Wal-Mart's drug program

Pikkumatti,

I can't help feel more than a bit ironical when I say: I'm sorry, it's only one lawsuit, and I was wrong about tens of thousands. 8)

It was, therefore, a noteworthy event in June 2004 when a federal judge expanded a lawsuit filed by six California women to a class action. The case has now mushroomed to cover 1.6 million women Wal-Mart workers, employed nationwide since 1988, making it, by far, the largest class action in U.S. history.

The basic statistics of the class action suit: WM workforce is two-thirds female, who routinely get less than men in the exact same positions, and the higher you go in the management chain, the fewer women you see.

I thought I'd heard of a second suit, but it's likely I heard about this one twice, it being two years since the suit was filed.

I've been in the behind-the-scenes part of the business world for 30 years. I don't use the word "evil" any more, it is trite and undescriptive, except for the very rare person who just has to screw people for a living. No, Wal-Mart is not evil. It is a bully, it certainly has a right to be given its raison d'etre, and there are two general outcomes of the WM era: other companies will adopt their strategies; it will be brought down in a legislative bloodbath.

My reading of history prefers the latter. Given that corporations will screw their employees for the bottom line if not prevented somehow (and that's a reading of history, not hyperbole), I don't think we want WM to be the usher of a new robber baron era.

Oh, and this gem does not comfort me one bit.>

Franklin, I'm afraid you are looking for a planned economy, one in which somebody (government, other elites) determine who will win and who will lose, and how much weight is added as a handicap to someone else.

I thank God every day that we do not live under a planned economy, and I argue as best I can against those who want one. It is indeed, as the book is entitled, The Road to Serfdom. And I do not intend to be a serf, nor for my children to be serfs. Or lords for that matter.

So I fear your "legislative bloodletting". People now have the freedom to earn and spend their money as they see fit, and to direct their lives and make changes accordingly. It is part of our human dignity, after all (subsidiarity, and all that).

The completely ironic part about this is that the original post relates to Walmart's plan to offer a discount plan on generic medicine. Why that is not a good thing remains beyond me.

I'm done with Crunchy Con today. Between this (less so) and that damn thread on the torture legislation (much more so), the debate has sucked the life force out of me.

I'll be back another day, friend.>