Walmart CEO warns company will close stores if theft doesn't slow down

[Shaul]

So what is your sense of why it's different now?

A general breaking down of society due to corruption, lawlessness, and divisiveness. Compounded by external elements flooding the country with drugs, illegal immigration, bad government fiscal policies, and inflation.

 

[Valjean]

Who were they going to steal from? During the Depression everyone was broke. And if anyone had a little something they shared it with others.

We are not in a Great Depression. We are in a Great Oppression. And the oppressed are doing whatever they have to do to survive. Our morals don't means squat to them, because it was our morals that drove them into poverty and disrepute in the first place.

"Professor Henry Higgins : [shocked] You mean to say you'd sell your daughter for fifty pounds?

Colonel Hugh Pickering : Have you NO morals, man?

Alfred P. Doolittle : Nah. Nah, can't afford 'em, guv'nor. Neither could you, if you was as poor as me."
--My Fair Lady.

 

[Revoltingest]

Don't you just love stereotyping so much of the country.

Note that this isn't everyone on the left.
But it is indeed a common theme from them.

 

[Stevicus]

The only difference is now people do work 2 and 4 jobs and still can't get a cut of the pie.

So why would they keep trying?

It's a struggle, but people still gotta eat one way or the other.

 

[wandering peacefully]

We really need to face the reality that it's too late for that, now. Very, very few gangbangers, drug addicts, or homeless crazies are EVER going to rejoin society. There is no "fixing" this. Once we've locked people out of 'normal society', and they've accepted their fate, they aren't coming back. Who even wants them back, really? We didn't want them around in the first place. It's why they are where they are.

So now we have to decide what we're going to do about all these broken people that we've created because of our greed, and our bigotry, and our selfishness, and our willful ignorance. Because their numbers have grown massive and we can't keep ignoring them, anymore. Our cities are fulling up with them. Our small towns are choking and dying all across the country from poverty. Thousands and thousands of them. And the people still living in them are getting more and more 'broken'. From drugs, and alcohol, and hopelessness.

We still don't seem to understand that this can't be fixed. And it's going to keep getting worse. The solution was not to push those people out of our society in the first place. But we did it, anyway. And now here they all are. Doing whatever they have to do, to survive.

I'm not so pessimistic that it can NEVER be solved. We just need the right people in the right positions with enough concerned citizen backing them. It will take more education and understanding along with voting and local cooperation. I hope you are wrong that it can't be fixed.

 

[Revoltingest]

I don't think "the wealthy" are a single demographic, but there is a "greed is good" contingent with marked sociopathic tendencies, who have successfully undone the regulatory New Deal policies, reduced their own taxes, legislated massive government handouts to the 'job creators', and effectively captured the government itself.

And yet, regulations of business at all levels are
far more extensive now than in the New Deal era.
And see....you're demonizing the wealthy, albeit
allowing that some might not be sociopaths.

 

[wandering peacefully]

And yet, regulations of business at all levels are
far more extensive now than in the New Deal era.
And see....you're demonizing the wealthy, albeit
allowing that some might not be sociopaths.

Are you suggesting the environmental regulations in the New Deal error were sufficient to stop the pollution of the ecosystems? And we should go back to that Era? What regulations are you suggesting are too harsh on corporations?

 

[sun rise]

A general breaking down of society due to corruption, lawlessness, and divisiveness. Compounded by external elements flooding the country with drugs, illegal immigration, bad government fiscal policies, and inflation.

I agree with corruption and note that your party's leader is all in on divisiveness. Drugs are a factor as well.

Bad government fiscal policies - let's stop the tax cuts that mostly benefit the rich and raise tax rates to where they historically were Historical Federal Individual Income Tax Rates & Brackets, 1862-2021. Inflation can cause people on the edge to be desperate.

But one of your list I want to comment on:
U.S. citizens most likely to be arrested for violent crime

United States-born citizens are more likely to contribute to crime rates than undocumented immigrants, according to Texas Criminal Justice System data.
...
U.S. citizens were more than two times more likely to be arrested for a violent crime than an undocumented immigrant, this data showed, and are more likely to engage in every type of felony crime except traffic violations.
...
In general, legal immigrants are about two times more likely to commit a crime than those who are undocumented overall. About 800 out of every 100,000 legal immigrants were found to commit a crime, compared to 400 per 100,000 undocumented immigrants.

 

[Revoltingest]

Are you suggesting the environmental regulations in the New Deal error were sufficient to stop the pollution of the ecosystems?

No.
How on Earth did you infer that?

And we should go back to that Era?

No.
Another odd question.

What regulations are you suggesting are too harsh on corporations?

At them moment, I'm simply addressing the
unsupported claim that regulation has been reduced.
Let's not have a barrage of irrelevant questions
deflect from that.

 

[Valjean]

Are you claiming that only poor folk are
stealing, & only necessities to survive,
& only because of Walmart's behavior?

Hardly. Would it were so simple. The growing underclass, growing income inequality and shrinking middle class are multifactoral.

Wall Mart is a major exemplar of corporate monopoly and its effect on jobs and local business, though.
Study proves it: Walmart super-stores kill off local small businesses
Is Walmart Destroying America? | American Postal Workers Union

 

[Revoltingest]

It's a struggle, but people still gotta eat one way or the other.

Let's see what the poor are shoplifting from Walmart.
List of Most Shoplifted Items from Walmart Store - The Superficial
In among the sporting goods, cosmetics, booze, jewelry,
etc is baby formula.
One might be able to say this last item was stolen for survival.

 

[Audie]

It's easy to be middle class folks and think idealistically about theft at stores like this. Over the years it is apparent that these thefts happen in places of lower income, and communities with less opportunities. The poor want the American Dream, too, but have vastly more hurdles to get there than the middle class who take opportuniy as a given. Theft is illegal and morally wrong, but i can see how theft from super wealthy businesses as a sort of reparations from slavery and the ongoing racism against minorities and the poor. Abstractly there is a sort of justice in theft.

I expect the RF conservatives to condemn this as a blanket ideal, only assessing this problem from their narrow, personal perspective, and find another example to support their subtle bias against minorities and the poor.

Reparations and bias.

Where is my eyes-rolled- heavenward- in- mock-
resignation emoji thing?

 

[Revoltingest]

Hardly. Would it were so simple. The growing underclass, growing income inequality and shrinking middle class are multifactoral.

Wall Mart is a major exemplar of corporate monopoly and its effect on jobs and local business, though.
Study proves it: Walmart super-stores kill off local small businesses
Is Walmart Destroying America? | American Postal Workers Union

I've seen many Walmarts in my travels. I don't recall
a single one that wasn't in a shopping center, with a
whole lotta competition around. Saying that some of
the competition closes falls far short of arguing that
a monopoly exists, thereby justifying shoplifting.

 

[Revoltingest]

Reparations and bias.

Where is my eyes-rolled- heavenward- in- mock-
resignation emoji thing?

Demonize the victim so that it's
always the victim's fault, ain't it.

 

[Stevicus]

Let's see what the poor are shoplifting from Walmart.
List of Most Shoplifted Items from Walmart Store - The Superficial
In among the sporting goods, cosmetics, booze, jewelry,
etc is baby formula.
One might be able that this last item was stolen for survival.

That wasn't really the point I was addressing, although looking over that link with the list of items, some of them might qualify, such as meat and baby formula. Some of the items on the list I might question, since access is controlled to some of them, such as cigarettes. Even razor blades are now kept in locked cabinets, along with many over the counter drugs, portable electronics, accessories. I don't think the average customer would be able to easily lift some of these items, so it could be employees doing it.

 

[Valjean]

I've seen many Wallmarts in my travels. I don't recall
a single one that wasn't in a shopping center, with a
whole lotta competition around. Saying that some of
the competition closes falls far short of arguing that
a monopoly exists, thereby justifying shoplifting.

I'm not saying monopoly justifies shoplifting. I'm saying it's one of multiple causes.
Wall Mart eats competition.
It moves into a market with multiple large stores, selling almost everything in one place, with low prices and 24 hour service.
Local stores can't compete, and go out of business.
Wall Mart then raises prices. Shortens hours and closes some of the regional stores.

 

[Shaul]

I agree with corruption and note that your party's leader is all in on divisiveness. Drugs are a factor as well.

Bad government fiscal policies - let's stop the tax cuts that mostly benefit the rich and raise tax rates to where they historically were Historical Federal Individual Income Tax Rates & Brackets, 1862-2021. Inflation can cause people on the edge to be desperate.

But one of your list I want to comment on:
U.S. citizens most likely to be arrested for violent crime

United States-born citizens are more likely to contribute to crime rates than undocumented immigrants, according to Texas Criminal Justice System data.
...
U.S. citizens were more than two times more likely to be arrested for a violent crime than an undocumented immigrant this data showed, and are more likely to engage in every type of felony crime except traffic violations.
...
In general, legal immigrants are about two times more likely to commit a crime than those who are undocumented overall. About 800 out of every 100,000 legal immigrants were found to commit a crime, compared to 400 per 100,000 undocumented immigrants.

100% of Illegal immigrants, by definition, are criminals. Some of the illegal immigrants are also the mules for transporting drugs into the country. Then there are many crimes associated with illegal immigration including human trafficking, sexual exploitation, theft and homicides. Debating proportions of crime between domestic and illegal immigrants is moot. Since any increase due to illegal immigration is deleterious and still good to eliminate.

 

[Valjean]

I've seen many Wallmarts in my travels. I don't recall
a single one that wasn't in a shopping center, with a
whole lotta competition around. Saying that some of
the competition closes falls far short of arguing that
a monopoly exists, thereby justifying shoplifting.

Have you noticed that most of this "competition" consists of specialty chain stores -- monopolies themselves?
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Reich Testimony.pdf
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/5...average-family-pays-5k-monopoly-tax-to-large/

 

[SomeRandom]

I'm not saying monopoly justifies shoplifting. I'm saying it's one of multiple causes.
Wall Mart eats competition.
It moves into a market with multiple large stores, selling almost everything in one place, with low prices and 24 hour service.
Local stores can't compete, and go out of business.
Wall Mart then raises prices. Shortens hours and closes some of the regional stores.

I worked for a company that sort of sounds rather similiar
It was a giant supermarket conglomerate that also owns a bunch of different companies. Like alcohol stores, taverns/pubs, variety stores etc

The CEOs would pay lip service to how awful theft was (and indeed the consequences for employee theft were fairly harsh.)
But the silent truth that they didn’t admit was, they didn’t actually care as theft gave them a lot of tax breaks and actually increased their profit in some areas. Through various technicalities.

Surprised that’s not the case for Walmart as Oz typically has far more restrictions on massive corporations by comparison (on a federal level anyway. )

 

[wandering peacefully]

No.
How on Earth did you infer that?

No.
Another odd question.

At them moment, I'm simply addressing the
unsupported claim that regulation has been reduced.
Let's not have a barrage of irrelevant questions
deflect from that.

Oh crud,, sorry. What was the question?