WalmartWatch Breaks ?Shocking? News
by October 20, 2008 12:00 am 65 views
The only thing less shocking about WalmartWatch coming out with another attack on the Walton clan is the “news” it was trying to break.
Psst. The Waltons are Republicans.
OK, now that you’ve picked yourself up off the floor in amazement, let’s look at these latest “allegations”:
“The conclusion is clear. Wal-Mart and the Walton family spend millions of dollars every year to fund an extreme right wing corporate agenda that is often directly at odds with the interests of Wal-Mart’s workers and shoppers,” according to the group’s release. “…from what is transparent, it is clear that the Waltons do not have the best interest of Wal-Mart workers or many of their customers in mind when exerting their political influence.”
With breathless excitement, WalmartWatch notes Wal-Mart has given $7.5 million through its political action committee since 1999, mainly to Republicans. Of course what they don’t mention is that 12 unions donated a total of $325 million, nearly all of it to Democrats, from 1989-2008.
Get this: Wal-Mart actually gives money to the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the Food Marketing Institute. We know, unbelievable for the world’s largest retailer to donate to groups who represent its industry.
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WalmartWatch also chastises Wal-Mart for opposing carbon-offset guidelines, noting that “most environmentalists” view it as necessary to fight global warming. We didn’t see anything about “most economists” viewing the cap-and-trade system as a huge tax on energy that will regressively affect those least able to pay.
Among the other revelations: The Waltons, who are worth a collective $100 billion give or take a billion or two depending on the share price, oppose the estate tax.
They sure sound greedy until you remember the company’s charitable foundation gave away $415 million in 2006 and late matriarch Helen Walton pitched in $365 million herself.
The Waltons also gave a “stunning” — to use WalmartWatch’s words — $46 million in 2006 to aid the school voucher and charter school movement.
Only in the world of WalmartWatch is this a nefarious scheme to “Walmart-ize” education as a future profit-making scheme. Actually caring about students and their educations must be out of the question.