Above and beyond the class warfare pointed out by others – the irony of Wal-Mart discussing food stamps and welfare is almost too much for me to handle.

We might not be so bad off if Wal-Mart didn’t pay the bare minimum wage, lock people into part time hours to avoid paying benefits and they weren’t actively fighting unionization every single inch of the way – all while exporting the vast majority of their production and manufacturing to China, or pushing domestic suppliers so hard they go bankrupt trying to meet Wal-Mart’s demands. ! person in 120 directly works for Wal-Mart in the US. ! in 3 shops there. If it was a nation it’d be the 21st largest economy. Talk about your fuckin’ cyberpunk fiction burbclaves – it has more political and financial power then more then half of the countries in the UN. People actually live in Wal-Mart parking lots in RVs while cruising from Wal-Mart lot to Wal-Mart lot. They just need to set up some coffin hotels or HUD-sponsored low income housing and they can close the loop.

I can’t help but read this as “Well, food stamps are money, too. Let’s wring ‘em for everything they’ve got.” I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if I learned they withheld from operating or starting sale prices long after the 1st of the month to maximize every penny.

On a side note – waiting around Wal-Mart for your foodstamps or welfare benefits to kick in at midnight sounds insanely depressing. I’ve been there – not at a Wal-Mart – but I’ve been there. What really sucks is when they don’t drop when they’re supposed to or there’s an error or other delay. Think about it. You’re broke. You’re hungry. Maybe you have hungry, noisy kids with you up way past their bedtime. You just spent an hour carefully shopping for the best balance of the cheapest, most decent food you can find. You’re trying to do math and compare notes in your head and make important choices while hungry and shaky and then you go to check out and… “Wha… what do you mean my card is declined?”

YOU’RE REGISTERED TO VOTE, AREN’T YOU? YOU’RE VOTING, RIGHT? NEED I REMIND YOU THAT EVERY RACIST DIMWITTED NUTJOB IN THE COUNTRY IS GOING TO BE VOTING OUT OF MALICE, STUPIDITY AND ANGER THIS NOVEMBER JUST BECAUSE WE HAVE A HALF BLACK, HALF WHITE PRESIDENT, RIGHT? IF THAT DOESN’T PUT THE FEAR OF THE GODS IN YOU AND MOTIVATE YOU, I DON’T KNOW WHAT ELSE WILL.

Loquacious