This story is being sadly under reported, probably by design.

Be very afraid.

Wal-Mart is the most successful neo-plantaion, with literally millions of slaves. They are responsible, directly, for a huge percentage of off-shoring, and they are politically powerful enough to maintain literal forced workcamps on American soil.

One of the problems of slavery (and what really spelled it's doom in America) was the cost of supporting a slave. The slavers quickly realized that they could pay a slave far less than the cost of maintaining one. It's no accident that Wal-Mart comes from the deep south!

The average Wal-Mart slave lives a life far worse than their captive brother. Freedom in chains, you could call it.

Do not imagine you need to see Wal-Mart on your pittance allowance check, either. The slaves of Wal-Mart extend far past it's employment rolls.

Wal-Mart effectively taxes ALL of US society to the tume of 10% as a retail outlet! 30 cents of every retail dollar goes into Wal-Mart coffers. How much will that tax be if they also control banking and finance?

And the really sad part about this? The Waltons aren't even players in the real game, they are merely a cultural abberation, like Bill Gates, a rare event that is easily managed by the puppetmasters.

As scary as a Wal-Mart bank is, the notion that they are nobody in the real game is even more terrifying. The Waltons are mere slave traders, small potatoes, and their vast fortune is a pile of ashes compared to those who really control the game.

The current tax load on an American exceeds 50 percent. Half of the work every American does is to benfit someone else.

Do we really need to have corporations taxing us for an additional 10%?

There is precious litle time to stop this.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050912/featherstone

i'm kind of at a lost as to why walmarts has been the target of many. i belong to several forums and almost not a day goes by that someone doesn't post an anti-walmart thread.

c'mon...SLAVES??? i know of no walmart that forces it's people to stay there and work. in fact, a couple people i know actually like working there. now, if you mean that walmarts has satelite stores elsewhere in the world where they pay low wages no benefits, etc etc...then you have to include every american company that produces over seas...including mexico.

so, why walmarts? i might understand unions protesting walmart stores because they may hire non union contractors, but for a store that so many condemn they are apparently doing very well. obviously many people must be shopping in those dreadful and forced labor slave camps.

if one was to research the anti-walmart movement it was started by some lawyer who for some reason decided he didn't like the walmart stores. perhaps he felt he got a bum deal while shopping? who knows.

walmart is just what american enterprise is all about...even if dik cheney likes walmarts, i can't find that as a reason to dislike them. so far, i haven't read anywhere as to why walmart stores suck more than say sears. to me sears stores suck worse and i've gotten ripped off by sears several times, which is why i refuse to shop there.

but, attacking walmarts because they are a proven success of american enterprise is .......something.

now, walmart wants to open their own banking system...and who is complaining? banks...of all people...because they are afraid walmart might offer better deals or maybe even treat people better? or maybe banks feel they are the only ones who can legally rip people off. perhaps what banks need is some real competition.

so, once again, why all the anti-walmart stuff? educate me.

It is obvious you have not watched the Walmart Movie. My daughter worked for them and yes they do MAKE you work more hours than you get paid If you want to keep your job). They do not pay overtime even if you work overtime. New employees fill out a form for welfare. My daughter was eligible for food stamps and the medical card because her wages were so low and she has a child. Walmart offers insurance that costs MORE a month than the workers make. No one can afford it so you and I pick up the tab in the form of medicaid. Now that bites - doesn't it?

My daughter did find another job and left Walmart. They still owe her about 30 hours pay that she can not get. Someone changed her time card and she can't prove it.

In my county alone, the tax-payers pay over 500 million dollars a year to feed, house and provide health care to wal-mart workers.

The forms for Public Assitence are part of the application process at at least 3 local stores, and I am sure many more!

A full time Wal-Mart employee can not afford basic housing in my area. The base rent for a one room space is two weeks pay.

I have no desire to educazte you. If you think Wal-Mart is good, then by all means support them. It's a free country, or marginally so at any rate.

Some of us don't really approve of wage-slaves and paying a non-living wage. Others of us are slavers and bigots who think a class of society only works to support our lifestyle and is utterly without humanity, or human rights. When I look at other companies (I suggest you check out a Grocer called Wegman's), I see Wal-Mart ans everything that is bad about *Capitalism* (and by this I mean Merchantilism, but I am tired of arguing the point).

Society cannot allow entities such as Wal-Mart to aquire too much power, for they are rather like a wolf. They do not support society, they prey on it.

The two cannot exist side by side, one will have to win, the other be eliminated. And each of us will soon enough have to pick our side.

IMHO, the base line for a free society is the ability for a family of 4 to live an acceptable lifestyle on one paycheck. This means housing, food, clothes and health care for an entire family unit. In today's society that is around 24K, perhaps a bit less in some areas.

To imagine this *advantage* lies with the *educated* is elitism and bigotry. How ever a person toils, if they are working, they deserve a subsistence existence. A janitor is just as important to a company as a CEO, their job equally has equal value, at the very least. No one's job is *better* or *worse* all are necessary, and the people who do them are equals, who in a perfect world would work for the common good of all.

I advocate wage laws that require 5:1 pay ratios. That is, no person in any way connected to a company's profits can make more than 5 times the least paid employee. I advocate a low requiring the hiring of ONE full time employee then the hours of part timers exceed 32 hours (which should rightfully be *full-time* given the level of our technology).

Obviously, I would find Wal-Mart's approach to employees and business to be predatory and immoral. For this reason I oppose them, as I oppsoe all elitism.

My views are over the top, especially in our society where hate is peddled as a product. On the other hand, I am for the most part done with life, I won't be around in two decades, most likely, so my view is also a short view, eh?

true...it does "bite". however, if they were, in fact, breaking labor laws, any complaint filed with the state would be investigated.

however, the problem doesn't lie with walmart even if their practices are questionable. the problem lies with the states that have rewritten their labor laws that protect places like walmart.

i was a union representative for over 16 years with a very very large corporation, so i have some experience with labor laws. would i have tolerated walmart's labor practices? no way. however, i had to look at this from a different perspective. the problem lies with the laws our lawmakers are making that give less protection to a worker and gives companies the right to legally screw people over.

during her interview, when informed of the hours she would be worjking, the wages and the benefits, she had the right to get up and leave...did she not? i'm aware that when a job is desperately needed, people will accept the most undesirables ones just to get an income.

but, attacking walmarts only makes them appear to be singled out by disgruntled people. we need to attack the lawmakers....they are the ones who can change things because places like walmarts won't as long as they follow the law.

Ah, the cry of the Merchantilist! *Let the government take care of you citizen, no thought is required!* And *everything we are doing is perfectly legal*.

I think a far better way is to educate the public as to the immoral behavior of these slavetraders, and raise awareness to the conditions they force upon their workers, and the workers of companies they all but own.

When Wal-Mart has no customers they willl change their ways or be eliminated.

While I agree that the people of the our society must push for a radical new view on the ways Corporations afect and influence our society, I don't agree that we should allow such a tragedy to continue merely becasue the Government hasn't offically declared it illegal.

Whjen you consider that the current front-runner for the Democratic Party seems to be Hillary Clinton, and she worked for the law firm that helkped them with their union busting as well as sat on the board of directors as they continued to find ways to marginalize their employees, I think waiting for a Government response to this is a bit like giving up your right to think and act for yourself.

The Government, both Democrats and Republicans are owned and operated by the Merchantilists Corporations, through their *PACs*, that have funneled well over 95% of our economy into the hands of 400 people. One need only look at the flagrant anti-worker laws being fostered by the current administration to see that it will not be soon that anyone in Washington takes on the PACs (as much as I would love to see it).

No governemt is supposed to take the place of a single person moral obligation to society, and there is no way a free society can exist with such an attitude.

Merely because something is legal doens't make it right, nor does it lessen the obligation of Citizens to act for what they perceive to be the good of society.

Oh during the interview they blew smoke up her a**. They needed "smart" people to work in the deli so they were going to pay her $1.00 more on the hour. She would work the day shift - 5:00 am to 2:00pm. It was a brand new store and she worked ONE day shift. Then they started making up the rules as they went along. She had to close most nights at 11:00pm. She had to have the deli cleaned and everything put away and be out by 11:00. Ha. The deli didn't close until 11:00. But if she would stay and clean up....she would be paid overtime (verbal agreements are NOT kept and you can't prove you were told that).
They began with 8 deli workers and when my daughter quit they were down to 3. One quit on the first day....went to lunch and didn't return.

She called wage and hour (the federal government worker protection agency) and the state labor board many times (both agencies) and has yet to hear back from them. She actually got to speak to a human being one time and they said they would look into her complaints and get back with her. She was sent paper work to fill out.....nothing has come of that. That was seven months ago. Really???? they will get right on it won't they?

She was never paid for one hour overtime! She has a baby and had to pay a babysitter for those extra hours though.

Oh there are people who like working at Walmart because they have never worked any place where you were treated like a human being before. Or they are married and have a second income coming in and just work because they want to.

If you think it is ok for you and me to pay for Walmarts workers to have medical benefits (welfare) when it is a multi-billion dollar company, then go ahead and shop there. They will NEVER get a penny from me and I will never pass up an opportunity to tell someone about them. I show the Walmart movie EVERY chance I get.

Everything in that store is made in China. Target, K-mart, Krogers, Marsh, Meijers, etc. can't compete (they pay their workers a decent wage). Walmart has caused so many businesses to close it is really scary. When there is NO competition will they still be so cheap? They will be able to charge any amount for anything because you will have no choice but to pay it - there will be no where else to shop.

Many cities are stopping them from building in their city. I think this is great.

One more thing. Ever noticed how big their parking lot is? They have surveilence camera's but won't pay anyone to watch them. Employees have to park way out away from the store. They are advised to walk out with other employees and never to walk alone. Many times there is no one to walk with and HAVE to walk alone. More crime is committed in Walmart's parking lot than any other place of business. We are talking robberies and rapes. Does anybody care? Walmart sure doesn't. It might cost them some money.

Walmart has had numerous suits against them. They use strongarm tactics. I was in the law field for a while and I know first hand. If you go against them they will find discrepancies against you. If you take one minute over a break they can legally get you for theft of company time. I've seen it already. It still brings a charge of theft. So when you claim wrong doings by walmart they can throw that in there and you're screwed. They make it to where you dont have a leg to stand on. I have known of people getting fired for saying the word "union". How do you prove that? A colleague of mine, sister was "let go" because she wore a "faux news" shirt under her uniform. I have heard but can't confirm that people were told to take Kerr/Edwards stickers off their cars or be fired. Like I said I can't confirm it, so it's hear say. I'm guilty though, I have seen the walmart movie and I still shop there on occasion. I try to stay away but sometimes I have to go there. So I cant say I practice what I preach.

Wow, Sadie. I wish I could say that I hadn't heard that story 100 times about Wal-Mart, but I have. I sure hope thye don't get any more of your money. I wish your daughter well, and I am glad Wal-Mart is behind her!

Just so you know, Wal-Mart has a new scam. They have managed to get the *Made In USA* sticker to apply to products made in American Protectorates, where they, and others of their ilk import the poor from China and India and god-knows where else to work for less than slave wage, all the while blowing the *Made in USA* horn loud and clear. Some of the stories emerging from these off shore hell holes are truly heartbreaking!

In fact, DeLay is somehow connected to this little scam, although I can't remember how or where I read it. Maybe someone else here can link to some of the DeLay and offshore companies scandle.

And Wasl-Mart has successfully pushed forward a suit for, get this, *discrimination* against communities that try to shut them out. It has been a good while since any town was successful, at least at the *not in our town* level. SOme communities have used zoning and other rulings to keep them out, but invariably they just move *down the road*.

And Target is using the fact they pay a working wage as an advertising point, at least here whee I live, and they have boldly opened a store barely a block from a big-box Wal-Mart. Their parking lot is full, of course, so is Wal-Marts. People are coming around. Most I share this with (and the Wal-Mart movie, which I will give to anyone who even looks like they might watch it) stop supporting the store. If you actually look at prices, Wal-Mart is not very much less expensive than Target or other stores, and their *Low Prices* is mostly advertising, thje actualy difference in an individual product is only pennies in most cases.

Shut down Wal-Mart, one customer at a time!

Amen! If we all stick together - it can be done.

Well here I sit in New Mexico on Cannon AFB visiting friends who just had a baby. My friends wife is a pharmacist at the local Walmart. So out of curiosity I asked her about Walmart. Oh boy did she tell me some stories. I kept an open mind but she sealed the deal for me! These people not only use strongarm tactics but they do indeed change time cards to their liking. They will work a minimum of 45 hrs. No one gets OT!!!! She was telling me they use the theft of time skit all the time. She tells me they do not honor their employees breaks by federal law. She informed me of the unfair practices they allow down here. You have to keep in mind that the majority of the population is Mexican. The Mexican descents start at minimum wage no matter what. She said it has got to the point they will not hire any white people because they demand a higher wage. But in turn will hire a Latino descent at an incredible low rate, because they know they will work for it. That makes me sick that they will dupe these people into this. She claims that she heard one of her managers threaten an employee with deportation.