This info about the Walton wealth tells you all you need to know...

[LTRS]

"In March, Forbes Magazine listed John Walton as No. 11 on its list of the world’s richest people with a net worth of $18.2 billion. He was tied with his brother Jim, one spot behind his bother Rob, and just ahead of his sister Alice and his mother Helen."

Do the math -- conservatively, this family holds about 65 billion in wealth, while at the same time adamantly claiming that they simply cannot afford to provide their workers with a living wage and decent health care benefits.

You'd think they could just maybe get by on 60 billion or so and provide some decent pay and benefits. As it is, they leave the subsidy to the tax payer. And as someone who would never set foot in a Walmart, I can tell you I am sick of picking up the tab they should, from a moral standpoint, be paying.

[alittlelark]

1. A link please.... I know of 4-5 ppl I must send this to!!

[LTRS]

4. Here's a link

Not the Forbes link, but a link to the news story that referenced it.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8381553/

[alittlelark]

7. Thank You. It is an obituary piece.

I am hoping that a non-obituary piece comes out that I can reference. I love doing the 'slam dunk'..... I only have 4-5 more to do it to.

[MnFats]

2. damn right. thnx! n/t

[barbaraann]

3. Some infor on the Arkansas estate tax

The Arkansas estate tax is repealed in conjunction with the repeal of the federal credit for state death taxes for the estates of decedents dying on or after January 1, 2005.

http://www.finance.cch.com/pops/c50s15d170_AR.asp

Well, it was convenient that he died after 1-1-05.

[Erika]

5. It's sickening they refuse to provide benefits to employees

when they have that kind of wealth. They ought to be kicked out of our country for their efforts to develop a caste system.

[renate]

9. and as LTRS said in the original post,

we the taxpayers pick up the slack when their employees can't make it above the poverty line.

I don't mind one tiny bit helping the workers themselves out with Medicaid, food stamps, etc--as a (relatively) more fortunate member of society than they, I consider it a privilege to be able to do so. What I mind is that, as LTRS said in the original post, the ultra-rich Walton bloodsuckers are getting even more ultra-ultra-rich on the taxpayers' dime by not paying out what they morally should be spending on health care and decent wages.

Thank goodness for karma. They'll see things a bit differently when they're reincarnated as one of their own employees. Over and over and over again, I hope....

(Edited to give LTRS credit for making the point I just repeated....)

[LTRS]

6. Oh my bad, collectively they are worth over 100 billion

http://money.cnn.com/2003/09/19/news/forbes_400/

[gumby]

8. When is this country going to regrow some of its roots?

"Populism" and "Socialism" and "Liberalism" are not swear words.

For ONE family to be worth 100 BILLION dollars in one generation speaks of horrendous exploitation.

We're not talking about the cure for cancer or time travel. We're talking about ONE family's recent wealth on the concept of consumerism built on slave labor and the destruction of small-town businesses. That's the American Dream morphed into a nightmare.

This extravagant wealth built on exploitative consumerism can not be sustained as a principle, but certainly not continue in the current event of diminishing "energy."

So, now what are we gonna do next?

[roguevalley]

10. apparently money couldn't save him. My aunt died tonight, an

FDR dem and a wonderful woman. I hope she slaps him silly when they both get where they are going. She would even if she is a colossol lady, that is how much she hates these people.

[freeplessinseattle]

11. I'm sorry about your aunt, this must be a tough time, take care

of yourself. She sounds like a special and vibrant person.