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Sam Walton's 6 son's worth more than bottom 30% combined

hey look!



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a straw man!
 
VanceMack said:
Might be interesting to know. Also might be interesting to know how many of their employees would be unemployed if it werent for a company like WalMart that takes under educated and unskilled workers and gives them opportunities to work, advance, opportunities for education, etc. I dont see too many of WalMarts opponents breaking any sounmd barriers in their rush to provide viable alternatives...just a whole lot of people whining about their success.
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True, there probably would be a couple million unemployed Chinese without WalMart's Chinese factories.

WalMart's "opponents" were not given the health-tax breaks WalMart is given, therefore moust charge more for products than WalMart.
 
joko104 said:
True, there probably would be a couple million unemployed Chinese without WalMart's Chinese factories.
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that's a good point. Wal Mart is probably responsible for helping to lift many, many Chinese out of poverty.

WalMart's "opponents" were not given the health-tax breaks WalMart is given, therefore moust charge more for products than WalMart.
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:) Wal Mart actually pays a higher percentage of it's income in taxation than the vast majority of American businesses. If you want to rail, rail on Princess Pelosi; who apparently handed the Obamacare Waivers out like they were government loans and businesses in the SF area were her family members.
 
joko104 said:
To those bitterly complaining of my OP and both Obama and Republicans granting unique concessions to WalMart - also to give WalMart an economic advantage against all other competitors, I suppose you also believe the Walton sons really should be receiving food stamps too as part of the overall government welfare program for them.
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I certainly wouldn't call the responses 'bitterly complaining'. Far more accurate would be derision at posting something which you either hadn't read or hadn't understood to prove a point. Your second sentence above is decidedly petulant. I sincerely hope this is simply a case of youthful idealism, which while still sloppy, may be at least mitigating.
 
joko104 said:
True, there probably would be a couple million unemployed Chinese without WalMart's Chinese factories.

WalMart's "opponents" were not given the health-tax breaks WalMart is given, therefore moust charge more for products than WalMart.
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There are a few dozen million in this country that would have gone unemployed were it not for Walmart and again...I dont see folks like you rushing to fill the void. But you do love to bitch and whine.
WalMart is an entry level job. As an employer, they take in under-educated and unskilled workers and provide for them opportunities. Many leave. Many take advantage of the training programs and advance or move up elsewhere.
 
VanceMack said:
There are a few dozen million in this country that would have gone unemployed were it not for Walmart and again...I dont see folks like you rushing to fill the void. But you do love to bitch and whine.
WalMart is an entry level job. As an employer, they take in under-educated and unskilled workers and provide for them opportunities. Many leave. Many take advantage of the training programs and advance or move up elsewhere.
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Actually, most studies that I've seen conclude that Walmart reduces employment and has a whole host of negative effects on communities. But they do have low low prices!

Key Studies on Wal-Mart and Big-Box Retail | The New Rules Project
 
joko104 said:
Six Waltons Have More Wealth Than the Bottom 30 % of Americans - Yahoo! News

The 6 sons of Sam Walton (Wal-Mart) are worth more than the bottom 30% of Americans combined. They have more money than 100,000,000 Americans combined.

Yet Obama and Republicans agreed that isn't enough.

I recall Michelle Obama congratulating Wal-Mart and President Obama agreeing that Walton son's just couldn't afford the health care law for their Wal-Mart employees so gave them an exemption. Republicans, of course, believe the Walton's pay too much for taxes already.
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The hell? Instead of whining about their wealth we should be lauding their success and cheering others working towards success.
 
MrVicchio said:
The hell? Instead of whining about their wealth we should be lauding their success and cheering others working towards success.
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why is this
because as Warren Buffett terms it, they had the 'luck of the womb'
they were born into wealth
what is there to celebrate
 
joko104 said:
Six Waltons Have More Wealth Than the Bottom 30 % of Americans - Yahoo! News

The 6 sons of Sam Walton (Wal-Mart) are worth more than the bottom 30% of Americans combined. They have more money than 100,000,000 Americans combined.

Yet Obama and Republicans agreed that isn't enough.

I recall Michelle Obama congratulating Wal-Mart and President Obama agreeing that Walton son's just couldn't afford the health care law for their Wal-Mart employees so gave them an exemption. Republicans, of course, believe the Walton's pay too much for taxes already.
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My official response to the highlighted portion of the OP is.

SO?
 
AdamT said:
I take my hat off to Sam Walton for being so successful, even if he did kill off countless small businesses along the way and outsource huge amounts of production to China. Good for him. His children, OTOH, did not earn the $20 billion they each inherited.
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And I feel none of us really earned the human inheritance of nuclear power, internal combustion engines, etc. We stand on the shoulders of giants, reaping the benefits of their labor and ingenuity...oblivious to the struggle it was, and to the danger these technologies and sciences pose to ourselves, because we put in ZERO effort to obtain them, other than to purchase it.
 
AdamT said:
No? Not the public that supported his business all those years? The taxpayers who paid to keep up the roads and highways that made it possible? The folks who paid the diplomats to ensure reasonably free trade with China, where he obtained so much of the crap he sold? The people who paid for national security to keep shipping lanes safe and the ports open? Seems to me the people of this country gave Sam Walton quite a lot.
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The public had no obligation to support him, nor his business, so neither of them have any obligation to them. As for the tax payers, they paid for those roads because they drove on them. We paid the diplomats to ensure reasonably free trade with China because to do so was in our best interest, NOT wallmarts, and besides, plenty of other companies reaped this benefit as well...does that mean THEY owe us, too? Seems to me, we only gave Sam Walton the exact same thing we gave ourselves, and ONLY because it directly benefited us to do so.
 
AdamT said:
That's commendable. I wonder how many of their own employees are lined up there because they can't make do on their pathetic pay and no benefits.
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Like the old and guy and the other dude in the wheel chair, who would not have a job otherwise? Since when did we expect a cashier job to be able to support us, with the average american lifestyle?
 
joko104 said:
To those bitterly complaining of my OP and both Obama and Republicans granting unique concessions to WalMart - also to give WalMart an economic advantage against all other competitors, I suppose you also believe the Walton sons really should be receiving food stamps too as part of the overall government welfare program for them.
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Our government grants no more economic advantage to walmart than it does to any other major corporation, so why attack just walmart? Because it's hip?
 
KevinKohler said:
Like the old and guy and the other dude in the wheel chair, who would not have a job otherwise? Since when did we expect a cashier job to be able to support us, with the average american lifestyle?
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Walmart pays considerably less than the average retailer, both in terms of wages and benefits.

Fun Walmart facts:

A 2002 survey by the state of Georgia's subsidized healthcare system, PeachCare, found that Walmart was the largest private employer of parents of children enrolled in its program; one quarter of the employees of Georgia Walmarts qualified to enroll their children in the federal subsidized healthcare system Medicaid.[49] A 2004 study at the University of California, Berkeley charges that Walmart's low wages and benefits are insufficient, and although decreasing the burden on the social safety net to some extent, California taxpayers still pay $86 million a year to Walmart employees.
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KevinKohler said:
The public had no obligation to support him, nor his business, so neither of them have any obligation to them. As for the tax payers, they paid for those roads because they drove on them. We paid the diplomats to ensure reasonably free trade with China because to do so was in our best interest, NOT wallmarts, and besides, plenty of other companies reaped this benefit as well...does that mean THEY owe us, too? Seems to me, we only gave Sam Walton the exact same thing we gave ourselves, and ONLY because it directly benefited us to do so.
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But the public did, and does support him. As to the rest, yes, I'm not singling out Walmart heirs. I think there should be an estate tax that provides something like one to two million tax free for each heir, with a 90% rate above that limit.
 
AdamT said:
But the public did, and does support him. As to the rest, yes, I'm not singling out Walmart heirs. I think there should be an estate tax that provides something like one to two million tax free for each heir, with a 90% rate above that limit.
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Are they permitted to inherit the parents' business? Because I hear Wal-Mart rakes in somewhere around a quarter Trillion in revenue annually.

What about the gold watches and old coins? Do those have to be melted down? What of the other heirlooms?

Maybe FedGov can just appoint you to swoop in and pick over the carcasses of the rich to make sure the children don't enjoy too much of a feast. That way it can be a case-by-case basis.
 
Mason66 said:
My official response to the highlighted portion of the OP is.

SO?
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My official response to your response is:

NOW LET THEM PAY THE MOTHER****ING NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES THEY'VE HAD TO FOIST OFF ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN ORDER TO REAP SUCH EGREGIOUSLY HUGE PROFITS.

Edit: but than again, that's more of a response to the rich worship going down in this thread than it is a specific response to your post.
 
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AdamT said:
But the public did, and does support him. As to the rest, yes, I'm not singling out Walmart heirs. I think there should be an estate tax that provides something like one to two million tax free for each heir, with a 90% rate above that limit.
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As he supports the public. If the top 1% pay about 40% and the top 10% pay 70% of federal income taxes, how could it be otherwise? The remaining 90% pay 30% which really means that 43% pay the remaining 30% while 47% of "the public" pay nothing, then is it fair to ask who is supporting who?

The problem with inheritance tax at 90% as you suggested is that short of seizing one's assets, there is no realistic way to ensure that their estates would be over the tax free limit unless death was completely unexpected. We usually have a pretty good idea of when our time is drawing nigh.
 
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MrVicchio said:
The hell? Instead of whining about their wealth we should be lauding their success and cheering others working towards success.
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Please specify which success you cheer:

1. The economic success of China via Wal-Mart?

or

2. Their success in obtaining special exemptions from Washington to make it impossible for any USA based or other company to economically compete with Wal-Mart nor their Chinese factories thus creating the perfectly government protected monopoly and elimination of free market forces?
 
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AdamT said:
But the public did, and does support him. As to the rest, yes, I'm not singling out Walmart heirs. I think there should be an estate tax that provides something like one to two million tax free for each heir, with a 90% rate above that limit.
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Why? These numbers, this idea, is based on what?
 
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