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Walmart: Sweating Welfare State Cuts

MEGA-RETAILER NEEDS THAT FOOD STAMP MONEY …  Walmart – already facing strong economic headwinds – is warning its shareholders of another major problem. In the company’s annual report, the mega-retailer frets the impact of risk factors “outside our control.” Among those risk factors? “(C)hanges in the amount of payments made under…

MEGA-RETAILER NEEDS THAT FOOD STAMP MONEY … 

Walmart – already facing strong economic headwinds – is warning its shareholders of another major problem.

In the company’s annual report, the mega-retailer frets the impact of risk factors “outside our control.”

Among those risk factors? “(C)hanges in the amount of payments made under the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Plan and other public assistance plans, (and) changes in the eligibility requirements of public assistance plans.”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan (or SNAP) is the federal government’s primary food stamp program.

Two months ago Congress cut the federal government’s $80 billion a year food stamp outlay by a paltry $800 million. Last we checked, that still left $79.2 billion worth of food stamp payments in place – which is more than twice the $33 billion doled out in 2007.

America’s dependency economy is barely being touched, in other words …

Still, Walmart is worried … doubly so seeing as the vast majority of its workers receive food stamps themselves (in addition to other government benefits).

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43 comments

Scooter March 26, 2014 at 7:20 pm

It is bad when a corporation like Walmart becomes that dependent on government freebies.

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David W Koch March 26, 2014 at 9:01 pm

Poor old Wal Mart

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IVEBEENHACKED March 26, 2014 at 10:27 pm

Nikki Haley love Walmart and Food Stamp profits…shhhhhhhhhh

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I Hate WallyWorld March 27, 2014 at 12:37 pm

Yeah, Nikki, about those 4000 wallyworld jobs you were so proud of when you were so against Amazon….And what is the balance on your “gift card”?

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Just Another Guy March 26, 2014 at 7:22 pm

Old Wally World. They way they make bank off of SNAP is by Selling food to people and then they immediately exchange it and get a Wal Mart Card. They then can use that to buy whatever they want (IE High Profit Margin Items vs Low Profit margin Food). What a scam.

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nitrat March 26, 2014 at 7:42 pm

Let the USDA know about that.

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just another guy March 26, 2014 at 8:30 pm

They know about it. I have witnessed it in 2 different Walmart Stores and have heard of several other people seeing the same thing. The WIC cards make sure what you are paying for Qualifies for the program, But this is the loophole. No one has the balls to want to close it.

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shifty henry March 26, 2014 at 8:34 pm

Returns to Walmart with a receipt gets you cash. No receipt and if it’s an item they carry then you get a Walmart. These folks aren’t going to show up with their receipt showing it was a SNAP purchase.
By the way, their food items (at least on items I may purchcase) were increase by 10 cents each the week the SNAP was decreased. Since then some prices have increased by about another 20 – 30 cents each. Walmart doesn’t care – they won’t be hurting.

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Just another guy March 27, 2014 at 9:23 am

Correct on all accounts. Walmart would rather sell them an electronic bc they have 30+% margin built into that while food is a 1-4% margin business.

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nitrat March 26, 2014 at 7:41 pm

….but, you still don’t think the minimum wage should be raised so the taxpayers won’t have to subsidize the Walton’s profits?

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David W Koch March 26, 2014 at 9:03 pm

A tax cut for us one percenters would solve a lot of these problems.

Gran Tango gets it.

I am opposed to raising the minimum wage.

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Scrappy March 26, 2014 at 11:22 pm

Do you really believe that Walmart or any other business is going to eat the cost of having the minimum wage raised? We’re going to eat it! The cost will simply be passed on to the consumer.

We reward and enable people’s lack of ambition, desire for education or the simple gumption to do the things that would make their lives better. Instead we provide unemployment, welfare, food stamps, Medicare and even a Obama phone. And now we will pay you $ 10.10 a hour to ask “you want cheeezzzze on dat”?

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Smirks March 27, 2014 at 9:11 am

WE ALREADY EAT THE COSTS, BRO! YOU PAY TAXES THAT PAY FOR THEIR EMPLOYEES! The worst part is that it doesn’t even matter if you shop there or not, you ARE paying for THEIR employees!

For fucks sake, make Walmart charge an extra penny or two on all of their Chinese-manufactured garbage so THEIR customers eat the costs. That’s the way it should work man! You apply the cost of doing business to what you sell, and your customers pay to cover those costs.

We don’t “reward” lack of ambition. Not everyone can be a doctor, a lawyer, an IT guy, or a businessman. Someone has to flip the burgers. Some people don’t have much hope of doing more than that, but they don’t deserve to be treated like subhuman garbage. I’m not saying hand them a Lamborghini for it, but at least give them enough to survive on their own!

Don’t forget that some of those “lack-of-ambition” Walmart workers are trying to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” too. How many of them are working towards something better? They don’t deserve help?

It just amazes me the contempt some people have for people who they don’t know, whose circumstances they have no clue about, and who may very well be doing the absolute best that they can. I’m sure there’s plenty of users and abusers of welfare programs, but I’ve met plenty who absolutely wish they didn’t have to take it, who absolutely wish they could do more.

And shit like this pisses me off, because you’re lumping the good people, great people, in with the bad.

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scrappy March 27, 2014 at 9:20 am

OK. I agree with some of your points. Im all in favor of raising the minimum wage as long as there is a decrease in goverment handouts to coorespond with the wage increase. Doubt that will happen, will it?

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notLindaBurke March 27, 2014 at 10:05 am

Not good enough. You really need to rethink your entire comment. Try to understand ALL of what smirks said. He gets it and you obviously don’t. You’ve been hoodwinked by the r-w noise machine that uses “government handouts” to rile up the base.

scrappy March 27, 2014 at 11:23 am

When will enough be enough? How does it end? All our problems are solved because we give more of OUR money to those that are “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps”? What do we do with those that never get their boots on? I know, we keep giving them our money (taxpayers) and enable them to continue the cycle!
Its the same old song and dance. Nothing changes, we just keep feeding cash to the machine and expect a “cultural change” to magically transform the culture of government handouts from generation after generation after generation.
It never ends. The cycle continues, So now we are to believe that the “magic bullet” for all of this is a increase in the minumum wage? When the minum wage is increased, prices increase for the consumer. The combo from Mcdonals goes from 4.99 to 5,99. What are those who are “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps” really gaining by the mandated change in their hourly rate?
Y’all need to get your head out of Obamas ass and look around at the real world. It’s time that we have a serious conversation in this country about the perpetual benifactors of goverment handouts. Everyone seems to be scared to discuss anything racial in this country
This is not a dollar and cents issue. It is cultural, plain and simple.

notLindaBurke March 30, 2014 at 2:50 pm

And you have some very racist ideas, plain and simple. The powerful in this country have always tried to run it on cheap labor. They throw a few bones to people like you to keep you out of their hair, but if you’re not in the 1%, you’re losing ground. If you think “nothing changes,” look in the mirror because it’s you who keep arguing for the status quo, where taxpayers are forced to support wealthy people and corporations with no idea of the consequences when people who work are not paid a living wage. When you finally understand why some people, no matter their race, are never going to succeed in the kind of economy that we have built, you might start making sense. Hint: it has nothing to do with Obama’s ass or the real world and everything to do with the uneducated fearful/resentful segment of the population that you apparently are part of.

cuvinny March 27, 2014 at 1:16 pm

Yes, of course there will be less “handouts” because if the min wage is raised then less people will qualify for SNAP and MEDICARE.

Also, great fucking post Smirks

$20/hour is fair March 27, 2014 at 1:28 pm

How much is the right amount of minimum wage?

“Someone has to flip the burgers.”

Nope: http://momentummachines.com/wp-content/themes/whiteboard/images/robotvegetables1.jpg

That burger making machine costs around $25k.

What’s gonna happen when you raise the minimum wage to over $25k/year?

Yea…well that’s what happen generally. You raise the minimum wage and it’s costs jobs. It’s a jobs destroyer.

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Squishy123 March 27, 2014 at 6:46 pm

Yeah and a machine won’t stick the burgers down their pants or spit on them while cooking them.

west_rhino March 27, 2014 at 9:53 am

tho’ minimum wage hikes boost prices and are a payback to labour… driving the cycle further into inflation that the Obama depression has only worsened.
come on folks, economy isn’t rocket science

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Hubris knows no bounds March 27, 2014 at 1:35 pm

They all think they can get something for nothing. The fatal flaw of all central planning is that a select few think that can make good decisions for hundreds of millions of people, all in different situations. It’s absurd when you stop and think about it.

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nitrat March 27, 2014 at 3:38 pm

What’s absurd is that all the “conservative” thinks tanks think that the Earned Income Tax Credit should be expanded rather than increase the minimum wage. Why is that?
Because they believe that YOU and ME should pay through OUR taxes for workers to be paid a wage that keeps up with inflation rather than make the company paying the wages lose a red cent of profit.
That just may be the definition of corporate welfare.

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nitrat March 27, 2014 at 3:30 pm

The question is: why do you think that the US taxpayer should reward the Waltons with tax money (SNAP) for underpaying people?
You hate the people who spend the SNAP, but love the businesses that profit from SNAP.
How does SNAP turn from bad to good like that? You the one who ain’t the rocket scientist, son.
What you’re saying is you believe the government should subsidize the profits of the “free market”? Doesn’t that make it not free?

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GrandTango March 26, 2014 at 8:04 pm

Wal-Mart thrived before Obama…and it will be fine, maybe not rolling in dough, even after he runs out of our money….

You liberals need hard times to scare people…until they figure out you’re the reason the handouts are no longer available, because of your incompetence.

This hurts you more than Wal-Mart will suffer…

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vicupstate March 27, 2014 at 10:05 am

Actually, when Sam died, they started going downhill, the Only difference has been the pace.

They have been losing business to Dollar stores also. That is just the market .

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shifty henry March 27, 2014 at 10:14 am

There was an article last year stating that DG has more sales per square foot than WM. This was done by upgrading merchandise and keeping the stores cleaner.

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nitrat March 27, 2014 at 3:15 pm

The 2 Dollar General stores in Manning, SC are absolutely filthy and fire traps (the Family Dollar, too).
But, since when has a county fire marshal told a ‘job creator’ to make their business safe for customers and employees?

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GrandTango March 27, 2014 at 11:18 am

Again: Wal-Mart will be fine. Maybe not as robust…but highly profitable, all the same….

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nitrat March 27, 2014 at 3:21 pm

You’re like that idiot GOP Rep. Joe Barton who apologized to BP when they were criticized for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf.
You got a bad, bad case of Plantation Massa Syndrome, boy. If one of the Waltons grabbed up and skinned your grand baby alive, you would just shuffle, grin and say: “thank you, massa!, thank you, massa!”

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euwe max March 26, 2014 at 8:10 pm

Pay the workers less – it’s so crazy, it just might work!

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TontoBubbaGoldstein March 26, 2014 at 10:09 pm

In the company’s annual report, the mega-retailer frets the impact of risk factors “outside our control.”

Among those risk factors? “(C)hanges in the amount of payments made under the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Plan and other public assistance plans, (and) changes in the eligibility requirements of public assistance plans.”

…and that’s just the impact on Wal*Mart’s hourly employees associates.

Bud-dmm-psh!

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Cal Avoidanc March 27, 2014 at 4:31 am

S.N.A.P. recipients should be tested for illegal drugs. When they have money to buy dope they don’t need S.N.A.P. This isn’t about promoting alleged stereotypes but about not blindly handing out government welfare benefits to even a small segment of illegal drug buyers within the overall population of government welfare beneficiaries. http://www.drugtestbeforefoodstamps.com

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vicupstate March 27, 2014 at 9:58 am

Drug tests aren’t cheap. There are false positives too.

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SCBlueWoman March 27, 2014 at 10:36 am

Less than 2% test positive. This was a complete waste of funds in states, like Florida, which initiated it. In Florida the gov’s wife owned the drug testing company that was awarded the testing contract.

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cuvinny March 27, 2014 at 1:20 pm

When states like Florida have tried this it has been proven to cost more to test everyone then you make throwing people off of the rolls.

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Smirks March 27, 2014 at 9:01 am

A few points:

The reason we are spending “more than twice” what we were in 2007 is because there are more people that need assistance, not because we’ve doubled what we give out to the same number of people. The positive thing though is that the 1% cut will be spread across more people, so it will have less of an impact on the overall amount people get, meaning that it will do less harm to the people who desperately need the help.

However, I’d note that a 1% cut isn’t as paltry as you make it sound. Remember, you just posted a link yesterday about how food costs were going up and up. If the purchasing power of food stamps is dropping, and it is coupled by a reduction in the amount of food stamps one gets, wouldn’t that be a double whammy?

If you want a real cut in food stamps, create jobs. Pass a jobs bill. Cooperate, get something slapped together that will at least try to promote job growth. Congress needs to stop all this pointless crap they’re doing, stop fundraising for a minute and actually try to do their fucking jobs for once.

Oh, and Walmart doesn’t give a shit about its employees, and since they actively buy politicians just like all the other corporate bastards do, they’ll never have to worry about losing their taxpayer-funded employee compensation package, nor will they have to worry about being punished for taking it. God bless America, amirite?

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Manray March 27, 2014 at 10:14 pm

Shame on you! You’re allowing the facts to muddy a really good “pander point.”

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Double Dipper March 27, 2014 at 9:47 am

WalMart is a double dipper: Food Stamps fuel retail sales by hook and crook while they subsidize wages for a company whose business model is built on low wages for part-time workers with no benefits.

Low wages + no benefits + subsidized wages = WalMart.

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shifty henry March 27, 2014 at 10:10 am

This seems like a good time to repost this

***********************************************

On a personal visit to Walmart I counted the aisles containing what we may consider “junk food” which included candy – crackers – chips – sodas &
other nonjuice drinks – other sweets, etc.

Pacing off each aisle I determined that there were 7 aisles (counting each side as 1 aisle) that were 100% junk food . Other partial aisles and special displays I estimated to be the equivalent of 4 additional aisles, giving a total a 11 aisles at 55 feet in length, 7 feet high and 2 feet deep.

The total of displayed items (facing a customer) is 4,235 square feet. The total of junk food on the shelves is approximately 8,470 square feet.

This entire inventory of junk food, if placed on the Gamecock football field, which is 53.3 yards wide, would cover it to the 17 1/2 yard line.

This is only ONE STORE and every item can be purchased with food stamps!

THINK ABOUT IT!

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Econ 101 March 27, 2014 at 11:43 am

Its catch 22. The reason there are fewer manufacturing jobs in the US is that people bought in to purchasing cheap (describes quality and price) at wallyworld and the other big box retailers. That drove the retailers to dictating manufactures to reduce cost of goods, and resulted in manufacturers doing any and everything to meet that demand. The stared by reducing quality and when that didn’t work, they moved overseas to further reduce expenses. As long as people are buying the cheap crap and believe they are actually saving money, MaoWorld and its ilk will survive and thrive. Its simple economics. A Mercedes Benz cost more than a Kia. Workers in Germany earn premium pay while workers in Korea do not. Consumers ultimately dictate the salaries of the workers.

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Dominick Carrullo March 27, 2014 at 5:08 pm

Wally was a BIG supporter of Obamacare….Hate it for ’em.

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Charlie Goodrich March 28, 2014 at 11:56 am

wait, how was this not entirely foreseeable?

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