>Giant Food and their local union, UFCW 400, colluded few years back to have >the Monkey County, MD county council pass a law outlawing some of their >competition. They obviously greased enough palms to make sure that no store >with greater than 100,000 square feet is able to open and sell groceries in >the county.
Many communities view a store "greater than 100,000 square feet" with the same enthusiasm as they would view a toxic waste dump. (And some communities think a toxic waste dump would be just fine.) What a huge greedy corporation can do is give you close to zero options as they undermine the local and national economy. They pay a sub-living wage and require their poor workers to work additional unpaid hours off the books. They don't provide realistic health insurance so local hospitals are flooded with the very sick uninsured. This also stresses community health services and burdens local governments. That raises your taxes. Meanwhile they don't pay taxes because they were granted tax concessions based on their false claims of good jobs and prosperity (after the concessions end they close the store and move to another town). They buy almost everything from China, causing US manufacturers to close and putting US workers out of work. They sell shoddy goods that wear out way too quickly, making them a poor buy even at their "low" price. They poison our children with toxic chemicals in toys and in food. There's more. I'm just tired of typing. ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
