{"id":1134,"date":"2004-07-27T15:19:22","date_gmt":"2004-07-27T20:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/2004\/07\/the-big-box-election\/"},"modified":"2004-07-27T15:19:22","modified_gmt":"2004-07-27T20:19:22","slug":"the-big-box-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/2004\/07\/the-big-box-election\/","title":{"rendered":"the big box election"},"content":{"rendered":"

interesting perspective on the election from the boston globe…<\/p>\n

\n
Rivalry between Wal-Mart, Costco also extends to national politics<\/a> [boston globe, july 25, 2004]<\/div>\n

Sixty-seven percent of Wal-Mart’s stores are in the 30 states that voted for Bush and Cheney in 2000, according to a comparison of store-location figures in the Wal-Mart 2003 annual report and election results. Costco’s stores are mostly located on either coast, with 208 [65%] of its 321 stores in the higher-wage, more union-friendly 20 states that voted for Democrat Al Gore in 2000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

so the battle is set on the ground… the fronts are healthcare:<\/p>\n

Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco offers comprehensive health insurance to most of its 78,000 US employees, making it eligible for Kerry’s plan, said Kerry’s top domestic policy adviser, Sarah Bianchi, 31. That may cut 10 percent, or $35 million, off its annual healthcare premiums.<\/p>\n

Wal-Mart’s health plan for its 1.3 million US workers is probably not broad enough to qualify for the savings that Kerry’s proposal would bring, since it doesn’t cover enough workers, said Jason Furman, 33, the Democrat’s chief economic policy adviser. Fewer than half of Wal-Mart’s employees are enrolled in the company health plan, according to figures supplied by the retailer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…and wages:<\/p>\n

Costco wouldn’t have to raise salaries with Kerry’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to $7 an hour, from $5.15 now. It already pays hot-dog vendors as much as $16 an hour, and the lowest wage it pays is $10 an hour. That’s higher than the $9.96 average wage paid at discount stores bearing the Wal-Mart name.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…and unions:<\/p>\n

Wal-Mart has no unions; about one-sixth of Costco’s workers are represented by labor groups.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…and many more. it’s all reflected in the corporate donations and money-funnels that bear witness to the conflict. maybe we should set up the elections next to the cheese-sample-ladies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

interesting perspective on the election from the boston globe… Rivalry between Wal-Mart, Costco also extends to national politics [boston globe, july 25, 2004] Sixty-seven percent of Wal-Mart’s stores are in the 30 states that voted for Bush and Cheney in 2000, according to a comparison of store-location figures in the Wal-Mart 2003 annual report and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rojisan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}