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Walmart Lowers Forecast

Walmart is one of the companies we follow closely around here because they’re supposed to be creating “4,000 new jobs” in South Carolina by the end of 2016. They’re also kind of sensitive to criticism … which only emboldens us to pick on them. Anyway, Walmart released its third quarter…

Walmart is one of the companies we follow closely around here because they’re supposed to be creating “4,000 new jobs” in South Carolina by the end of 2016.

They’re also kind of sensitive to criticism … which only emboldens us to pick on them.

Anyway, Walmart released its third quarter earnings report this week and – like the first and second quarter reports – it wasn’t good. The company missed its expected revenue targets (again) and issued lower guidance (again) for the future.

In the first quarter, the company blamed bad weather for its lagging sales. In the second quarter, its excuse was a payroll tax increase and a “lack of inflation.”

This time?

“A challenging global economy and negative currency exchange rate fluctuations impacted our sales growth in the third quarter,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart International president and CEO. “In the fourth quarter, we will continue our progress on managing expenses well and staying focused on growing sales, including e-commerce. Still, the slow-growth macroeconomic environment is persisting through the first month of this quarter, and the markets continue to be competitive.”

Ruh-roh, raggy …

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10 comments

? November 14, 2013 at 4:29 pm

The SNAP benefit reduction in November isn’t gonna help their sales this quarter either.

Like a good percentage of the SCDOC bullshit press releases, I highly doubt Walmart makes their nut.

Since it’s doubtful Sic you’ll ever get any of the private companies to admit to NOT fulfilling their end of the contract/deal to get their tax breaks, maybe you can instead do an FOIA on the SCDOC for each of their stupid/lying press releases asking for the information surrounding their “research”(non-existent I’m sure) on whether each company they award stuff to actually met their commitment.

I’m sure that would send those assholes scrambling.

Any damn business owner employing just himself even should get a damn tax break, the same damn ones as Boeing or anyone else.

Give the Boeings, BMW’s, and everyone else their tax breaks, but don’t hammer the little guy for crying out loud, especially in the context that small business creates WAY MORE JOBS than big business.

That how we improve the employment picture and economy overall in SC, create a general low/no tax environment for everyone, not just the big boys.

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Smirks November 14, 2013 at 4:40 pm

The SNAP benefit reduction in November isn’t gonna help their sales this quarter either.

Won’t help their federally-subsidized workforce that relies on food stamps, either.

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? November 14, 2013 at 4:48 pm

I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before mass starvation hits.

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shifty henry November 14, 2013 at 6:48 pm

Well, they could emigrate to Canada –Mayor Rob Ford will vouch for them. He’s the actual living example that the “proof is in the pudding” and there’s plenty of it to go around. (shame on Shifty for saying that)…

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Jackie Chiles November 15, 2013 at 10:48 am

Meh. Giving some guy scraping by with a $75,000 net profit a year as a sole proprietor a tax break worth $7,000.00 or whatever isn’t going to make him want to hire someone extra. For a company making $3.9 billion in profit, a substantial tax break will create incentives to hire many more people. Furthermore, it’s unlikely that a tax break to a small business owner will be a net profit as it is for a large scale business. See my post from a few days ago about the investment in the BMW plant. SC gave BMW $150 million in tax breaks and other incentives to get it to move here. In the 20 years since it’s moved here, the state has received over $500 million in tax revenues on top of around $3 million annually that goes to schools and another $2 million annually that goes to county governments. And those figures were after deducting the increased infrastructure costs the state incurs from BMW’s presence.

I’m not saying I’m opposed to giving the small guys a tax break, I just think we should ensure the tax breaks offered actually generate jobs and are not a net loss to the state overall.

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? November 15, 2013 at 3:11 pm

“Giving some guy scraping by with a $75,000 net profit a year as a sole proprietor a tax break worth $7,000.00 or whatever isn’t going to make him want to hire someone extra.”

It’s $7k going straight back into the economy or his savings though(which also goes back into the economy), or maybe he uses it to bring on more business the following year through capital improvement, advertising, etc. and then creates jobs.

“I just think we should ensure the tax breaks offered actually generate jobs and are not a net loss to the state overall.”

If you agree(and I’m not saying you do) that government is too big, than a “net loss to the state” isn’t a bad thing. It simply shift dollars from the public to the private economy, which if libertarian thought is to be believed, produces more benefits to humanity as it is used more efficiently and effectively.

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tomstickler November 14, 2013 at 5:00 pm

“Negative currency rate fluctuations. . . .”

Translation: “China has not been able to keep its currency weak compared to the dollar, so it costs us more to buy crap from China to sell to our customers.”

As the old joke goes, “Fluct again.”

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Same ol' Same ol' November 14, 2013 at 10:34 pm

Wal Mart ain’t stupid. They know those on the company dole won’t be able to buy as much steak as usual.
Bejebus, they track every fracking penny. They contribute directly to the GNP.
Just stay away on weekends and paydays and you shouldn’t have too much trouble avoiding the illegal aliens.

Reply
Cleveland Steamer November 14, 2013 at 10:54 pm

I have a suggestion for Walmart’s woes……Stock the shelves!!!! Walmart can resemble someone who is missing a few teeth. Back when they were running Kmart out of business their logistics were legendary.

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Jackie Chiles November 15, 2013 at 10:49 am

True. Every time I go into Wal-Mart these days, there’s empty shelves, unloaded merchandise sitting in the aisles, and nobody around to help. You get what you pay for I guess.

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