Tuesday, February 07, 2006

More Wal-Mart Bashing

From SeattlePI.com
Wal-Mart and other large retailers are pushing tens of millions of dollars per year in health costs onto taxpayers, a new report produced for two Democratic state senators says.
"What does 'Pushing costs onto taxpayers' mean?" our intelligent reader asks.
Supporters of a bill that forces large companies to pay a minimum amount for health benefits planned to use the new data to press lawmakers for a vote on the measure.

Wal-Mart officials and business groups have railed against the proposal, saying it is meant to punish certain businesses and will have no real effect for workers who need help paying their hospital bills.

The report estimates that in 2004, Wal-Mart workers received more than $22.7 million in taxpayer-funded health benefits. More than $12.1 million of that total came from Washington state's coffers.
That, apparently, is the meaning of the opening assertion: Wal-Mart didn't pay instead. The results of this study are something that we all already knew: Wal-Mart employs large numbers of people with minimal job skills and pays them accordingly.

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