The Evil Empire

Let me tell you a little story.....
A long time ago in a far away land, lived a little old man named Sam. Sam had a dream of opening a store that offered not only competitively low prices but also the highest level of customer service. How was he to do this? By involving his store associates in everyday decisions effectively making the store belong to it's workers and sharing quarterly and yearly profits with those associates.

This is no bedtime story, it really happened. Sam Walton started the world's largest retail business with one little store in Arkansas. The realization of Mr. Walton's life-long dream came before he passed away. As few do nowadays, this man saw his own dream come true. However, if this great man knew what those at the helm of his great dream were doing, he would be rolling in his grave!

Someone very near and very dear to me informed me recently of a sinister plot already being carried out at other stores in the country by this evil empire. What is this plot? We will get to that in a minute. First let's lead into that with a little bit of info about Walmart's economic position during these hard times we are currently undergoing.

"Wal-Mart recorded the strongest sales result in its history in the fourth quarter, with $108 billion in sales," (Mike Duke, chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores).

As this recession continues and worsens by the day, Walmart's bottom line had done nothing but grow. The growth is largely in part to Americans having less to spend flocking to the discount giant in an effort to stretch their hard earned dollars as much as possible.

CEO Mike Duke also stated that during the year 2008, Walmart created over 33,000 jobs in the United States alone while throughout the rest of the country over two and a half million people lost theirs.

"We will work even harder this year to save people money so they can live better. I do believe this is Walmart's time." (Mike Duke, CEO of Walmart Stores)

Now onto the affore mentioned sinister plot......
The little detail of which I have recently become aware is that Walmart desires to be merely a part-time employer for the most part. What this means is that while the company is producing its largest sales out of the company's entire history, the greed does not end.
Walmart Associates who wish to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, have attended store meetings where they would be notified that the majority of them would be offered fewer than a handful of hours per week from here on out. We are talking about full time employees who have done nothing wrong other than go to work for the wrong company. These people have husbands, wives, and children who during these tough economic times count on their full time income and benefits.

Let me also state that I am not just listening to disgruntled employees and as a result spewing sensationalist claims. During the year 2008 I personally managed the overhaul of the communications infrastructure during three general remodels at Walmart stores across the state of Kansas. Each of these stores spent well over $1 million to remodel their store, at least one of which had no need whatsoever. Throughout the course of these projects I noticed quite quickly that treating associates like dogs is common practice for Walmart management throughout the country. The poor treatment did not end their either. Not only did store management treat their employees poorly but the special management team, (comprised of Walmart management from stores all over the country), that is brought in to handle just the remodel was guilty of this too. Now one could surmise that the associates of the store, especially the management, would be happy that we (Remodel Contractors) were there bettering their store. No! I was specifically told by an assistant manager at one of those stores (the one in the worst shape out of the three) that "It was a nuisance that we were in their store" and "We were not wanted there". I replied "Fine" and promptly walked out of the store leaving half of their department phones throughout the store inoperable. (this did not make management too happy to say the least!!)

Now as awful of a thing as it is to accept, layoffs due to a company's drop in sales and performance I can understand. During tough times as these, a financially struggling company must cut expenses or whither and die as a result of their debts. However, for a company in the situation that Walmart finds itself in to behave this way is inexcusable and should be considered criminal.

As mentioned before they are putting up their best sales in history! Why therefore would cutting jobs and benefits be necessary? This question can be answered by one little five letter word..... GREED! For a very long time now Walmart nationwide has been making their full time employees shave 1 hour per week off of their 40 hours. All this does is pad the management's bonus checks. Speaking of bonus checks, I know of one store in particular that was told their 2008 Year-End Bonus would be around $800.00 per full time associate. Next time the bonus was brought up it had shrank, this happened several more times until the bonus was less than $100. While management got their bonuses, which for an assistant manager what just shy of $5,000 the regular full time associates have still not seen their year end bonus. To make matters worse, it has been reported to me that the last associate who questioned management about this was sent home from work!

Stealing bonuses from he hard working associates who make each store what it is, taking away their benefits, and abusing the hard work of people in the worst financial crisis since the great depression. If this is how Walmart needs act to provide "Everyday Low Prices" then maybe the American consumer should show them how we feel about exploitation. Boycott Walmart!! Shop at Target, Kmart, Big Lots, etc. Despite what you may think there are plenty of alternatives to shopping at walmart. They are not number one because of their prices. They are number one because they have stores everywhere and their marketing. Ignore them and take your dollars elsewhere! You had better believe I will!

Down with Socialism

Let me start out by offering a couple of definitions here.
Capitalism: an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange of wealth are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.

Socialism: Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy, preferably in government controlled markets. Socialism is the stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.

Now consider the steps our government is taking to supposedly pull our economy out of this recession. And do not assume that it is all Obama, though he must shoulder much of the blame. Bush started the bail out fund, our elected officials agreed to it, and unfortunately, the one man with the power to stop it, Obama, is going along for the ride and in fact making it worse! I fully believe with all of my heart that when programs such as Welfare and Foodstamps were started, they were put in act with the best intentions. These programs can still do some good for those who are truly in need for a short period of time. However, what programs such as these have done is to produce a society that has learned that they can sit and do nothing at no cost to them, but still be taken care of, involuntarily by the citizens and hardworking taxpayers around them. Those who choose to work end up paying for those who wont, by order of the government. Now do not be mistaken, there are those out there that NEED this help, those with true legitimate disabilities. These are the people the programs were intended for and I am not putting them down. Rather I am calling on those who can, but REFUSE to work.
Now on a small scale I would not consider this to be socialism, however as grand of scale as public support of private citizens has become, one can find no other label for it than Socialism. Not only would I call it Socialism but it dangerously flirts with Communism.

Now if your hard earned tax dollars paying for other people's entire lives with no approval or permission from you, the Taxpayer, doesn't sound like Socialism to you, lets add a couple of more factors into the equation.

What about the Bailout fund? That huge pot of our tax dollars being divided up among the very corporations that drove our economy to this point with you having no say so in the matter. Sounds alot like Socialism to me. The government has now also proposed a plan wherein they would partner with the banks to purchase Toxic Stocks and Mortgages (aka. Failing Stocks and home loans that the owner can barely or not at all afford to pay). In this plan, the government, (AKA. our tax dollars) would put up to 95% of the money needed to make these purchases, leaving very little risk for the banks, while the profits from these joint ventures would be split 50/50. Let's put this into perspective, for a $60,000 mortgage, our tax dollars would cover $57,000 and the bank would only have to put up $3,000 and the profits will still be split 50/50 between the government and the bank.
Doesn't sound like a very wise business investment does it?

I personally am all for the government investing a certain ammount of tax dollars into profitable markets. I feel a plan of this nature could be a very effective way of generating more revenue and will give the tax payers a break due to the fact that the profits of such investments could be reinvested into the nation's annual budget reducing the need to collect as many tax dollars from you an me. But this is not what is going on currently. Obama wants our tax dollars to be spent buying stock in BANKRUPT companies. How will this help our economy? The "Big Three" auto makers, have already dipped their collective hands into the cookie jar and have been back to D.C. asking for more! Where does it end? The idea is that the bailout funds accepted by these companies are merely loans and must be paid back over time. However, given that the government issued the loan, much like a bank does when you buy a house, they government is slowly but surely buying up our economy and it will not be long before they own it all and are "Redistributing the Wealth" however Obama sees fit. This means the end of Capitalism, Freedom, and the American way. We will soon be a communist nation if this runaway president and entire government have their way!
We must all stand up and collectively remind this government who they really work for!!!

Obama and his Socialistic Experiment

Is anyone else paying attention to what our President is doing to our country? For starters, I am not a Democrat or a Republican. I have no party affiliations at all and choose to be an independent because I choose to base my political standings on right and wrong, not on what a group of people tell me to think.

So far within his first 100 days in office, President Obama has done a few things that have been unsettling to say the least.
First, He spent $20.3 million of our tax dollars assisting Palestinians, over 50% admittedly loyal to Hamas, in resettling in America. For those of you who don't follow foreign current events, Hamas is an extremist, Anti-America Terrorist Organization guilty of countless atrocities throughout the Gaza Strip and Isreal.

Second, Obama is throwing billions of dollars to the two places he stated while on the campaign trail, would be the worst places you could spend Amercia's tax dollars, Banks and the Auto Industry. By the way, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were huge Obama/Biden campain supporters. I ask this, is our president buying future votes with our tax dollars???

Third, and this one strikes a little too close to home for myself and for every single living Veteran and their families, Obama has suggested that the Department of Veteran's Affairs start billing disabled veteran's private health insurance providers for the treatment of service connected disabilities. The DVA's whole purpose for existence is to treat veterans for service connected disabilities and provide them with assistance in reintegration into the civilian world when they are discharged from active duty. So what this means is that the president is suggesting that our country no longer take care of those who have made physical sacrifices for our nation.

Fourth, What is the deal with "Obama's Youth"?
The House just passed, and Obama signed into law, H.R. 1388: Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act or "Serve America Act" for short.
The basic point of this bill is that men and women as young as 18 years old will be FORCED to join MANDATORY National Service programs. What the bill calls "Service Education" will also be required by these programs. Communists, Dictators, and flat out Tyrants have a different term for this, it is called Political Re-education or brainwashing for short.
Now don't be mislead, this bill does not automatically require all teens to register and join Obama's Youth Brigade as some are already calling it. Those the bill will be applied to are mainly students. College students who are paying for their education with student loans are the target. So in other words the message I am getting from this is Obama is creating an educated, brainwashed elite. Sounds alot like the Hitler Youth and Nazi Germany to me. Reguardless the choices are clear for our youth, further your education and become a follower of the Cult of Obama or if you oppose this maniac, you won't be able to get an education after high school. Let's face it, I don't know too many people who can pay for their entire college education without some sort of student loans. By the way, this one is for all of you with religeous beliefs, the bill also FORBIDS participants in the program from attending any kind of church. What happened to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in all of this???
These are just a few of my MAJOR concerns with President Obama, I have many more and will post them in time. Until then, I look forward to your feedback. I am a mature adult and I want to hear from you even if you disagree.

Afterthought:
I have a few links here to YouTube videos that prove my point as well. I personally find them chilling and it goes to the heart of how easily our youth can be corrupted. They look up to us for guidance how can we continue to allow this to happen. Watch......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPSqL9_mfM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mvP0ArKIGY

Architects of Detroits Collapse

I have been concerned for our country's future for some time now. I'm no fortune teller and I am not claiming to be clairyvoyant either. But, I have seen the troubles our great nation now faces comming for a long time now. And these troubles reach far deeper than our economy going down the tubes.

For entirely too long we as Americans have gone along with a runaway economy as well as a self serving government and paid little to no attention where they have been taking us. Ridiculous government spending, inflation, unfair and almost criminal credit practices, and ever-rising prices on all goods and services have all led us to our current crisis.

Corporate America has gotten entirely too greedy! I wish it were not true but the potential collapse of our auto industry was entirely self inflicted by the men in charge of the "Big Three". While the foreign auto manufacturers focused on lighter weight and more fuel efficient vehicles all along, Detroit waited until the price of a gallon of gasoline rose to over $4.00 per gallon. Still with soaring fuel prices, Detroit did not act. In fact it wasn't until after fuel prices started to fall towards a more tolerable level that GM started making a huge marketing push to show their fuel efficient hybrid models. While Japanese owned Toyota was becoming the number one selling vehicle brand in America, our own auto industry was still trying to force sport utility vehicles at an entirley too expensive price and horrible fuel economy on an already strained marketplace. Now they are holding our government ransom under the pretenses that if Detroit falls, the us economy will irrecoverably collapse. The ransom demands are paying off as well with the $700 billion plus bailout fund comprised of our tax dollars. I try my best to buy American when it is affordable, but Detroit needs to wake up! Mainstream, middle-class America can barely, and in most cases, not at all afford the prices of your vehicles anymore. I cannot justify buying a pickup truck for $45,000 plus. At that price, when I need a pickup truck I will go down the road to Uhaul and rent one for $20.00 per day! And that's not even addressing the inability to afford as much fuel as todays trucks require.
While union auto workers are typically an expensive labor pool, the men and women on the assembly line are not the problem. The guilt for the auto industry's collapse rests with those in charge of the companies. These President's and CEO's have had the power all along to start their companies in a new affordable and more fuel efficient direction and they chose to be reactive instead of preparing for the future.

The Road to Recovery:
Restructuring and layoffs are not the answer. Drop the insane notion that you are the giants and therefore do not have to compete for our business. Build and offer a better product than your foreign competitors instead of the same old horrible fuel economy with a redesigned body. A captialist economy is all about competition. You have been soundly beaten and your sales show it. Now get back on the horse make that better product and level those foreign companies that are taking over our marketplace!