-By Warner Todd Huston
Wal-Mart is making unions mad… again. But this time it is for joining forces with one as opposed to merely opposing them. Wal-Mart has recently joined forces with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to help them push through the disastrous Obamacare policies that the SEIU is championing.
While the SEIU is one of the largest, most powerful unions in the country, not all unions are happy with the labor group’s teaming up with the retail giant.
“We’re not too happy with Wal-Mart. We don’t think they should be an example of how to fix the health-care problems in America,” AFL-CIO President James Hoffa, Jr. told reporters.
As it happens, I agree with Hoffa that Wal-Mart’s agreement with the SEIU makes it an imperfect example by which to push healthcare “reform.” You see, Wal-Mart is not pursuing what would be a good policy for the country. It is pursuing what would be a good policy for Wal-Mart and a bad one for Wal-Mart’s competition.
Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest retailer, of course. But that also makes it the richest. And the fact that its pockets are extremely deep means that it could afford the onerous healthcare costs that Obamacare would force on the nation. BUT… its competition could ill afford such expensive government meddling and this would hamper their ability to compete on the massive scale of a Wal-Mart. Consequently, the whole scheme would help Wal-Mart maintain its edge over all comers and leave them with an unfair advantage which can keep them at the top.
And this very point is one that proves how bad Obamacare really is for this country. Not only might it give an unfair advantage to one of the largest corporations in the country, but it will materially hinder the growth and success of all the others.
So, I agree with Mr. Hoffa on this one. Wal-Mart is a terrible example of how to fix healthcare.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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