[CS-FSLUG] PD: Re: Christians taking action...

[Timothy Butler]

> I am not sure I understand that referance.  Are not all sellers able
> to take money from medicaid recipients?  I would say it is the medical
> profession that takes advantage of that segment of government...but
> the looser is NOT the government in that case.  They pay less than 25%
> of what the doctors present as bills and the doctors write off the
> rest.  I dont think anyone is being taken advantage of there.


	It's not unique to Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart is able to pay less in  
wages because of the existence of Medicaid. Essentially, they are  
offloading a significant portion of their workforce onto the medicaid  
rolls. This is especially disturbing, since the shops (such as the  
mom 'n pop ones you mention) often had good pay and benefits. Many of  
the pure grocery chains are union shops with above average pay and  
good benefits. Wal-Mart comes into a small town and nukes those  
stores, leaving the grocery worker labor market in that town with  
below average wages and mostly no benefits. This means more of the  
people end up being helped by the state, and many people who had very  
good jobs now have far less desirable ones.

	This is at least partially possible because Wal-Mart can get cheaper  
labor because of government programs such as Medicaid.

	I won't say its wrong to shop at Wal-Mart, but I would not say Wal- 
Mart is exactly a win-win situation for those involved, either.

	-Tim