Originally posted on 06/01/2013:

Man, what a brutal issue. Walmart is great for cheap crap (although if you bargain hunt, you can beat their prices) and is great in that regard, but soooo many top economists come out against their political contributions (all Republican, duh). I guess the owners want more tax cuts to benefit them from the government (i.e. rich person socialism) rather than a better work environment for their workers. That's the American way today, though - it's unsustainable.

For general work force, walmart employees are easily on the level of 'slaves' - even worse than Target, which is saying a LOT. Also, as Pauly linked above, so many of their workers NEED governmental assistance just to survive (if you want to call it that - I call it being destitute).

Dunno, grew up in an age where you could work at a gas station as a second job and be poor but keep your family afloat. Today? Walmart will fire you if you have a 2nd job (this has happened to many FT/PT workers, just google it). I believe in proper unions, but man, they are so hard to trust. Who'd you rather trust, a union or a company who's owners support things that only support them?

At some point, the worker needs to eat. We can all agree on that. I'm cheering for the strikers - but it will go nowhere until the strikes get larger. Sad thing is, most of their employees can't miss a check to strike - they'd be homeless if they missed 1 payday. Indentured servitude anyone? If that doesn't piss you off - I don't want to know you. There's no bootstrap short of selling drugs or robbing banks that will save you from working hard and doing the right thing in that economy.