Subj : And in Business News... To : ALL From : BOB KLAHN Date : Thu Jul 25 2013 12:21:22 Read the entire story at: http://www.toledoblade.com/Retail/2013/07/22/ Taxpayers-subsidizing-low-paid-employees.html The battle over food stamps is clearly a smoke screen for the Republicans just trying to extort more from the administration. Without food stamps many employees of this country's largest employer will go hungry. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Printed Thursday, July 25, 2013 Taxpayers subsidizing low-paid employees Report: 50 firms benefit from public assistance *BY CORNELIUS FROLIK AND JOSH SWEIGART DAYTON DAILY NEWS * ... Employees at some of Ohio's largest companies increasingly rely on public assistance such as food stamps and Medicaid, ... These companies include Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Bob Evans, whose ... The number of people on food stamps with someone in their household working at one of these 50 firms grew 47 percent between February, 2008, and February, 2013, to 117,890 people, the newspaper found. During the same time, Medicaid recipients associated with these employers grew by 59 percent to 141,182 people. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Most people know who Wal-Mart is, probably Kroger, but may not know what Bob Evans is. Bob Evans is an "iconic" Ohio restaurant chain. Long ago it was one of the top, but it has declined drastically over the years. The founder, Bob Evans, was asked to do advertising for the company years after he had retired. He refused to do so unless he was given the authority to bring the quality back up to his standards. Krogers used to pay wages good enough to keep employees who could otherwise have gotten high paying factory jobs. I once talked to an employee there I knew, and told him they were hiring where I worked. He was a stock worker, and my employer paid on a level exceeded only by the auto industry in this area. He declined to even apply, as he was making wages and benefits that made it not worth his while to change. That is no longer true, as Walmart has pulled down wages throughout the business area. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ... The cost of Medicaid in Ohio grew $4 billion since fiscal year 2008 to $17.5 billion last year. The cost of food stamps grew from $1.4 billion in 2008 to $3 billion last year. .... But some policy groups contend these firms' wages are determined by the market and say many Ohioans work for these corporations because they offer fair and attractive pay and benefits. ... ---------------------------------------------------------------- Walmart says their average pay is $12.89/hr, and half their employees work 34 hours a week or more, making them full time. $12.89/hr is less than $26K/yr for a 40 hour week. Think that through, that's poverty level wages. And don't even try the 'entry level for teen agers' line, cause they don't hire that many teenagers for those jobs. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "[Employers] are not going to pay workers more than the value they provide," said Michael Tanner, senior fellow with the Cato Institute, which promotes limited government and free ... ---------------------------------------------------------------- Employers are not going to pay workers any more than they have to, no matter how much value they provide. ---------------------------------------------------------------- About 25 percent of food-stamp recipients in Ohio live in a household where at least one family member works, but many recipients are children or disabled or retired residents. ... ---------------------------------------------------------------- IOW, the 47% are not bums living a life of leisure, but retired folks and Wallmart workers and such. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Walmart in February had 14,684 employees or their household members on food stamps and 14,056 on Medicaid. ... recipient, which suggests Ohio spent an estimated $1.9 million in February alone feeding families of Walmart workers. ... Since 2009, Walmart has reduced its Ohio work force 10 percent to 48,630 employees. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Again, think that through. The state of Ohio subsidizes Wallmart to the tune of nearly $2 million a month. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Kroger's work force has grown nearly 7 percent to 39,000 since 2008. But the pool of company employees and those they live with receiving food stamps has grown 75 percent while the pool of Medicaid recipients increased 82 percent. ---------------------------------------------------------------- As I said, years ago Kroger provided wages and benefits sufficient they could compete with industry. Thanks to Wallmart they have been pulled down to a government subsidized workforce. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Evans has shed thousands of Ohio jobs since 2008, leaving it with a work force of 12,500. But the number of its employees and household members on food stamps has grown nearly 29 percent to 4,066, and Medicaid participation has risen 40 percent. ---------------------------------------------------------------- An "iconic" Ohio business, not a welfare business. Think that one through. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Food stamp payments to households with at least one member employed by Walmart, McDonald's, Kroger, Wendy's, and Bob Evans has grown to an estimated $6 million a month. ... ---------------------------------------------------------------- Five companies in Ohio, one gets nearly $2 mill/month subsidy, the other four divide up about $4mill a month from the state. Yet republicans in the house cut food stamps completely out of the budget. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Walmart officials said they try to keep their wages and benefits competitive. ---------------------------------------------------------------- When ever an employer calls his wages competitive, he doesn't mean high enough to attract good workers, but low enough to keep his costs down to where he can put good paying companies out of business. The reality of this world is, in a prosperous and truly competitive market Wallmart would be out of business, or forced to compete for workers with wages high enough they don't need govt support. Wallmart could even be reasonably called a socialist enterprise, as it depends on govt subsidies to survive. It requires the government to feed it's employees. Yet Wallmart gives it's support to republicans who denounce all that they are... but hell, it sure pays well for the top brass. BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn .... Don't tell me you are pro-life if you don't support health care for all. --- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg] * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 Join Us: www.DocsPlace.org (1:123/140) .