If this were National Propaganda Radio, I'm sure they would find a way to make today's story fair & balanced. But that would be a considerable challenge, even for those airheads. The story comes from Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist at the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics on the Berkeley campus of the University of California. You know, socialists!
Much of the current political and popular discourse has focused on inequalities that exist in the U.S. In particular the Occupy movement has brought the huge disparities in wealth to the forefront. There are a few questions floating around about wealth. First, how skewed is the distribution? Second, it is true that the rich have gotten much richer over time?
...The triennial Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is one of the best sources for data on wealth in the U.S. And, of course the Forbes 400 estimates the worth of the wealthiest amongst us—all 400 wouldn’t be captured in the SCF. If we look at both the SCF and the Forbes 400 we can glean some interesting insights.
In 2007 (the most recent SCF) the cumulative wealth of the Forbes 400 was $1.54 trillion or roughly the same amount of wealth held by the entire bottom fifty percent of American families.
This is a stunning statistic to be sure.
Yes, it is indeed a stunning statistic. I can think of other words I might use in this context. But there's more.
Upon closer inspection, the Forbes list reveals that six Waltons—all children (one daughter-in-law) of Sam or James “Bud” Walton the founders of Wal-Mart—were on the list. The combined worth of the Walton six was $69.7 billion in 2007—which equated to the total wealth of the entire bottom thirty percent!
BTW the new 2011 Forbes 400 has the inherited worth of these six Waltons at $93 billion.
The 2010 SCF data that is slated for release spring of 2012 will almost certainly show a further widening of the wealth gap given that corporate profits, stocks and CEO pay have all recovered while housing values & equity (the lion’s share of wealth for average American’s), wages and family incomes have yet to turn around.
Sam Walton had the chutzpah to call his book Made in America. The Waltons do not create. They do not manufacture. They do not enrich the lives of the Americans who work for them and those who shop there. They run a Big-Box Retail Business. They sell cheap shit. And they have kept their labor costs "down" so they can sell more cheap shit. Wal-Mart "associates" are mostly poor women who are grateful to have a job, even if it does not pay a living wage.
In short, the Waltons have not created wealth for anyone other than themselves. Wal-Mart is the biggest profit skimming operation the world has ever seen (albeit legal). That's what it should read on Sam Walton's tombstone: Here Lies Samuel Moore "Sam" Walton: He Skimmed.
Berkeley's Sylvia Allegretto also cites a Daily Finance report called Wal-Mart's New Promise: Always Low Benefits ... Always (October 25, 2011).
Starbucks, Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart. For years, these companies offered some of the very few modest-paying retail jobs at which part-time workers could hope to at least get access to affordable health insurance.
This list got shorter by one name last week: Walmart.
On Friday, the nation's largest employer (1.4 million workers and counting) announced it was rolling back is health benefits for part-time workers. These were benefits that Walmart expanded just a few years ago in response to criticism that by underpaying workers — and refusing to provide them with access to health insurance -- the company effectively shifted much of its labor costs to the federal Medicaid program.
Under the new plan, Walmart will no longer provide health insurance for employees who work fewer than 24 hours per week. Those who work from 24 to 33 hours per week can still get coverage for themselves and their children -- but their spouses must now seek their insurance elsewhere.
Passing on Costs to Workers
Even those lucky few employees who get to keep their coverage aren't going to like the new plan very much. According to Walmart, spiking insurance costs (expected to rise as much as 40% for some plans in 2012) necessitate cutting costs for even those plans that remain in effect. So beginning in 2012, Walmart will slash its contribution to workers' health-care expense accounts...
And so on. You can see the problem. If health care insurers raise their prices, as they invariably do, Wal-Mart's owners and high-ranking executives must either absorb the new costs and preserve current employee coverage plans, or cut those worker benefits. In the former case, their ability to skim is somewhat impaired. If they roll back the health care plans, profit skimming can go on without interruption. The "right" choice is obvious.
Let us repeat today's main statistic of interest so as to further contemplate it's meaning—
The net worth of the six Waltons in the Fortune 400 = the new worth of the bottom 30% of Americans combined, which is approximately 100 million people.
I'm sorry, but this is simply unspinnable. No amount of rationalization can make this right. Yet those in our two political parties think the situation is A-OK, and one party (the Republicans) is dedicated to the proposition that such outcomes are not only normal, but represent what makes this country great.
This is why, when I hear people speak of Human Progress and the Wonderful Future we will all enjoy, I can't stop laughing.
my god! and yet, who is surprised? nobody. Most of Amerika calmly accepts this fate. I just spent the weekend (not by choice) in Branson Mo. The only conclusion I can reach after seeing Branson is that America is finished.
Posted by: matt | 12/13/2011 at 11:15 AM