AIG and Imelda Marcos' Shoes (CLARIFIED)

The growing populist rage (see Eyal's post) at exorbitant corporate bonuses, especially at the $165 million AIG gave mostly to execs in its financial products division, made me think of Imelda Marcos' shoes and the 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines. For long years, the Filipino people had endured the brutal dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, who in addition to ordering martial law and broad scale political repression, had plundered the country's wealth, including taking a cut of $28 billion in IMF loans. By the late 70s, in a country where 80 percent of the population subsisted on less than $2 a day, the Marcos family had accumulated over $35 billion in assets.

Tales of their profligacy were well known: the $5 million shopping trips to Rome and Copenhagen, the acquisition of vast patches of Manhattan real estate, the art collection that included works by Botticelli and Michelangelo. Imelda once reportedly dispatched a plane to Australia to pick up tons of white sand to adorn a private beach resort. But nothing quite prepared the Filipino people for what they would discover when, after a heady but peaceful four-day revolution, they stormed Malacanang Palace and sacked Imelda's closet--65 parasols, 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 888 handbags, 71 pairs of sunglasses and, most legendarily, 1,060 pairs of shoes.

What was so potent about those shoes? What did they symbolize? Gross inequality, corruption, the staggeringly brazen looting of public resources--for sure (all qualities also evident in the AIG bailout). But something else too was represented by that collection of ruby slippers, a kind of insane magic by which Imelda transformed herself into something more than human. She could never wear all those shoes. They were beyond utility or even fashion. They existed only to represent the idea of excess itself, like The Simpson's Montgomery Burns' wardrobe made from the pelts of endangered species. As Time's Lance Morrow wrote at the time:

The Russian word poshlost suggests the transcendent vulgarity at work in the Marcos spectacle. Poshlost is something preposterously overdone but without self-knowledge or irony. It is comic and sad and awful.

Of course, Imelda had her rationale; she insisted it was her "duty" to be "some kind of light, a star to give [the poor] guidelines." But even that explanation expresses a contempt for humanity, an aspiration to be above the human, like a divine queen, beyond ordinary standards of wealth or footwear.

Something like this logic underlies the corporate elite's defense of unfettered multi-million dollar bonuses. Before he was forced to grovel in front of Congress, AIG CEO Edward Liddy explained that those bonuses were necessary to "retain the best and brightest" and hinted darkly at what would happen if "their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the US Treasury."

Put aside the fact that AIG's "best and brightest" helped destroy the global economy and ask yourself this--what kind of work could merit a $6.4 million bonus (what one AIG manager received)? What could a CEO do to deserve $25.4 million (the severance package that Liddy's predecessor Martin Sullivan got when he left AIG, having lost 99 percent of the company's market value during his tenure)? Or what exactly did John Thain, CEO of the now defunct Merrill Lynch, accomplish to warrant an executive compensation package of $83.1 million in 2007? And why should such sums be exempt from regulation and fair taxation, much less plausible public justification?

[CLARIFICATION: John Thain's office called to clarify that in 2007, Thain only received roughly $50,000 in salary for one month of work and a $15 million signing bonus. The remainder of his compensation package, stock options once valued at some $68 million, is now worthless.]

These are preposterous, abstract figures that have long since lost any relation to what even the most gluttonous among us might call "quality of life." What the corporate elite seeks to preserve is not any explicable measure of work and worth, but rather the right to transcend with impunity any measure of value itself, for the right of kings to pin multi-million bonuses on princes as badges of relative privilege, for the right to hoard 1,060 pairs of shoes.

When the American people rage against the AIG bonuses and the Chrysler execs and their jet planes, I believe they are, in part, railing against this gross form of divine capitalism, a capitalism so venal that it has degenerated into aristocracy. What this populist anger accomplishes, whether it strikes the root as well as the glittering crown, will depend on a lot of things--whether or not Obama is pushed to nationalize the banks, open the books on the bailout and rein in corporate excess; whether or not workers are given the renewed right to organize.

It also depends on us. For there are many things different about this moment and the Philippines in 1986 (not least among them the democratic rights we still enjoy here), but among them is the fact that in the here and now the excesses of the elite have been exposed before the fall of the regime itself. We have yet to sack the palace. Maybe we should--who knows what else we might find there.

Comments (51)

1. Apparently Mr Kim...

   85 House REPUBLICANS are "get-even-with-em liberals who engage in class warfare" now.

   LOL

   Posted by Mask at 03/19/2009 @ 10:35pm

2. http://www.financialcrisiscards.com/

   Posted by frosty zoom at 03/19/2009 @ 11:17pm

3. I disagree with your premise, Richard...

   I was swayed by the hearings, and found the Congressional committees to be embarrassing.

   Mr. Liddy took on the job of cleaning up AIG as a form of service to his country... for a dollar a year. He opened his 'hearing' (a misguided flaying) by explaining clearly and succinctly that some of what had transpired at the firm before he was asked to oversee it was 'distasteful' to him...

   So, its clear that he would run the company differently... but HE WASN'T THERE then.

   The retention 'bonuses' were, he said, paid out to employees who could bring to term and close dangerous books of business in a timely matter... thus preventing what would eventually become a meltdown that could easily dwarf the one we are in now...

   However... the ascending crescendo of bonuses and high end pay-scale shenanigans that our financial sector has been imbibing in for the last decade or two... is bound to come under some plain-thinking scrutiny now for two good reasons.

   1.) A significant part of their job description is to 'hedge' us from long term financial risk... and at this substantial prerequisite for foundational risk assessment they have rather completely failed...

   2.) It was largely these inadequate risk assessments, compounded over the last couple of decades, that have fueled our systemic "depression"... which millions of Americans are now in the throes of... which we not only don't appreciate... but we find it particularly galling that these 'creaters' of bad times for all would be SO insensitive to our plight as to try to continue to live 'high on the hog'.

   I do not believe that these retention bonuses are in the same league as the 'bonus culture' that helped create the meltdown.

   Posted by ttr at 03/19/2009 @ 11:41pm

4. Demoncrats just can't help showing their true colors, first theres the Minnesota sideshow and now Kentucky!

   The U.S. Attorney's office said charges include racketeering, bribery, extortion and voter fraud against Clay County Circuit Court Judge Russell Cletus Maricle, school superintendent Douglas C. Adams, Clay County Clerk Freddy Thompson and others.

   The investigation began after voting irregularities were reported during the 2006 elections. A statement from the federal prosecutor's office claims the officials tried to rig federal, state and local elections in 2002, 2004 and 2006 in Clay County, about 170 miles southeast of Louisville.

   Prosecutors claim a group led by Maricle and Adams, who were essentially "political bosses," recruited a slate of candidates to run for certain offices and then tried to rig elections in their favor. They also tried to recruit members of the local elections board so they might avoid an investigation.

   It was unclear how much money was involved in the alleged scheme, and exactly how long it may have been going on.

   According to the indictment, Democratic election commissioner Charles Wayne Jones and election officer William E. Stivers helped extort money from candidates. In some cases, candidates were apparently asked to pool money so votes could be bought.

   Thompson, the county clerk, allegedly provided money for election officers to buy votes. Thompson also told election officers how to change votes at the machines, according to the indictment.

   Some voters were bribed at the voting booths. Some officials told voters to use booths incorrectly, so that they could go back and change the tallies, the indictment says.

   William and Debra Morris are also charged as associates who helped dish out money to buy votes.

   Posted by comancheamerican at 03/20/2009 @ 02:37am

5. Brilliant analogy.

   "Gross inequality, corruption, the staggeringly brazen looting of public resources ..."

   Ferdinand & Imelda did what for many years their US masters encouraged as acceptable behavior in accordance with US anti-communist doctrine.

   The Rubinites on Wall St & in Fairfield County CT were & are continuing to be similarly encouraged.

   The AIG bonus flap, like the Madoff show, is only a small part of a much larger performance that still prevails, current rhetoric & feigned outrage notwithstanding.

   Posted by sloper at 03/20/2009 @ 03:42am

6. posted by RICHARD KIM on 03/19/2009 @ 10:26pm

   Very well expressed thoughts, Mr. Kim.

   I offer in return a single word: "kleptocracy".

   Your example of the Marcos regime is an example of just that, and the kleptocracy in the US today is another example. The examples are not identical - the Marcos regime, as is the case of so many other regimes just like it, was primitive. Social and public institutions in the Philippines were backwards. The kleptocracy in the US is very advanced, based on elaborate public, legal, and social structures and charters (including the modern corporation). However, a kleptocracy is exactly what exists here, and the existence of the kleptocracy is why executives are allowed to plunder the national Treasury whereas those in desperate economic need in an economic downturn are regarded with contempt for turning to truly needed public existence. The cultural archetype of Imelda Marcos is quite alive here in the US and what that archetype boils down to is the bizarre idea that the wealthiest among us typically deserve their wealth due to some innate superiority.

   Posted by syfriendly at 03/20/2009 @ 10:07am

7. by snowball666 at 03/20/2009...

   Right on! That was as 'slam dunk' of a post...

   Posted by ttr at 03/20/2009 @ 10:40am

8. I object to the word 'aristocracy' in this context. Aristos means best, as in rule of the best. I'd rather see the word 'oligarchy', oligos meaning few.

   Posted by martinbx at 03/20/2009 @ 11:25am

9. No remarks in any thread at the Nation about the "evil" Walmart and their award of bonuses.

   Probably because they are to hourly employees and it is a polar opposite truth to the ongoing attacks on Walmart by organized labor and the left.

   "NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- At a time when many companies have curtailed bonuses and merit raises, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday it is increasing its incentives to its U.S. hourly associates by 11% to about $2 billion.

   In a memo to employees Thursday, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said the award includes $933.6 million in bonuses, which jumped by almost half from last year, $788.8 million in profit sharing and 401(k) contributions, and millions of dollars in merchandise discounts and contributions to the associate stock purchase plan.

   About 1 million of the company's employees, who earn an average hourly rate of $10.83, received a bonus spokesman David Tovar said in an interview."

   http://tinyurl.com/cdcln9

   Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 11:33am

10. No remarks in any thread at the Nation about the "evil" Walmart and their award of bonuses.

    Probably because they are to hourly employees and it is a polar opposite truth to the ongoing attacks on Walmart by organized labor and the left.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 11:33am

    Or maybe it's because Wal-Mart is not owned by the American government and most of the people at Wal-Mart are making less than 10 dollars and hour, not millions a year. This again is apples and oranges. It's a straw man. The reason people are so pissed at AIG is because they paid bonuses out of the American people's pocket. Wal-Mart is paying bonuses out of their own pocket.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 11:56am

11. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 11:33am

    How much tax payer bail-out money is Wal-Mart getting, Larry....then we'll complain.

    Posted by Mask at 03/20/2009 @ 11:56am

12. There is a point in the quantitative & qualitative acquisition of material goods, typified by Imelda Marcos, where status is the only impetus. And if that buying power is arrived at the expense of a worker, craftsman or artisan, whose talent could best be applied to servicing the many as opposed to the few, then a remedy must be sought. People Power worked in the Philippines, maybe populism under a different moniker will do the same for us.

    Property can indeed be theft.

    Posted by Sorelish at 03/20/2009 @ 12:13pm

13. No remarks in any thread at the Nation about the "evil" Walmart and their award of bonuses.

    Probably because they are to hourly employees and it is a polar opposite truth to the ongoing attacks on Walmart by organized labor and the left.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 11:33am

    What they are getting isn't a sign of excess greed if you really want to go into it. What they are getting is simply just barely enough to survive on a daily basis. What the execs are getting is a sign of rabid greed. For someone who is religious you should definitely be able to see the difference between greed and a need of survival.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 12:14pm

14. okay, so larry (antisoc/lvlib) makes a false analogy and aska a straw man question afterwards (Wal-mart and AIG bonuses)...

    and the obvious distinction is pointed out by me and CCC...

    So I'm going to guess either of three possibilities-

    1. He doesn't return to this thread until long after those posts have been pushed to the top and other topics or tangents have come up ...and he'll comment on those and ignore his false analogy and our question...

    2. He tries to change the subject.

    or 3. He won't return to this thread at all, since I just laid out in # 1 or # 2 his only possible plans of action that don't involve admitting it was a false analogy....heheh

    Posted by Mask at 03/20/2009 @ 12:49pm

15. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 11:33am

    Wal-Mart has not been bailed out with vast sums of public money. Your complaint is beyond idiotic.

    Posted by syfriendly at 03/20/2009 @ 12:50pm

16. As usual, all of you missed the point about Walmart.

    The Nation and the left are always ranting against Walmart for supposedly making employees either slave labor or welfare recipients.

    Yet, several things leap out in truth against the lies from the left (and CCC, you perpetuate them also in your answer).

    1. this has been an annual event.

    2. the average Walmart hourly receives 10.83 an hour, not less than 10 per hour.

    3. The average bonus was approx a $1000. Pretty good for a retail hourly worker.

    4. They also received profit sharing and company contributions to their stock purchase plans.

    So, the point is that most of you rail against corporate America and Walmart is always a company you slam. Yet here they are awarding them a number of bonuses during this economic time.

    And not one of you finds anything positive about it.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 2:21pm

17. Posted by Mask at 03/20/2009 @ 12:49pm

    How about #4, I had work to do for my clients.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 2:24pm

18. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 2:21pm

    First of all this post is not about walmart, so why should we have the faintest idea what you are talking about. Secondly we are not discussing walmart, only in your world is relevant to this thread. But lets think about what you posted on how wonderful walmart is, sinec we lefties all rant against walmart all the time (in anti's world).

    Do you realize that 10.93 = less than 20K annually. How is that not poverty wages? Could a single mother persist on that? Monthly take home would be about 1600, Factor in daycare ~$600, rent $500. That alone leaves our single mother with $400 left, for food $250, medical insurance $200 (middle road walmart plan), car insurance 80, utilities $100, uh oh, we are now about $200 in the hole. So how is giving this woman $1k bonus such an act of charity? For single folks with out dependents, you could squeak by on walmart wages, for anyone else it just does not cut it. So while it is nice that Walmart is doing well and have rewarded their employess in this economic time, they can only do so because they keep their prices low, by having low overhead, poor wages and poor benefits. Which equates to poverty conditions for their employees.

    Posted by Extraneous at 03/20/2009 @ 3:02pm

19. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 2:21pm

    Adding my two cents, we on the left generally support across-the-board wage increases because of the likelihood of favoritism in the distribution of bonuses. It also increases one's base pay, which means you can keep up with inflation and, if you're lucky and save your money, can increase your wealth over time. You know, like a good conservative would wish.

    Posted by cka2nd at 03/20/2009 @ 3:20pm

20. Back on point...

    What this whole spectacle demonstrates is that while Wall Street demands accountability, merit pay and output-based compensation of working class and middle class workers in the private and public sectors, they are insulted that they should be held to account for their own mistakes and failures. Not to mention that their measures of success - the amount of business they bring in or the number of trades they make or the size of the deal - has no relation to the economic health or development of the real economy.

    As I've said before, parasites working ponzi schemes in a giant casino!

    Posted by cka2nd at 03/20/2009 @ 3:27pm

21. Posted by Extraneous at 03/20/2009 @ 3:02pm

    there are a lot of factual holes in your worst case scenario.

    1. You leave out that your hypothetical sgl mom would get EITC and child care refundable credit of between 3-6000 depending on the number of children. that would certainly take care of the costs for the child care.

    2. Walmart's healthcare plan is nothing like you state.

    "Associates will be able to choose a $100, $250 or $500 health care credit. This credit means the plan, not the participant, will pay for the first $100, $250 or $500 of eligible medical expenses before costs are applied to the deductible.

    Full- and part-time associates in the continental United States can become eligible for the Value Plan, which will have premiums that vary with the health care credit and deductible chosen. For example, with a $1,000 deductible and a $250 health care credit, individual premiums will be no more than $24 a month for the basic network and as little as $12 in some areas. With a $2,000 deductible and a $100 health care credit, the premiums will be less than $5 a month for the and no more than $8 per month nationwide for the basic network. Both have a $5,000 out-of-pocket maximum.

    Minor children of Wal-Mart associates – both full- and part-time – are eligible for health benefits as soon as the parent is eligible. The cost for dependent coverage in these new plans ranges from 15 cents to less than 50 cents more per day, no matter how many children an associate has on the plan.

    More than 1 million Americans – associates and their family members – are covered by Wal-Mart plans.

    http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/FactSheets/

    So the Walmart plan is as low as $9 per month for a family, up to $39 per month.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 3:30pm

22. And not one of you finds anything positive about it.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 2:21pm

    Because that's not how you posted it. Maybe if that was your point you should have said it. Your point was that we should be complaining because they received a bonus. You didn't even bother to ATTEMPT to articulate that point to things. You just posted that the left should be complaining because these bonuses are similar to the ones that AIG received. You tried to build a strawan argument and then waited for response that had NOTHING to do with what your secret purpose was and then tried to act like you baited people. This second post is ENTIRELY off the point of the original post.

    Oh an I'm sorry I was .86 cents off. That's such a huge amount when talking about the average. Yeah I'm perpetuating a massive lie by saying that Wal-Mart's employees average wage are less than 10 dollars when in actuality they are 10.85. Huge difference.... Give me a break.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 4:36pm

23. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 3:30pm |

    This whole thing you are doing is something Mask would do but not nearly as well as Mask would do it.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 4:40pm

24. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 3:30pm

    Actually LVL, Extraneous was being generous. The rent alone depends on your city. It can be 500 dollars or 1000 dollars depending on what city you live in. Same with Gas prices. Utilities. Everything is variable. What we gave you was probably the lowest estimates at the current time. So even if you factor out just the day care, The rest of the costs are still going to be too much to survive depending on where you are.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 4:45pm

25. And they do a VERY good job of making sure MOST of their employees are not.

    Always Low Prices Means Always Low Wages at Walmart

    Posted by snowball666 at 03/20/2009 @ 5:12pm

    Wrong again.

    "Wal-Mart Health Care Benefits Enrollment Rises, Uninsured Rate Declines

    Total associate health coverage increases to more than 94 percent

    BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Feb. 13, 2009 – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., (NYSE: WMT) announced today that the number of associates who have health care coverage through its benefits plans for 2009 or another source has increased from 92.7 percent to 94.5 percent. Over 733,000 or 51.8 percent of associates – and nearly 1.2 million associates and dependants in total – were covered by Wal-Mart's plans at the end of its annual enrollment period.

    The company also announced that the number of uninsured associates has dropped by nearly 25 percent in the past year and by more than 40 percent between 2007 and 2009. Compared to the most recently reported data by the U.S. Census Bureau, Wal-Mart's uninsured rate of 5.5 percent is 11.3 percent lower than the uninsured rate nationwide for the U.S. employed population (16.8 percent). The percentage of U.S. employers who offer health benefits fell from 69 percent in 2000 to 63 percent in 2008, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study.

    http://tinyurl.com/cnqn8u

    I hardly think that 94.5% of Employees is keeping most out; seems that nearly all have benefits.

    And benefit costs at Walmart for healthcare coverage seem lower than for most Americans.

    What none of you can bring yourselves to ever admit (because that would be liberal blasphemy), is that Walmart is doing a great job of providing steady income and solid benefits of healthcare and retirement to employees.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 5:32pm

26. Our society seems to tacitly approve of the financial 'caste' system. Maybe that's what the civil war was really about. Maybe that's why there isn't more outrage at the legal looting that gets written in to our system of laws.

    Just beneath the surface average americans harbor this dream, part of the 'American Dream', that they, too, can somehow accumulate enough wealth to pull themselves up to a level where they can disdain their fellow citizens and live the high life. Not everyone, of course, but a greater number of people than may be comfortably acknowledged. Is that what is at the root, for example, of Dodd's involvement with helping to write these AIG bonuses into a legal framework? That it's just the way we are?

    I hope not. I hope that I am wrong, wrong, wrong. But the media, television programs like 'The Real Housewives of Orange County', and the constant selling of 'luxury' to all Americans points to a fascination with all things 'excessive'. It shows our deep immaturity as a people, but maybe that's the even deeper question... are we a 'people', or just a society of wanna-be aristocrats, patrician desires just percolating beneath the surface of the skin of social acceptability? I Think I'll go check my lottery ticket.

    Posted by ficheye at 03/20/2009 @ 6:01pm

27. I didn't post on the other thread, but I transposed the 13 and 39 percentages in my post about taxes.

    Posted by snowball666 at 03/20/2009 @ 6:08pm

    Ok, I wondered where you could have gotten those kinds of numbers.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 6:13pm

28. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 6:13pm

    http://wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

    You should check out that website. Some of the facts might be slightly old. But they disagree with the facts you are posting. See you should look beyond the facts that company posts. You don't take a company at it's word. You do a little research and you will find out that rarely what they say is true.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 6:31pm

29. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 6:13pm

    http://blog.wakeupwalmart.com/ufcw/2009/03/the_truth_about.html

    Here's an article about their bonuses. It brings up some interesting points.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 6:33pm

30. Oh and this website includes comments from their own employees.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 6:37pm

31. Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 6:31pm

    Well with a publicly traded company that must post with the SEC and shareholders, I would suggest that you need actual proof before stating that they are lying.

    and from the link you provided, here are some comments you didn't mention

    "I worked for Sam's Club for a few years. And in that time, I received several bonuses from them that were over $1000. Not only that, but when I decided to quit and stay home with my baby, I received over $20,000 in profit sharing. Walmart did not have to share that money with me. I am sorry, but this website does not know what it's talking about. If your not happy with Walmart, go find a job somewhere else!

    Posted by Thankful For Walmart - March 20, 2009 02:37 PM

    Interesting comment about the tactics that Walmart uses. Maybe this website (which seems to know everything about WM) would get its facts straight. There are no tactics, just freedom of speech for the associates. Sure UFCW will promise them big pay raises if they form, but what they don't say is how much in dues they will have to pay. There are pros and cons to both union and non-union. Bottom line as with any business, someone is looking at their bottom line, WM seems to give to their associates more so than others. Just because they aren't perfect (like everyone in the world) UFCW has no more to offer than WM does.....just broken promises with higher costs involved.

    You all can come back with how good a union is and twice as many people will come back because I was in a union at one point, and will never go there again because of their "shady" ways of conducting business. Good pay good benefits..Boy what they don't say is what "DUES" you will have to pay......

    Posted by itdoesntmatter - March 20, 2009 05:44 PM

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 6:50pm

32. You should check out that website. Some of the facts might be slightly old. But they disagree with the facts you are posting. See you should look beyond the facts that company posts. You don't take a company at it's word. You do a little research and you will find out that rarely what they say is true.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 6:31pm

    All the negative numbers they posted about participation in the healthcare plan were changed two years ago. Walmart now lets part-time employees participate in the healthcare plan after a 6 month waiting period.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 6:53pm

33. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 3:30pm

    The tax credits are irrelevant for my hypothetical as I assumed she would actually be paying no taxes other than Social security and medicare. I agree with CC the facts on the walmart website are not totally accurate. Sure the insurance is cheap, but it is expensive to use.

    The average full-time employee electing for family coverage would have to spend between 22 and 40 percent of his or her income just to cover the premiums and medical deductibles. These costs do not include other health-related expenses such as medical co-pays, prescription coverage, emergency room deductibles, and ambulance deductibles. [Wal-Mart 2006 Associate Guide and UFCW Analysis].

    Posted by Extraneous at 03/20/2009 @ 6:59pm

34. We could argue actuall numbers indefinately, the point is that the majority of walmart workers live in poverty. So giving them bonuses while nice (covers some of their medical deductable), does not make much of a difference. And to return to the thread topic, these bonuses are apples compared to the oranges that AIG emplyees recieved.

    Posted by Extraneous at 03/20/2009 @ 7:14pm

35. We could argue actuall numbers indefinately, the point is that the majority of walmart workers live in poverty. So giving them bonuses while nice (covers some of their medical deductable), does not make much of a difference. And to return to the thread topic, these bonuses are apples compared to the oranges that AIG emplyees recieved.

    Posted by Extraneous at 03/20/2009 @ 7:14pm

    Where do you get the data to make your assumption that the majority of Walmart workers live in poverty?

    You cannot extrapolate that simply by using the average pay figure. You have to know how many are students, how many are retirees, how many are providing a second income to a household.

    Unless you have all of that information, you are merely putting a subjective conclusion as if it is fact.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 7:28pm

36. Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 6:50pm

    I didn't post any of the employees comments. I left it up to you to find them. So I didn't not post certain comments that only agreed with me, I didn't post any of the comments at all. I notice you chose to focus on the three that agreed with you instead of the other 5 or so that didn't

    I don't put my trust in any company. Logic dictates that it's smarter not to trust them. What is the point of a company? To make money. Bad PR does not help in making money. So you create good PR with announcements like those even if they are a lie. History proves the you should never trust companies at their word.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 8:18pm

37. All the negative numbers they posted about participation in the healthcare plan were changed two years ago. Walmart now lets part-time employees participate in the healthcare plan after a 6 month waiting period.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/20/2009 @ 6:53pm

    What is the general turn-around on employees.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 8:27pm

38. What is the general turn-around on employees.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 8:27pm

    Especially part-time employees?

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 8:31pm

39. http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html

    PBS says most of the employees with children live below the poverty line.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 8:34pm

40. http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html

    PBS says most of the employees with children live below the poverty line.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 8:34pm

41. http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php

    Or how about that one. Did you know you are subsidizing Wal-Marts health costs since they aren't offering sufficient medical plans?

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 8:38pm

42. They made the reputation for themselves with their practices in the past. They may be cleaning up their act but first impressions take a lot longer to banish than they have been trying.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 03/20/2009 @ 8:46pm

43. How about #4, I had work to do for my clients.

    the amount of time on these threads indicates some severely underserved clients.

    Posted by erazma at 03/20/2009 @ 9:14pm

44. Under $11.00 an hour is barely enough for a single person, much less anyone who's the sole wage-earner of a family.

    Despite Wally World's recent efforts in improving labor relations, it's still facing major issues related to gender discrimination, unpaid overtime, unlawful termination, the aforementioned "dead peasant insurance", and a complete prohibition against unionizing at risk of immediate termination.

    Add in the fact that the company has been a major contributor to the decline of manufacturing in the US for the last thirty years, and it becomes, in my mind, easy to see the Dickensian overtones of the wingnut response; WM is Scrooge or the overseer offering an extra crumb of bread to a hapless peasant laborer eating crumbs for a year, and the Republicans ask us, 'shalt thou not praiseth them in thine goodness?' as though WM should be rewarded for doing what it's been its moral imperative to do all along.

    (Note that these are the same Republicans who rail against the decline of America while fighting tooth over nail to support the industrial and retail conglomerates that have eviscerated American small business and manufacturing; and the same Republicans who advance the capitalist argument that those $11.00 an hour workers are earning exactly what they're worth, and don't deserve more, while in their blog and talk radio ranting a furore erupts attacking the hapless Democrats for daring to suggest that CEOs of Wall Street firms may not "deserve" - there's that pesky word again - their multi-million dollar bonuses whilst the taxpayers bail them out.)

    Posted by Paralyse at 03/21/2009 @ 3:03pm

45. I hope not. I hope that I am wrong, wrong, wrong. But the media, television programs like 'The Real Housewives of Orange County', and the constant selling of 'luxury' to all Americans points to a fascination with all things 'excessive'. It shows our deep immaturity as a people, but maybe that's the even deeper question... are we a 'people', or just a society of wanna-be aristocrats, patrician desires just percolating beneath the surface of the skin of social acceptability?

    Fich, you insightful m***er f***er.

    I think somewhere along the way the libertinism of the New Left was wedded to the greed of the oligarchs, and the dumb selfishness in us all. (Think "Porky's") The pursuit of carnal and material desires has become not only a right, but an imperative. Ex: I don't want any limitations on sexual freedom, but when I look at a philistine, storied paper of the Left, like the Village Voice, I see Maxim for metrosexuals. Suddenly old-fashioned people with their vanilla marriages and their litter of kids seem more altruistic than the self-absorbed perv feverishly servicing obscure fetishes in the hunt for the perfect orgasm.

    Rich kids with their riches-to-riches backstory ride around in their ATVs and sport cars blaring bling rap. The entertainment biz forces insipid, talentless socialites on the kids till they throw up their hands and say, "Enough! I'll acknowledge Paris if you'll just shut up about her!"

    Here's hoping that one good thing (other than empathy-fueled muscle cars) comes out of this Depression, a new pop culture energized by change from below and shaped in part by the best, instead of the worst, features of both political tendencies. Maybe Rihanna's next album will omit the "in the dark, you can't see fancy cars" bits.

    Posted by gangpapist at 03/21/2009 @ 8:09pm

46. A heavy metal band named Rectal Discomfort are thrashing their dampened tresses to the dissonant ooze in the temple of Nick Carraway.

    orgastic screams of the jazz age cling limply to the cruel, craggy shore like ghosts... Dionysus, why dost thy diarrhea taste so foul?!

    vicious tempest, why have you carried us to this austere and lonely place?

    weeping and masturbating weakly... we await the sizzling eggs laid by the featherless one to reveal their sunny yolks to us... when we will dip our fluffy biscuits in the golden gravy of hope's fruition

    Posted by gangpapist at 03/22/2009 @ 11:29am

47. Yes, I know.

    I'm getting dangerously close to the age old parental maxim:

    Doing without builds character.

    But, alternately, it sucks.

    gang, that is some gnarly post apocalyptic blade runner grunge-type psychedelia that harkens back to a lost weekend with Bukowski and William Burroughs. I hadda hold onto something when I read that.

    No, not that....

    But I think we're reaching a new level here at the Nation, where the meek dare not follow... without a stun gun , anyways...

    Posted by ficheye at 03/23/2009 @ 01:24am

48. Tell me again how GREAT it is to shop at Walmart. I wouldn't give those a-holes a red dime. Posted by snowball666 at 03/21/2009 @ 09:09am

    Veering around a commercial corner...

    Is there a list anywhere on the 'internets' of all the dangerous stuff China has made and sold to us? (A lot of which is sold at Wal-Mart)

    Pet food Baby formula Drywall...etc. I'm sure someone could add to this list.

    Maybe at a certain point, and considering the hard times, there might be a sudden awakening to the fact that... we could fix a lot of social problems, and our country, and instill a new sense of purpose and national pride if we just got back into the BUSINESS of making this stuff ourselves. Building self-esteem the old fashioned way - by earning it!

    Just think! We could keep the basic tenets of capitalism alive and healthy by selling stuff again instead of just being a country of money changers. It ticks me off when I hear AM radio ads about making money on eBay... without having to do anything! How freaking American! Money for nothin!!!

    We gotta sell those microwave ovens Custom kitchen delivere-e-e-e-ey.... We gotta sell those refrigerators, We gotta sell those color Tee Vees....

    Posted by ficheye at 03/23/2009 @ 01:44am

49. Dear God I feel like I'm one of the principals in Fahrenheit 451 or one of the Stepford wives. i went lookingfor a copy of the Glass-Steagal, Act 1933 last night and four hours later I gave up. That thing seems to have disappeared from the fact of the earth. I have also thrown my accounting books.

    Posted by julien38 at 03/23/2009 @ 9:21pm

50. "Or what exactly did John Thain, CEO of the now defunct Merrill Lynch, accomplish to warrant an executive compensation package of $83.1 million in 2007?"

    posted by Richard Kim on 03/19/2009 @ 10:26pm

    "That little faggot with the earing and the makeup...

    Yeah buddy, that's his own hair..

    That little faggot has his own jet airplane..

    That little faggot, he's a millionaire.."

    Posted by Benchrest at 03/23/2009 @ 10:55pm

51. Money for nothin'.....

    Chicks for free.....

    Posted by ficheye at 03/24/2009 @ 1:57pm