Where I am NOT going today is shopping at WalMart

It appears Minnesota will be part of the larger national effort to gain social justice and a living wage from WalMart.  I'm not sure for whom I have the greater sympathy - those who spent long hours in single-digit wind chill weather for cheap stuff, crowding into stores with other combative shoppers, or the people who have to assist them in those stores, or who are standing outside to protest.

The most worthwhile effort seems to be those opposing greed, not acting on it.

For an estimated $0.15 per each shopping trip annually, it is estimated in a recent study by Demos that we could simultaneously improve the economy, pay retail workers a living wage so that the government would not need to subsidize the profits that go to the Walton family as just one more example of extracting wealth from the 99% for the 1%.  AND requiring a living wage, along with the provisions of the ACA / 'Obamacare' would also ultimately benefit business as well.

However because of the focus by business on short term maximum gain that extracts every possible profit, at the expense of long term benefit and sustainability, that is something that will have to be brought about by regulation, rather than voluntary participation.  I am not optimistic that protests alone, no matter how widely supported, will overcome that short term greed driven thinking.

Here is the link to the Demos report; I expect I will write more about it, but for now, I'm still intellectually digesting it all.  Here is the intro:

Retail's Hidden Potential: How Raising Wages Would Benefit Workers, the Industry and the Overall Economy

 November 19, 2012|

Catherine Ruetschlin

With more than 15 million workers in the sector, and leverage over workplace standards across the supply chain, retail wields enormous influence on Americans’ standard of living and the nation’s economic outlook. It connects producers and consumers, workers and jobs, and local social and economic development to the larger US economy. And over the next decade, retail will be the second largest source of new jobs in the United States.¹
Given the vital role retail plays in our economy, the question of whether employees in the sector are compensated at a level that promotes American prosperity is of national importance. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the typical retail sales person earns just $21,000 per year. Cashiers earn even less, bringing home an annual income of just $18,500.²
The continued dominance of low wages in this sector weakens our nation’s capacity to boost living standards and economic growth. Retail’s low-wage employment means that even Americans who work full-time fail to make ends meet, and growth slows because too few families have enough remaining in each paycheck to contribute to the broader economy.
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And here is a report about the protest support in MN; it is nice to see 'fly-over land' so well represented:

From the St. Cloud Times:

Twin Cities work group backs Walmart protest

Cleaning workers are joining striking Walmart workers in the Twin Cities to protest the big-box giant on Black Friday, the year’s biggest retail shopping day.

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha, or CTUL, a group that works for improved conditions and better wages for retail cleaning workers, is spearheading the move. They’re joining Walmart workers this morning at a Walmart store in St. Paul, according to the group’s Facebook page.

Some Walmart workers nationally, including some in Minnesota, have said they plan to walk off the job today to protest wages and working conditions. Some workers also are upset about Walmart’s plans to begin Black Friday shopping on Thursday night while the Thanksgiving holiday is still under way.