Walmart dumps ALEC

[Star]

Walmart said late Wednesday it is suspending membership in the American Legislative Council (ALEC), which the retailer joined in 1993.


By Reuters


ROGERS, Ark. -- Walmart Stores (WMT), the world's No. 1 retailer and the biggest seller of firearms in the United States, is dropping out of a U.S. conservative advocacy group that has been a lightning rod over voting and gun laws.

Walmart said late Wednesday it is suspending membership in the American Legislative Council (ALEC), which the retailer joined in 1993.

ALEC sparked controversy recently because of its involvement in voting laws and in "stand your ground" gun laws, including the one under scrutiny in the Florida killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February.

A coalition of liberal advocates targeted the group for its support of the self-defense laws.

ALEC, which serves as a forum for corporations and mostly Republican state lawmakers and lobbyists to discuss model legislation, has been criticized by liberals for promoting laws that require photo identification to vote.

ColorOfChange, a liberal advocacy group for black Americans, has said the voting laws put the poor and minorities at a disadvantage.

In April, ALEC said it was abandoning the committee that worked on "public safety and elections" to focus on the economy. Despite the change, Walmart decided it was no longer focused on the same issues as the council.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

So? Is WalMart some measure for what is right and wrong?

 

[Star]

So? Is WalMart some measure for what is right and wrong?

Another one bites the dust!



The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is back in the news, and not in a good way for the organization. The flow of defectors from ALEC has slowed of late, but now a major company, Amazon, is parting ways with the extreme, far-right legislation mill.

Amazon.com announced Thursday that it will not renew membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council—a conservative group that has drafted controversial gun, voting and immigration laws—due to "public concerns."
​

The company held a shareholders meeting today, where a coalition of organizations, including People For the American Way, ColorOfChange.org, CREDO Mobile, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, SumOfUs and Fuse Washington, delivered more than 500,000 petition signatures asking the company to leave ALEC. They were obviously heard.

Amazon's defection makes the news that Scantron Corporation, a $200 million for-profit educational testing and online tutoring company (they make bubble sheets for standardized tests, too), has left ALEC. A little less exciting, but still. It is officially the fifteenth corporation, and the seventeeth organization, to abandon ship. Drip, drip, drip.

 

[Star]

So? Is WalMart some measure for what is right and wrong?

Walmart says:

"Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission ‘to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets,'" Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart vice president of public affairs and government relations, said in a May 30 letter addressed to ALEC's national chairman and executive director.

"We feel the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide. To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC."

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

So? Is WalMart some measure for what is right and wrong?

Walmart says:

"Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission ‘to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets,'" Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart vice president of public affairs and government relations, said in a May 30 letter addressed to ALEC's national chairman and executive director.

"We feel the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide. To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC."

why not just tell us if you are liberal or conservative and why? Why bother to bring up such a trivial topic unless to show us how trivial you are?

 

[Luissa]

Good, for one the law is stupid and it is good some are standing up against it.

Now if Walmart can start buying more products made in the US, and move their factories back to the US. that would be even better.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Good, for one the law is stupid and it is good some are standing up against it.

Now if Walmart can start buying more products made in the US, and move their factories back to the US. that would be even better.

why not pass a law the all stores have to buy from the most expensive places they can find rather than the cheapest???? Who really cares what customers have to pay!!

 

[Luissa]

Good, for one the law is stupid and it is good some are standing up against it.

Now if Walmart can start buying more products made in the US, and move their factories back to the US. that would be even better.

why not pass a law the all stores have to buy from the most expensive places they can find rather than the cheapest???? Who really cares what customers have to pay!!

Who really cares that factory jobs are going down the drain. I would rather pay a little more for a better product, then have more and more jobs sent to China.
Everything is expensive when you don't have a job.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Who really cares that factory jobs are going down the drain.

We all care, but, to protect a job from real world competition means the factory will not turn out world class goods and services. It will keep going downhill faster and faster and drag the entire country down with it. This is Econ 101 and now you know it too without having been to college!!

 

[Luissa]

Who really cares that factory jobs are going down the drain.

We all care, but, to protect a job from real world competition means the factory will not turn out world class goods and services. It will keep going downhill faster and faster and drag the entire country down with it. This is Econ 101 and now you know it too without having been to college!!

huh?

It has nothing to do with competition and everything to do with the the profit the corporation will make.
They can pay cheaper labor, make a cheaper product that is total crap, and make more money. They also do not really get penalized for making this product in another country, so that is even more profit.

Prime example, my mom has a heater she uses in her paint room. It is a small box one that she probably bought in 1981, the thing still works. She bought a modern version at Walmart three or four year ago. It stopped working right a few months ago. We are settling for crap products, and we are settling for these corporations screwing over factory workers.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Who really cares that factory jobs are going down the drain.

We all care, but, to protect a job from real world competition means the factory will not turn out world class goods and services. It will keep going downhill faster and faster and drag the entire country down with it. This is Econ 101 and now you know it too without having been to college!!

huh?


tell your mom to buy a Markel space heater for $62. They are guaranteed for life!!

It has nothing to do with competition and everything to do with the the profit the corporation will make.
They can pay cheaper labor, make a cheaper product that is total crap, and make more money. They also do not really get penalized for making this product in another country, so that is even more profit.

Prime example, my mom has a heater she uses in her paint room. It is a small box one that she probably bought in 1981, the thing still works. She bought a modern version at Walmart three or four year ago. It stopped working right a few months ago. We are settling for crap products, and we are settling for these corporations screwing over factory workers.

this is more for college level folks, dear. If you protect an industry or athlete from international competition then it becomes less and less competitive. Remember Red China before it entered international competition!!

Tell your Mom to buy a Markel heater for $62. They are guaranteed for life

 

[Luissa]

We all care, but, to protect a job from real world competition means the factory will not turn out world class goods and services. It will keep going downhill faster and faster and drag the entire country down with it. This is Econ 101 and now you know it too without having been to college!!

huh?


tell your mom to buy a Markel space heater for $62. They are guaranteed for life!!

It has nothing to do with competition and everything to do with the the profit the corporation will make.
They can pay cheaper labor, make a cheaper product that is total crap, and make more money. They also do not really get penalized for making this product in another country, so that is even more profit.

Prime example, my mom has a heater she uses in her paint room. It is a small box one that she probably bought in 1981, the thing still works. She bought a modern version at Walmart three or four year ago. It stopped working right a few months ago. We are settling for crap products, and we are settling for these corporations screwing over factory workers.

this is more for college level folks, dear. If you protect an industry or athlete from international competition then it becomes less and less competitive. Remember Red China before it entered international competition!!

I said huh because you made no sense, it has nothing to do with understanding Econ 101, which I took in college.
I also remember what Red China was like before, because I also took a survey history class on China, and wrote my final paper on Sun Yat Sen. His number one goal was to build up industry ie factory jobs, not ship them to other countries. He knew China would be nothing without these sort of jobs, and that they needed to start making their own products. China has also realized that a growing economy needs a work force that pumps money back into their economy.

Like I said everything is expensive if you don't have a job. Walmart doesn't need to make their products in China to be competitive on a international market. Number one example of this being true, Detroit 30 years ago.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Walmart doesn't need to make their products in China to be competitive on a international market.

dear, thats exactly why they do make them there. Did you think it was because they liked the climate there???

Number one example of this being true, Detroit 30 years ago.

Detroit made a crappy liberal union product. Japan came along and forced them to make a world class product. Now you understand Detroit!!

 

[Luissa]

Walmart doesn't need to make their products in China to be competitive on a international market.

dear, thats exactly why they do make them there. Did you think it was because they liked the climate there???

Number one example of this being true, Detroit 30 years ago.

Detroit made a crappy liberal union product. Japan came along and forced them to make a world class product. Now you understand Detroit!!

So you are calling American Muscle cars a crappy union product? The point is they led the market when the jobs were here.
And no that isn't why they make their product in China. They make their product in China because they are greedy. Are you really making the claim a company has to make their product in China to be competitive?

And what would you call Chinese products? They are made by communist.
Plus your second statement kind of proves your first statement wrong. For one most Japanese cars that are bought here are made here, by American Factory workers.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

So you are calling American Muscle cars a crappy union product?

you know I didn't say that!!! I said on balance they made crappy products that were no where near as good as Japanese products. Everyone knew it and Consumer Reports proved it! Detroit acknowledged it!!!

The point is they led the market when the jobs were here.

yes they led with crappy products that impoverished Americans. Japan made us wealthy with their quality and that is why we bought from them. I was in Hungary in 1987. You had to back their cars up hill because they were gravity fed. You used a dip stick to check gas. That is what liberal protection does and that is where detroit was going.

And no that isn't why they make their product in China. They make their product in China because they are greedy.

too stupid!! if they didn't make them there, their competitors would and Wal Mart would be out of business. It has nothing to do with greed!!

 

[Luissa]

So you are calling American Muscle cars a crappy union product?

you know I didn't say that!!! I said on balance they made crappy products that were no where near as good as Japanese products. Everyone knew it and Consumer Reports proved it! Detroit acknowledged it!!!

The point is they led the market when the jobs were here.

yes they led with crappy products that impoverished Americans. Japan made us wealthy with their quality and that is why we bought from them. I was in Hungary in 1987. You had to back their cars up hill because they were gravity fed. You used a dip stick to check gas. That is what liberal protection does and that is where detroit was going.

And no that isn't why they make their product in China. They make their product in China because they are greedy.

too stupid!! if they didn't make them there, their competitors would and Wal Mart would be out of business. It has nothing to do with greed!!

Their competitor wouldn't if we actually penalized corporations for moving their jobs over seas.

And that is exactly what you said. And we are not talking about what car reports say now or a few years ago. We are talking about what they said when Detroit led the market. Detroit didnt start making crap until their boards started getting greedy. You know when Reagan took over. Don't ya think it is weird we started to see a decline in factory jobs and Detroit after Reagan took office?
And your theory is proven wrong with VW, BMW, and Mercedes. All made by union workers, in much more liberal countries.
You have no clue what you are talking about.
And you might want to look into Japanese regulations in Japan. How they actually regulate their automotive and health industries. Very liberal ideas.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Their competitor wouldn't if we actually penalized corporations for moving their jobs over seas.

why penalize corporations for providing cheaper products. Do you want a law that all corporations must provide more expensive products so we'll all be poorer??

Why not penalize consumers since are the ones who want the cheap stuff. Corporations would love to sit back and not have to find the lowest prices in the world just to survive. Consumers are greedy and cheap yet you pretend in your Marxist way that corporations are. Corporations merely respond to their greed or they will perish!! They are the saints. You're a liberal marxist puppet but lack the IQ to see it.

 

[Rshermr]

Edward,

If you REALLY knew anything about economics, you would know that Capitalism is based on the market system, and the market system has certain requirements. Number one is that industry segments need to be COMPETITIVE IN NATURE. Not monopolistic. Your reference to the auto industry is a case in point - it was and is monopolistic. Particularly in the '50s and '60s, they controlled pricing and quality. Nearly did them in.

And yes, I did take Economics 101, in fact majored in Economics. Taught introduction to Econ many moons ago. Does not make me an expert, but don't keep insulting those that differ from your viewpoint. It just makes you look ignorant.

By the way, are you at all aware that China places major tarriffs on those products we try to sell in their country. Maybe we should consider reciprocating!! Companies always look toward reducing costs. When one as large as Walmart moves to buying overseas, others have no choice but to follow. And yes, consumers can be short sighted. Many do buy the crap that Walmart sells. Not enough refuse. So, by your logic, we should continue to buy foreign products, and outsource everything to the country with the lowest labor rates. And soon we can all work on refining our refrain of "would you like fries with your order". If that is what you want, and by your statement it is, then we just simply disagree. I want this nation to have a strong middle class again, and you just don't care.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

Your reference to the auto industry is a case in point - it was and is monopolistic.

dear that is too perfectly stupid and perfectly liberal. A monopoly means one company. Today there are many many companies all over the world making 100's of cars. Consumer Reports lists 250 of them!!

Why not ask Mom to explain monopoly to you??

 

[Big Black Dog]

It's ok with me just as long as they don't quit selling Vienna sausages in the grocery section.