You have many company's giving raises that do not even keep up with the increase in the cost of living, let alone provide a decent health care package. But we can't place all the blame at the employer's door step. When the annual increase in health care benefits runs between 10% and 30%, well it takes a huge increase in business to just keep pace. Most company's simply can not afford to absorb those kind of increases, so they begin to cut services provided and pass a larger share of the costs on to the employee.

Some how Congress needs to find the courage to over haul the way health care is provided and paid for, in America. And no, I do not think socialized health care is the way to go.

First off let me say that I have no love for Walmart. I don't generally shop there. The stores are so crowded that you can't get out with out waiting in line for ever. I prefer to shop where it is not such a hassle.

That said, why is it Walmart's fault that the emergency rooms are filled with illegals looking to get health care for their children. Why is it Walmart's fault that so many communities bend over backwards to give these large corporations such huge tax incentives. "For their part, Walmart does provide good opportunities for those who demonstrate the desire to work. How do i know this, my wife worked for them for several years. Yes they hire at or slightly above minimum wage, but its not that hard to get into higher paying positions, if you show you want to work."

If our Congressmen would step up to the plate and close our borders to illegal immigration, then the problem would go away in time. If our Congress men would stop giving away the candy store inexchange for votes, then hospitals would not be required to provide free health care to any one who walks in with out any insurance. If out Legislatures would level the tax burdens on corporations, then companies could afford to expand with out seeking tax abatments.

At some point some one needs to step up and say that the maddness stops here.

It's a double-edged sword. WM might pay slave wages - are those people better off with no wages? WM doesn't ask very much of their employees qualifications at hiring- I doubt most of the clerks there are biding their time waiting for the job as CEO of Westinghouse to open up. Should WM pay their staff a so-called living wage plus bennies and raise their prices so high that those who turn to WM as the only source of afordable stuff spend all their money at Goodwill and in thrift stores?

Look, there's a lot of goddamn misery in this world and I sure as fuck wish there wasn't. There's no doubt in my mind that if all the self-professed christians in america acted on the beliefs they claim to hold there'd be a lot more equity. No CEO needs 500X or 1000X times the income of their lowest paid employee; corporate boards these days are just a facade for theft from stockholders fueled by insatiable greed; there's evil upon evil and I don't dispute that for a minute.

But there's also an inter-relationship between all the parties involved that does benefit all who participate - it may not be shared equitably but it's not clear to me that if WM disappeared tomorrow or never existed in the first place that their thousands of employees and their supporting vendors/contractors would be better off without them.

WARNING- anecdotal evidence being sited here...

Case in point. A very good friend of mine is an engineer at Hoover. In the early nineties Hoover built several plants in Mexico. They were attracted by low wages and big tax encentives offered by the Mexican government. Soon after these palnts opened Hoover began to notice a pattern, in their emplyees behavior. After the workers were paid, they would not show up for work for severak days. With money in their pockets, many chose to party rather than come to work. Hoover sought to provide more to the employee, as an encentive to come to work, but were barred from paying any more by Mexican labor laws. The company began to offer free health service, dental service, eye exams for their emplyees and their families. The kicker was, the employee had to maintain an acceptable standard of attendance to qualify.

To end this, its not always, or only the Big, Bad American Corporations who are to blame for the exploitation of the third world labor market. Blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the politicians from these countries as well.