This post was mentioned on Twitter by icecreamparlors: We Want Ice Cream ! – The Moderate Voice http://ff.im/-afN1t...

Far from all jobs are long-term, permanent jobs. (Lifetime work at one employer is decades obsolete!)

Far from all jobs are careers.

Far from all jobs can ever be expected to provide not only for yourself but for dependents as well.

Far from all jobs ever merit a “living wage,” the political goal of generous, excess pay for such jobs.

There is plenty of scope for research into poverty (though subject to leftist political taint, deeply so) and poverty level revision or re-definition — and if there is such a thing as a minimum wage, basing it on the poverty level is logical. (A federal poverty level should be like anything else that is federal, which is to say, nation-wide: along with its existence being the last, never the first, resort, it should be uniform and should be minimal.) Note that the normal thing to do is make the minimum wage the poverty level (the case could be made for making it as low as fifty per cent of the poverty level, but that may be too hard to understand or accept by many). To the extent that any wages of much work now paid less, would have to be raised, it would not only be cost-push-inflationary, but would also discourage growth, creation, and retention of such jobs.

a) Other People.

b) Society.

c) The Evil Rich, who should contribute all their income above the poverty level.

d) We should just print the money to pay whatever else we need, for what we want.

That's if it's after the election. If before, it will be e) special interests (and donors like Soros).

So you'd make Walmart pay workers more so they can pay the money to union bosses, as well as do their bidding on picket lines and so forth? And you'd stick it to all those jobless ex-employees forcing Walmart to raise its prices for them and everyone else? You really believe in kicking people when they're down.

Tell you what, if you think people should pay more at WalMart to benefit the workers, why don't you encourage other people to tip as generously as you probably do when you shop there?

But since we are talking about the Don here so you can be sure it's not true.

$10.78 per hour not $8.23 an hour is the current average.
Walmarts turnover is about 50% and on par with the average retail turnover

Truth is I think Walmart is a double edged sword- good for consumers in terms of lower prices (a bit ironic, in fact, that it's often used as an example of the benefit of monopsony power as it might apply to a single payer healthcare system) but that comes with other costs. Those costs might include the steps they take for lowering overhead (though I think EEllis and others provide rebuttal even to that claim, in relation to how other competing companies pay their employees) and also, there's a cost to communities that had previously supported Mom and Pop stores. Personally I feel there's also a societal/cultural cost of the homogenization of small town America and I wish we still had more local proprietorship and variety- but I'm not going to tell people that they shouldn't choose low prices over my preference for quaintness.

As for the workers, the problem is that you view all jobs as the same as careers. There are plenty of people in the workforce who don't need to have what you call a 'living wage'. These include people in transitionary times of their lives (students and senior citizens) and those who are the second income earner in their households. If a company provides a decent wage for those kinds of workers, then even if there is a high turnover that is completely normal and expected since those people weren't taking on permanent career positions anyway.

The only problem with that is you never addressed their benefits at all. You just started on a general tirade about wal-mart. Here's a shock they pay more than Krogers or other average grocery stores in my town and yes the benefits are better, That the income is not enough for a single parent to be above the poverty line is hardly shocking and so nothing to contradict my statements. And you know what if the assistance is there why the heck shouldn't they sign up for it and why would it be bad for the managers to help their employees? 92% of the people who work at walmart have insurance. I have a friend whose wife is a walmart employee. She makes over $14 an hour and they are both covered under her insurance and he is reasonable happy with it. She has a 401k and profit sharing. They even get discounted stock purchases and walmart matches up to a certain amount. Look around there are many employers in retail that don't get close to walmart.

If that were true, wouldn't it prove Walmart employees don't need to you save them?

They don't need me, I can't save them. What they need is a powerful National Union which will fight for decent wages, decent benefits and decent working conditions.

As a matter of fact Walmart is a living advertisement for Unionization.

If that were true, wouldn't it prove Walmart employees don't need to you save them?

LOL…any stick is good enough to beat them over the head with, I guess.

You are right any stick is good to beat them over the head, Walmart is the epitome of what is wrong with Corporate America, they are the essence of “Cheap Labor Conservative” (Outsourcing, Union Busting, low wages, no benefits, corporate welfare, etc ), they have no loyalty to their employees, customers, or communities. You can defend Walmart all you want, but you'll end up looking like a fool if you do…

And BTW, they are EVIL.

What percentage of businesses do you think have the power to destroy half the state of texas and kill a few million people?

While there is a bit of hyperbole on my part, I have no doubt that Entergy could easily kill a few hundred thousand people and destroy a good chunk of real-estate without any problems. We know for a fact that ExxonMobil can destroy a large piece of real estate effortlessly, and so could Amoco

So how much do you think the average Walmart employee should make?

At least what a Costco employee makes.

Or do you believe Walmart should not exist and that employee should have to find another job somewhere else?

I think that Walmart should be forced to treat their employees with a modicum of decency and humanity. According to PBS, Walmart has a 70% turnover rate…

How many local thrift stores, grocery stores, and convenience stores do you think pay more than $9 an hour with benefits?

Every one of them should, but until Walmart does none of them are. How many of them are owned by #4, #5, #6 & #7 on the Forbes 400 list with a net worth of at least 19 billion a pop?

LOL…any stick is good enough to beat them over the head with, I guess. They're evil and greedy if they're only paying minimum wage to 80% of their employees as you first claimed, but then when you're proven wrong you find the evil motive in the fact that they pay above that and support increases in minimum wage.

So how much do you think the average Walmart employee should make? Or do you believe Walmart should not exist and that employee should have to find another job somewhere else? How many local thrift stores, grocery stores, and convenience stores do you think pay more than $9 an hour with benefits?

Walmart apparently pays above the minimum wage and apparently supports increasing it (probably to put its smaller competitors out of business)

Or it could be that without a hike in the minimum wage, a good chunk of it 's customer base is going to be priced out of it's stores…