Wal-Mart Soaks the Golden State

The San Francisco Chronicle has a report out recently that Wal-Mart's employment practices costs California about $86 million annually in public assistance to company workers.

It seems typical of Wal-Mart, who - quoting Shakespeare from his play "Julius Caesar" - "bestrides the narrow world like a Colossus".

The study, put forth by two members of a pro-union institute in Berkeley, notes that if other supermarket chains did what the global chain does regarding their employees, it will cost California taxpayers over $410 million in public assistance.

And this at a time where, like too many other American state governments, they are operating on a tight or deficit-riddled budget.

If national and state that restricted the size and power of the chain stores were still in effect, such a situation affecting California would not be. If the dollar were not taken off the gold standard in the first place, the Wal-Mart workers' wages would be able to buy more without wrecking their wallets. But both big government and big business doesn't care, or doesn't seem to care.

Here is the link: