Friday, October 21, 2011

Kick em when they`re Up, Kick em when they`re Down

Occupy the World has many grievances, too many to list here but there seems to be one common denominator, greed, excessive greed, most of you are familiar with Wal-Mart, they make $tens of billions per year in profit and now..

And now because of high US unemployment levels and easy access to more "willing" labour has decided to eliminate Health-care benefits for their mainly part-time work force and to greater diminish health-care coverage for their ever shrinking full-time work force....How much money does Wal-Mart need, when will the good corporate citizen raise it`s head and do the right thing, ....This is another example of what "Occupy the World" is all about!.....Below is Wal-Mart information from Wikipedia,
_____________________________________________________________________________


Area served Worldwide
Key people S. Robson Walton
(Chairman)
Mike Duke
(President and CEO)
Revenue increase US$ 421.849 billion (2011)
Operating income increase US$ 25.542 billion (2011)
Net income increase US$ 15.355 billion (2011)
Total assets increase US$ 180.663 billion (2011)
Total equity decrease US$ 68.542 billion (2011)
Employees Approx. 2.1 million (2011)
________________________________________
As you can see Wal-Mart is not hurting for cash so why would Walmart want to do this...The below excerpts are from an outstanding article from The New York Times
_______________________________________
 

 Wal-Mart Cuts Some Health Care Benefits for some


 .


      After trying to mollify its critics in recent years by offering better health care benefits to its employees, Wal-Mart is substantially rolling back coverage for part-time workers and significantly raising premiums for many full-time staff



      Citing rising costs, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, told its employees this week that all future part-time employees who work less than 24 hours a week on average will no longer qualify for any of the company’s health insurance plans.
      In addition, any new employees who average 24 hours to 33 hours a week will no longer be able to include a spouse as part of their health care plan, although children can still be covered.
       
      This is a big shift from just a few years ago when Wal-Mart [WMT  56.92    0.55  (+0.98%)   ] expanded coverage for employees and their families after facing criticism because so many of its 1.4 million workers could not afford or did not qualify for coverage—rendering many of them eligible for Medicaid.
      Under pressure from states saddled with rising Medicaid costs and from labor unions and community groups, Wal-Mart had agreed to offer part-time employees, even those averaging less than 24 hours a week, health care insurance after a year on the job, shaving a year off the eligibility requirement. Wal-Mart also said that it was offering health plans that cost its employees about $250 a year for family coverage.
      At the time, the moves were considered a departure from some of its major rivals and large employers, more than half of whom offer no company-sponsored health plan for part-time workers.



      On Thursday, the company would not say what percentage of its work force was part time or worked fewer than 24 hours a week.

      Greg Rossiter, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the decision to deny coverage to new part-time employees resulted from the company’s revamping of its health care offerings in light of rising costs. 

       And with unemployment still hovering around 9 percent, employers may feel less compelled to offer expansive benefits to people desperate for work. 


      In Wal-Mart’s 2012 health offerings, premiums will increase for some plans by more than 40 percent,



      “No wonder people are protesting in the streets,” he said. “This is another example of corporations putting profits ahead of what’s good for everyday Americans. It’s outrageous and damaging to many hard-working families that the biggest corporation in America is increasing health care costs for many employees by 40 percent.”
       
      Wal-Mart says that its health care plans are affordable and competitive compared with those of its competitors. “We are proud to be among a few companies that continue to offer an affordable associate-only medical option for about a dollar per day or $15 per pay period,” Mr. Rossiter said. He noted that many companies offer health plans that start at $75 a week or more for each two-week pay period.

      Wal-Mart also significantly reduced the amount of money it contributes to the savings accounts workers can use to pay for medical bills that are not covered under their plan. Last year, the company put $1,000 into accounts for families but it will cut the amount by half for next year to just $500. Companies typically put more money into these accounts as a way of encouraging employees to choose these plans, which cost employers less than traditional policies.
      While Wal-Mart defends its decision to reduce these contributions, few companies have made similar cuts

      Barbara Collins, a sales associate at the Wal-Mart in Placerville, Calif., said that the premiums for the H.M.O. plan for herself and her 5-year-old son would rise to $18 every two weeks from $10.  

      Her big concern, she said, was that her deductible would jump to $5,000 a year, from $1,000—a daunting amount considering she earns $19,000 a year. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to afford it if I go to a doctor or to physical therapy,” she said.___________________________
       Read the whole shocking story here.

      This is what "Occupy the World" is all about, Greed, Greed Greed....And the only ones getting kicked are regular people! 

      The Straight Goods

      Cheers Eyes Wide Open 

      9 comments:

      Doug Pyper said...

      Grant,

      I follow your Blog regularly (I'm totally addicted)....I feed on your inspiration, energy and prolific flow of truth ....regarding issues here BC and elsewhere. I really should 'comment' more than I do...your investigative journalism is world-class and nothing short of amazing...and lovingly spoken in the language of the common(and generally pissed off) man and woman.

      We need your voice to fight and survive against against the lame and immoral Mainstream Media and the oppressive forces that surround us.

      Please don't ever stop what you're doing mi amigo!!!

      Grant G said...

      Thank you Doug Pyper...You are no slouch yourself, your photos touch me deeply.

      A golden aura flows from the stories you write.

      You indeed inspire me Mr. Pyper!


      Good Day

      Don F. said...

      Grant,
      Again what Mr. Pyper said, I second every word!
      Don

      Anonymous said...

      The thing that makes me really angry is the worse the situation gets for people, the more money Wal-Mart will make. Forced to shop at the cheapest place in town...kinda feeds on itself. Meanwhile the head chiefs are only looking to increase profits every quarter or else their stock price may suffer. Gotta keep that easy money flowing to those investors. Which brings me to those investors, who have this extra money, are hooked on easy killings. Why work hard when your money can do it for you? These sleazebags are the first ones to complain about the poor not working hard enough...get a job....go back to school if you don't like it. In my experience they are the lazy ones, never wanting to lift a shovel or fix their own car. HIring full time nanny's or caregivers for next to nothing, exploiting the human condition at every turn. Money should not give you the right to treat everyone else like shit. When the world is falling to pieces I will not be helping out any of these assholes, but enjoying every minute of their pain.

      Anonymous said...

      Wasn't it Wal Mart that wouldn't give their staff coffee breaks? Even the big grocery chains, don't hire full time staff, to avoid paying benefits. Down the road can't you hear, how stupid these people were? They didn't save for their retirement?

      When I retired, my pension was adequate. These days I am scrambling to make ends meet. Price gouging in BC is blatant. In a country like Canada there is no reason for food costs, to go out into orbit. I noticed, a bag of frozen chicken breast strips, I use for stir fry, have gone up $3.00. It is getting very difficult, to find anything under $5.00, in a supermarket.

      I know a low income family, who can't afford meat. There is an underground co-op, where I buy my meat, eggs, vegetables and such. I gave them the number to contact the under ground. They will save over 60% on their food bill. The food is much safer. You take your chances, on contaminated supermarket food. Underground co-ops should be able to feed everyone, within a 100 mile radius.

      The lucky people that are close to the U.S. border, can save up to 50%, by shopping there. Same as gassing up your vehicles in the U.S. Canadians pay more for their products, than other country's do. Someone called Canada, the rip off country.

      No doubt those huge corporations, pay the party to favor them. Big business paid Campbell big bucks, to fight to keep the HST. BC is the worst place, for family's these days. The HST, price gouging, golden salary's, pensions and horrific golden handshakes, have BC a financial ruin. This is the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals, totally to blame...With more than a little help from Harper.

      Campbell giving incentive bonuses, to cheat the people they were supposed to look after!!! He should be hauled back to BC, to answer for these underhanded dirty thieving tactics. Every outfit that did this, should be fired and fined very heavy, to pay that stolen tax payer money back. Cutting back on help for the disabled, and stuffing their own wallets. Campbell belongs in prison for that, and the theft and sale of our BC assets and resources.

      Anonymous said...

      Boycott Wal-Mart and tell them you won't shop there until they pay their employees reasonable wages.

      Hugh said...

      Interesting article:


      http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/will-greece-pull-an-iceland-and-tell-the-banks-to-pound-sand.html

      Hugh said...

      Here's an article about Corix, the company that is installing the dumb meters:

      http://www.americanwaterintel.com/archive/2/10/profile/living-american-dream.html

      Hugh said...

      "$7.77 Trillion

      The amount of money the central bank parceled out was surprising even to Gary H. Stern, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 1985 to 2009, who says he “wasn’t aware of the magnitude.” It dwarfed the Treasury Department’s better-known $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Add up guarantees and lending limits, and the Fed had committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year."

      Quoted from this article:

      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-28/secret-fed-loans-undisclosed-to-congress-gave-banks-13-billion-in-income.html

      Note the Canadian banks getting bailouts from the U.S. Fed Reserve.