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25 new of 72 responses total.
bhelliom
response 15 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 17:14 UTC 2003

Yep...they got busted in several states, including Michigan.
rcurl
response 16 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 17:31 UTC 2003

I thought I read it was a contractor to Wal-Mart, not Wal-Mart, who
got "busted". 
bhelliom
response 17 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 17:40 UTC 2003

The migrant workers were busted...I think the Wal-mart sotres were the
site of the raids...I'll have to re-read the article.
rcurl
response 18 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 18:07 UTC 2003

The illegal aliens get busted for being illegal, but won't the company
that hired them, the contractor, also be indicted for giving them employment?
bhelliom
response 19 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 18:36 UTC 2003

I believe so.  Wal-mart may also face problems, if it cannot be proven
that they had nothing to do--deliberately--with hiring illegals.
gelinas
response 20 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 18:57 UTC 2003

Shouldn't that be the other way?  "Wal-mart may also face problems, if it can
be proven that they knew about the hiring of illegal aliens"?  Innocent 'til
proven guilty, and all that?
mynxcat
response 21 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 19:21 UTC 2003

That's what one would think
other
response 22 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 19:33 UTC 2003

Wal-Mart CONTRACTED someone to fill positions, which they did using 
illegals.  This was probably solely for plausible deniability.
goose
response 23 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 19:59 UTC 2003

One NPR report talked about Wal-Mart executives being on tape talking about
these illegals.  So they may have evidence of knowledge.
tod
response 24 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 20:17 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

krj
response 25 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 22:02 UTC 2003

My recollection of the news stories is that the Feds have executed
searches at Wal-Mart corporate offices in this case.
tod
response 26 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 22:04 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

janc
response 27 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 04:59 UTC 2003

I believe Walmart has replaced General Motors as the biggest employer in
America.  This is not a particularly good sign for America.  GM employees
mostly make things.  Walmert employees mostly don't.  GM employees are
largely unionized, and make fairly decent livings.  Walmart employees are,
I believe, non-union and a substantial fraction of them earn crummy wages
with no medical benefits.  This allows Walmart to sell for less, putting
stores that treat their employees decently out of business.  It's not a
company that makes one feel good about the social value of capitalist
enterprise.
sj2
response 28 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 05:31 UTC 2003

Welcome to China!!
gelinas
response 29 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 11:52 UTC 2003

(In his latest book, _Managing in the Next Society_, Peter Drucker points out
that relatively few GM employees "make things."  Manufacturing productivity,
like farming productivity, has outstripped demand.)
tod
response 30 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 13:33 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

janc
response 31 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 14:23 UTC 2003

Joe's probably right - GM does a lot more selling than making.  But my
observation was probably dumb anyway, as "selling" isn't inherently worse
than "making".  Heck, someone out convincing people to buy recycled paper
products is probably doing the world more good than someone making yet
another Humvee.  The isn't any inherent moral superiority to making things.
Personally, I find such work more satisfying, at least when it has a
creative component (which is probably fairly rare on an assembly line) but
lots of people aren't wired that way.  So you can strike that comment.
remmers
response 32 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 14:24 UTC 2003

...and hope the Wal-Mart doesn't drive said grocer out of business first.
remmers
response 33 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 14:24 UTC 2003

(Jan' #31 slipped in.  I was responding to Todd's #30.)
tod
response 34 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 14:29 UTC 2003

This response has been erased.

gull
response 35 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 14:32 UTC 2003

I'm still not sure it says good things about our country that we're trading
manufacturing jobs for positions in telemarketing and burger-flipping.
remmers
response 36 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 14:33 UTC 2003

Hard to say.  It could be that we're manufacturing just as much but
using fewer people to do it.
janc
response 37 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 14:46 UTC 2003

Maybe we have enough stuff?

Nah.
jep
response 38 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 15:08 UTC 2003

Manufacturing and farming involve turning natural resources into 
products; the traditional definition of "creating wealth".  That's how 
the economy grows.  Services -- sales, marketing, surgery, teaching, 
management, etc. -- don't produce any wealth.  They shift it around.

Few of us ever produce anything at all, but we all survive and prosper 
off what is produced.  We all eat, and we all buy cars and clothes and 
gadgetry.  It all gets produced by someone.  In the service economy, 
our function is to serve those producers in some way in order to earn 
our share of their products.
slynne
response 39 of 72: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 15:41 UTC 2003

Most manufacturing jobs in this country have been lost to technology. 
Which isnt really a bad thing. We are still making just as much stuff, 
it just takes less folks to make it. Which frees up people to earn 
livings doing other things. Things like teaching and creating art and 
entertaining, etc. Can you imagine how our lives would be if *most* 
people had to either farm or work in factories?  

This doesnt mean that Walmart isnt a problem though. They pay their 
workers pretty low wages. I am always surprised that they are even able 
to find employees. 
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