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The Working Poor: Welcome to Walmart!
It was recently reported in the news that Walmart is engaged in a(nother) “food drive” to help feed the needy. Isn’t that nice? Well, it would be, if it weren’t for the fact that the “needy” in these food-drives are its own employees. “Let’s succeed by donating to associates in need,” says the sign in an Oklahoma Walmart.
The dictionary defines “associate” (in this context) in two ways:
- A partner or colleague in business or at work.
- A person with limited or subordinate membership in an organization.
There is no doubt which definition applies to Walmart’s “associates”. It’s hard to get more “subordinate” than to work all day, and still need hand-outs to make it to the end of each month. The word that really describes (most of) the workers at Walmart (and most of all the workers in our societies) isn’t “associate” or even “employee”, but rather serf.
Merriam-Webster defines “serf” for us:
- A person in the past who belonged to a low social class and who lived and worked on land owned by another person
The only thing faulty about that definition is the need to erase the phrase “in the past”. The fact that the serfs of Walmart “belong to a low social class” (through no fault of their own) is indisputable. North American societies are now unequivocally divided into the “have’s” and “have-not’s”, with a microscopic demographic in between – the nearly-extinct “Middle Class”.
For the Privileged (especially those near the very top); life is a never-ending gravy-train. Their incomes soar higher and higher and higher – at a rate never before seen in our society. Their wealth soars higher and higher and higher – at a rate never before seen in our society.
Should they lose their pampered positions through sloth, or incompetence (or anything short of direct, criminal conduct); they are rewarded with a Golden Parachute. These rewards given to the Privileged for their failure often exceed the entire, lifetime income for the Serfs. And then after failing; the Privileged are (almost always) handed another Silver Spoon position – where once again it is immaterial whether they are either competent or productive.
Conversely; life for the “low social class”, the Serfs, is entirely opposite in every respect. Their standard of living falls lower and lower and lower – having collapsed by more than 50% since 1970 (when the Nixon regime assassinated the gold standard). Their wealth/possessions fall lower and lower and lower. Only their debts keep going up and up and up.
The median (nominal) income in the United States is approximately $27,600, or roughly $12/hr. The term “median” means that half of all American incomes are higher, and half are lower. That nominal income level is virtually unchanged over the past decade. Meanwhile the cost-of-living has soared higher (particularly food and housing costs), the same “inflation” which the lying politicians, lying central bankers, and lying media tell us does not exist – hundreds of times each day.
And that is how life is for the lucky Serfs. For the unlucky Serfs (over 50 million in the U.S. alone), they are not even given the opportunity to “work on land owned by another person” – for their slave wages. Those 50+ million are all unemployed; with millions of them having descended to a socio-economic class even below the Serfs: the Homeless.
The lying politicians, lying bankers, and lying media tell all of the Serfs and the Homeless that this is “the New Normal”: their lives are supposed to get worse and worse and worse every year (while the lives of the Privileged get better and better and better). There’s “no money” to pay the Serfs a fair, livable wage claim the corporate Robber Barons.
Another lie. While Serf incomes remain permanently frozen (and their standard of living spirals relentlessly lower); corporate profits for U.S. corporations have more than doubled since 2000. This isn’t “normal”; it’s simple, economic rape: the Rich stealing from the (Working) Poor day after day, every day or their lives. How successful have they been with this stealing? The “Poor” used to be the Middle Class.
How is the situation in Canada? Even worse, thanks to Stephen Harper. The median wage in Canada is virtually identical to the median wage in the U.S. However, when Harper (and his hand-picked Loonie Assassin, Mark Carney) came to power; the first thing he did (right after breaking his promise on “income trusts”) was to begin to destroy the value of the Canadian dollar.
His gross economic mismanagement, and Carney’s deliberate sabotage of the Canadian dollar caused our currency to quickly lose nearly 30% of its value versus the U.S. dollar. It went from being worth more than 15% more than the USD to being worth more than 12% less. In other words; the standard of living for Canada’s Working Poor majority has gone from being 15% higher than the Working Poor of the U.S. to being 12% lower than them.
Understand that the standard of living for Canadian Serfs during Stephen Harper’s eight years of abuse-of-power hasn’t merely fallen by 25%. It has fallen by 25% more than the plummeting standard of living for American Serfs. When Harper assumed power in 2006; Canada’s economy was the envy of the entire Western world. Now it lies in ruin.
North American politicians, our representatives, don’t simply endorse this economic rape of our previously prosperous societies. They go out of their way to deceive us, in order to defend this corrupt status quo for the oligarchs they serve.
They produce fraudulent/falsified economic “statistics” (which are bereft of even the tiniest degree of legitimacy) in order to attempt to hide this economic rape from their own populations. With respect to all the signs of this economic oppression which these Traitors can’t hide with their lies; they pat the Serfs on the heads, tell them this is all “normal” – and then order them to shut-up, and get back to serving the Privileged.
More specifically; we all serve the rapacious financial parasites whom readers now know as “the One Bank”. It is this cabal which has planted traitors like Stephen Harper and Barack Obama (and George Bush Jr., before him) on the thrones of these now-feudal societies. It is this cabal which pulls the strings of these political puppets, commanding them to lie, cheat, and steal from the very people they are (supposedly) sworn to serve.
There is much more wealth in our societies today than in the “prosperous” 1960’s, the zenith of the Middle Class in North America. Where is all that wealth? Stolen, and hidden, in the vaults of the One Bank.
All that those parasites have, we earned. Sadly, after decades of relentless brainwashing by the Corporate media (merely one of the One Bank’s economic tentacles); the Serfs of North America – who only one generation earlier were Middle Class citizens – now believe that they deserve to be serfs.
Our salvation, ironically, will only come once the One Bank has completed its economic rape of our societies. When our Serf-majorities are not merely poor and oppressed, but begin to starve (like the Homeless); then and only then will enlightenment begin to spread.
The endless lies/brainwashing by the thieving bankers, traitor politicians, and corrupt media will not be able to feed the hungry stomachs of the Serfs. Then and only then; the Serfs will open their eyes – and begin to look for where all their wealth (and food) has disappeared. Then and only then; the Serfs will discover the wealth-hoards of these oligarchs: mountains of money far, far greater than any hoards ever accumulated by any other tyrants of humanity.
All of these hoards of wealth are stolen, via the illegal manipulation of markets, or blatant, criminal, frauds. All of it belongs to the Serfs. Hundreds of years of history tell us that at that point “justice” will be meted-out via the guillotine, or similar instrument of socio-economic retribution. It’s time for the Serfs to start sharpening some blades…
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RickC; Greetings fellow walmart shopper. I buy stuff at both Walmart and Costco, Amazon, and local stores. I was shocked one time at Sams, when a manager I was talking to stated they don't make a profit on what is sold at Sams, "the profit comes from memberships. Go figure. And those that skoff at Costco paying more to reduce turnover haven't any idea of the costs of hiring, training and nurturning a productive employee.
Also, there are no lines at any walmart in the early AM when I shop.
Costco also makes almost all their money on the membership fees. That's where the higher wages come from.
Although I dislike Wal Mart and many here talk smack about Costco, they forget you will not see a Costco in a low income or rural area. They typically build where the median income for an area is middle to high middle class. Thus they can pay more to their employees.
I do know alot of Wal mart employees and my negihbor across the street makes alot more then 8 bucks and hour.
Costo has a "competitive advantage" because they pay more? OK.
Walmart has to be the most scrooge-like, soulless company -- http://consumerist.com/2014/11/25/walmart-still-avoiding-paying-7000-fin...
Oh my God are you full of crap pRickC!!! You should avoid nail guns at all costs bankster enabler.
There are no "mom and pop" stores left. And if there were- they still have to pay min. wage which is essentially all Walmart pays. The big box retailers have gobbled up mom and pop and Amazon is destroying them.
Over pay workers? 15 bucks an hr is overpaid?
Look I get your points- this I can do without even calling you names. The average Walmart store costs US taxpayers 1 million a year- employees qualify for a number of welfare programs including foodstamps and subsidized health insurance. They even teach their employees how to access taxpayer supported programs to keep the pressure off their margins.
To address your last paragraph specifically...is there some income threshold that allows me to write a comment? In other words, I went to school, I paid my dues, I made decent investments and apparently my comments are then declared nonsense by some Walmart worshipper...is that how this works?
I don't buy from China if I can help it. Apple pays the Chinese 1 dollar an hour for their 300 dollar phones. I suppose you think that's a fair wage given all the unemployed Chinese. Your logic sucks.
"The average Walmart store costs US taxpayers 1 million a year- employees qualify for a number of welfare programs including foodstamps and subsidized health insurance."
It isn't just Walmart, lunatic. Any retail, Construction, food service, temp agencies etc. do the same thing.
All corporations are just responding to the "business climate" created/manipulated by the banksters and their ho politicians.
"Ho ! Ho ! Ho !" Santa said, bouncing Harper on his knee... "And what do you want this year ?" Santa asked.
Those corporations are part of the bankster club, not meaningfully distinct from it; they buy and share the same ho's.