Wal-Mart's Woes

I read in the Buffalo News yesterday (Tuesday February 16, 2016) about how Wal-Mart is having to shut down stores. In the realm of 150+ are on the line to be shuttered or are already closed.

Huh?

The taxpayer subsidized mega corporation is having to shut down stores because they are losing money?

As taxpayers we have already lost money. And tons of it.

First on all the tax breaks that the government gives to them that we have to pay for.

Second on all the food stamps, Medicaid, and rent supports that we have to provide because they don't pay their workers enough to live on. (Try $15NOW plus some benefits.)

They don't need the tax breaks and can pay their workers much more without raising prices. All they have to do is cut the amount of money given to the Walton family by 50% and everything is taken care of.

That being said, the article went off on how there are now towns and communities that no longer have any stores because Wal-Mart is shut down.

Well, the government subsidized unfair competition that Wal-Mart had drove the mom and pop stores out of business, and now Wa-Mart has crapped out too.

So, what's the solution?

We need to look to East Aurora for that. The citizens fought tooth and nail to keep Wal-Mart out. Good thing they did. It's a nice community to go visit. (Viddler's! OK- I'll admit.  I got lost in there once. The tea shoppe is pretty nice too. There's supposed to be a real nice coffee shop on a side street some place. I'd like to know where it is. I don't like the atmosphere of the one on Main Street. Too noisy for me.  Then there are small shops that cater to whatever your whim is.)

I digress, but then again I don't. East Aurora, and other communities that are following their lead, are succeeding and doing well financially because they keep the big box stores out.

So, what can be done to revitalize these communities that are suffering because Wal-Mart crapped out?

First: Convert all the tax breaks (local, state, and federal) to interest bearing loans. And put liens on the highly profitable stores, warehouses, and and personal property that the Walton family owns. Stocks too. Any profits over $0.01/share are seized automatically until the tax breaks are paid back. (All of them.)

Second: Take the money and, in collaboration with the Small Business Administration and other small business groups, rebuild the main street stores that were driven out of business. These small businesses will hire more people than W-M and pay better wages.

Third: Promote cooperative businesses. Worker owned and worker run cooperatives. I've listened to enough Gar Alperowitz(?sp) and Richar Wolff to think that this is the way forward for our economy and a way to transition into socialism. There's also the movie The Take by Naomi Klein (I think her husband co-produced it?) that shows how worker owned coops have succeeded in Argentina. We can look to Mondragon in Spain. We can look at King Arthur Flour here in the US (Yes – from what I understand, they are worker owned. Correct me if I am wrong.)

There are plenty of stories about worker owned and worker run coops in the US that don't get airplay on the radio or television because they don't fit the capitalist narrative. They don't fit the story line that here's this group of people that need help and here's the person that saved them all.(I think Yes! magazine had an issue on coops.)

Well, in the case of Wal-Mart, that story isn't true on any level. Watch The High Price of Low Wages and read the book that Barbara Erenreich wrote about her experiences in minimum wage jobs.

I don't like the story that the capitalist media is trying to sell me.

Let's write a different one.