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I find it astounding that, with the expos�s of this blood-sucking corporation so rampant - a corporation that relies on the government to supplement the wages and benefits of its workers while treating them like so many slaves and sycophants - anyone can rationalize that the "jobs" they provide is sufficient reason to subsidize them. This mantra that the right continues to use to marginalize liberals and labor types is an old, very tired chant. The song has been sung almost daily for 50 years as justification for creating walking-the-edge, 2-wage families; turning the air unbreathable; and making the water undrinkable; all while draining the public purse of the resources needed to adequately house, feed and clothe our residents - all for private profits that never return a dime to the treasuries we feed with our taxes. Moreover, the resource losses from special municipal tax districts deprive other jurisdictions of the revenues required just to maintain education and public services and drive residential property taxes higher and higher as the fair share of commercial and industrial property taxes plunges. Meanwhile, the record will show that the very few jobs generated by initial investments of public dollars are utterly unsustainable, low-wage positions, temporary construction jobs or jobs that produce no residential upticks. Almost all of the jobs generated by these methods are simply transferred in from other businesses or Metro Area communities. A bare minimum, if any, of those workers move from their current homes to St. Paul the only place where such jobs might generate revenue. Now, with Wal-Mart, you can multiply such problems by 100-fold, with their arrogant disdain for the law and their own employees - hiring illegal workers, forcing unrecorded and uncompensated overtime work, paying so little that welfare must pick up where their low wages leave off. And what can we not seem to do as a public? Boycott their so-called low prices as indicative of their sour treatment of workers. A price-conscious consumer should know what those low prices are doing to the people who work there. No, Paul. No, Mitch. There is absolutely nothing you can say that gives credence to these bloodsuckers. I don't know if anything can block their presence in the Midway or anywhere else around here, but I can tell you this: any elected official in this town or county that supports this redevelopment is going to face scathing and deserved rejection for their callousness in encouraging such horrific and predatory business practices - in the name of jobs. As it is, Wal-Mart recalls the industrial revolutionary era of child labor and worker exploitation. Why are we even pondering the presence of such leeches on our society? Andy Driscoll Crocus Hill ------ > From: "Paul Kuettel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:12:32 -0600 > Subject: [StPaul] Back to St Paul > > Hi All! > > I have been overwhelmed at how the Walmart thread has re-energized this > list....or is it just that everyone is on Christmas Vacation with time on > their > hands? > > The various rational and irrational takes on economics have been very > interesting,, but we have strayed far from the scope of the list. > > I suggest that we have beaten the general topic of capitalism to death. Let > us > return to the original thread of the pros and cons of Walmart locating in > Midway > Marketplace, specifically, and in St Paul, generally. > > My position is that jobs is jobs. Take 'em or leave 'em. We have experienced > a > great influx of immigrants over the past decade, which had grown exponentially > as more come and reproduce. Betty McCollum promises to put an upword spike on > those stats next year. > > I wondered back in a political debate in '94 why disparate cultures from the > mountains of Laos to the deserts of Somalia would be attracted to such a > radically different climate (weather, political, social, religious, you name > it). The glass-half full people responded that it is for education, jobs, > opportunity in general. The half-empties used terms like "welfare magnet." I > think both groups are correct to some extent. In '94 I was more in tune with > the half-empties, but seeing the success of many of our new neighbors has > softened my stance. To be sure, we ARE a welfare magnet, but kudos to those > who > have quickly worked their way out of it. > > Should an EVILLLL corporation like Walmart be allowed to fill a vacant retail > space and compete with nearby Target, providing value for the dollar and > entry-level jobs for hundreds of St Paulites, or should we simply pay more > property tax to Ramsey County for social services in order to keep the Midway > Center/Marketplace/Target complex so very upscale and pristine? ;-) > > Builder's Square, Ikea, Walmart, Menards, etc. I say, Bring 'em ON! As Nahm > used to say, "Gud fuh Saint Pawhl." > > Cheers and Happy New Year! > > PK > St Paul born and bred, now keeping an eye on "my" city from my aerie in Falcon > Heights, home of the Raptor Center. _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ _____________________________________________ For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
