everything about it from top to bottom.
I like that Target has better kids clothes but to tell the truth I like a thrift store for the kids clothes better (really really nice thrift stores nearby)
most of my shopping for anything beyond that is either craiglist, local businesses or amazon.

you can seriously buy anything on amazon

my mom just bought me a very nice wool rug on amazon and I bought a clutch for my jeep on amazon ...just as recent purchase examples

 

[dave 236]

I'm guilty of hitting walmart for cleaning supplies but only because target is a decent drive for me and walmart isn't.

I hate walmart...I hate absolutely everything about it from top to bottom.
I like that Target has better kids clothes but to tell the truth I like a thrift store for the kids clothes better (really really nice thrift stores nearby)
most of my shopping for anything beyond that is either craiglist, local businesses or amazon.

you can seriously buy anything on amazon

my mom just bought me a very nice wool rug on amazon and I bought a clutch for my jeep on amazon ...just as recent purchase examples

I must admit to being an amazon junkie myself. Yes you can indeed buy just about anything on amazon and really great customer service in my experience.

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