Hugh Jackman hosted the 2013 Walmart shareholders meeting in Fayetteville, Ark.
"The lineup for Thursday was impressive, and the campaign could serve to boost Walmart’s image, constantly under attack by labor-backed groups who have criticized the retail behemoth as a destroyer of US jobs, not a creator....
Walmart is like the Jews of Israel, 'eh?
That message was interspersed with the usual parade of celebrity and spectacle: Hugh Jackman, Tom Cruise, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, dancers and a giant puppet of a white elephant....
No winged woman dressed in a sequin top and bikini bottom playing a see-through violin from a balcony?
While Wal-Mart’s stock price remains close to an all-time high, [and] as is common for Wal-Mart at these meetings, executives barely made mention of recent controversies, including issues of employee staffing and the Bangladesh factory collapse that killed more than 1,100 workers where Wal-Mart was shown to be producing garments. In addition, there is still the continuing investigation into potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Mexico and other countries, after The New York Times reported last year that company officials at Wal-Mart de Mexico bribed officials to ease expansion in that country, and executives at headquarters were told of the bribery and declined to take action. But that did not mean those issues did not come up."
Bangladesh hasn't come up much in my paper since, but at least Mitterrand's son got a nice shirt during the fire sale.
Look who they got this year (that's flopped, nothing personal).
At least they made some Mexicans happy.
Obviously too big to jail but they are going small(?), and that should be just enough to pi$$ off certain people.
"Walmart lowers forecast as US sales remain weak" by Elizabeth A. Harris | New York Times August 15, 2014
NEW YORK — Walmart reported a tepid quarter Thursday, with continued disappointing sales at its existing stores in the United States, and it cut its full-year earnings guidance.
Sales at existing US stores, an important metric, were flat compared with the same quarter a year earlier, although sales at its smaller-format Neighborhood Market stores grew 5.6 percent. Traffic in its US stores, which has been a problem for the company, fell 1.1 percent during the quarter, although the average amount spent during a shopping trip increased.
“Stronger sales in the US businesses would’ve also helped our profit” Doug McMillon, Walmart’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The US division at Walmart has been contending with dwindling traffic and weak sales. The retailer, the nation’s largest, relies on its domestic business for the majority of its revenue.
And yet we are told by the government and media the recovery is darn near roaring, almost, well, getting ready to, I know you have heard this for five years running, but no, really.
Meanwhile, that sucking sound above continues to concentrate wealth at the top.
Much of the current growth in the retail industry is in smaller stores, analysts say, while Walmart’s center of gravity remains its enormous supercenters. The company has been pushing to expand its presence in smaller-footprint stores and is experimenting with some additional formats. Walmart US had five consecutive quarters of declining sales at existing stores, an unwelcome streak that was broken Thursday by the flat sales performance.
But we have been in recovery, blah, blah, blah.
Last month, the company announced that the chief executive of its US division, Bill Simon, will leave. Simon had been one of the leading candidates to succeed Walmart’s last chief executive, Michael Duke, who retired this year. Greg Foran, who was most recently the head of Walmart Asia, replaced Simon this month.
Related:
"The leadership change at Walmart’s US stores comes after the division has suffered five straight quarters of sales declines at stores that have been open at least a year, which has been hurt by a tough economy that has squeezed its low-income customers, along with fierce competition from Amazon.com and dollar stores. Walmart, which reports second-quarter earnings results next month, is heading into the two biggest shopping periods of the year: the back-to-school and winter holiday seasons."
Whatever.
After an extraordinarily difficult winter, there was hope that the spring and early summer would bring positive news, but retail results for the quarter have generally been muted.
I don't mean to keep huffing and puffing, but
"Despite several quarters of controversy over bribery allegations in Mexico, Walmart’s profitable earnings and strong sales in recent quarters made it a Wall Street darling, with its stock price hitting a record high Wednesday. On Thursday, though, the company’s financial picture worsened as it reported quarterly results that missed analysts’ expectations, citing everything from a cold spring to late tax refunds, and the stock price began to decline. Net income rose to $3.8 billion, [and] the lower-than-expected sales in the United States were because of colder weather than last year, the payroll tax increase, tax refunds that came in later than usual, and a lack of food inflation."
Oh, that WAS last year!! I'm sorry!
"Food stamp cuts, bad weather hurt Walmart’s profit as an exceptionally ferocious winter with multiple storms also cut into earnings.... Stung by weather, profit at Walmart drops 5% as the retailer joined a growing chorus of companies partly blaming the unusually harsh winter weather for performance."
Still booked and banked $3.6 billion for the quarter, though. Pretty consistent earnings each quarter despite the problems. Gotta keep that share price up and stable.
And yet, we are also told the glaciers are melting because of you (not the wars, not the globe-traveling elite, you, you breathing piece of useless eater, you!) while the lag effect means the world is already locked into more rapid melting from the warming that has already occurred -- something we have been hearing from them for two decades now and it has only gotten colder -- and is about to get four times worse!
So never mind the bad water or the southwest drying up (at least Detroit's water shut-off was fixed), screw the firefighters, beef up those dunes (where are the hurricanes, anyway? Wrong again?!! We know where is Cuomo; Clinton-Cuomo in 2016? You can rain on that right now) so they can turn to mud -- and the economy is getting better, too! Just ignore the poverty outside the bubble of Bo$ton.
“The story for the Massachusetts economy, if you ignore high levels of unemployment and inequality, is the economy has been performing very well.”
That would leave anyone howling (must have been the waterboarding), in laughter or rage.
Walmart executives said Thursday that US customers continue to be cautious, concerned about the cost of living and the country’s employment landscape. Walmart’s core customers tend to have lower incomes and have experienced the most difficult recovery from the recession.
Otherwise known as penny-pinchers (who will have to now account for carbon taxes that will, thankfully, enrich Wall Street)!
And you wonder why I have had it with the 1% mouthpiece?
****************
Among the brighter spots for the company, Walmart’s international division performed better. The only country in the division that had a sales decline at existing stores was China.
China going into rece$$ion is good for no one!
--more--"
Maybe you could just blame the buck instead, and speaking of that denominational devil:
"Walmart face-off with D.C. fuels wage debate; Big-box retailers targeted in bill to raise minimum" by Sam Hananel | Associated Press July 16, 2013
WASHINGTON — A bitter standoff between Walmart and Washington, D.C., officials over the city’s effort to impose a higher minimum wage on big-box retailers is fueling a wider debate about how far cities should go in trying to raise pay for low-wage workers — and whether larger companies should be required to pay more.
Walmart Stores Inc., the nation’s largest private employer, is fuming about a ‘‘living wage’’ bill approved by the D.C. Council that has an unusual twist: It would apply only to certain large retailers, forcing them to pay at least $12.50 an hour, nearly 50 percent higher than city’s minimum wage of $8.25.
The measure is being cheered by unions and worker advocates, who have long complained about Walmart’s wages and working conditions. Opponents call it an unfair tactic that will discourage companies from doing business in the city.
Walmart has threatened to cancel plans for three of the six stores it hopes to build in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. The measure is now before Mayor Vincent Gray.
Some economists say targeting large retailers or industries that can afford to increase wages may be an effective way to raise pay to even higher levels than a broad-based minimum wage. The district’s bill applies to stores of 75,000 square feet or larger and annual corporate revenue of at least $1 billion.
‘‘A large retailer can more easily absorb a pay hike than a corner store,’’ said Arindrajit Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a prominent supporter of raising the minimum wage. Large stores are ‘‘less likely to shut down or cut back on employment’’ in response to an increase, he said.
But Dube cautioned that a targeted hike might make it harder for Walmart and other big-box stores to pass on the wage hike as a price increase, since smaller retailers could still keep prices low.
The capital’s minimum wage already is higher than the federal rate of $7.25 an hour. Other cities and states that have sought to raise the minimum wage have applied the hike to all businesses. San Francisco’s rate of $10.55 an hour is the highest in the nation.
Still, no other city has singled out certain businesses. The Chicago City Council tried to pass a similar measure seven years ago, but it was vetoed by then-mayor Richard M. Daley.
President Obama has proposed raising the federal minimum to $9 an hour and boosting it annually to keep pace with inflation.
Many Walmart workers already make $12.50 an hour — the rate set by the district’s bill — or more, but the average sales associate earns $8.81, according to IBISWorld, an independent research group.
Walmart spokesman Steven Restivo questioned why the D.C. measure excludes unionized stores such as Safeway and Giant, suggesting the bill is targeting nonunion stores. He said most of the company’s 1.4 million employees work full time, and about 75 percent of management started as hourly associates.
David Neumark, an economics professor at the University of California Irvine, has argued that raising the minimum wage is bad for workers because it discourages employers from hiring and leads to fewer jobs. He said Walmart’s low prices are more important to helping low-income workers.
‘‘We can talk about wages, but if you can lower prices, that’s as good as raising wages,’’ Neumark said. ‘‘And of course helps a lot more people.’’
He sounds like David Ricardo after the jobs were outsourced to China and beyond.
Of course, prices are on the rise because of that Federal Reserve printing pre$$, but don't let that ruined failed conventional myths and narratives.
Forcing Walmart to raise wages could create gradual pressure on smaller businesses to boost wages over time, said Michael Reich, an economics professor at the University of California Berkeley.
‘‘A lot of people would be trying to get jobs at Walmart,’’ he said. ‘‘That labor market pressure is going to raise wages at smaller stores, just because Walmart is such a big employer.’’
But business groups call the idea outrageous and unfair.
‘‘By any analysis, this is a really flawed proposal that’s also very discriminatory,’’ said David French, senior vice president of the National Retail Federation.
‘‘The assumption is that retailers make a lot of money, therefore they can pay higher wages and therefore you can impose higher costs by fiat. That doesn’t necessarily reflect reality.’’
Typically, retailers are low-margin businesses, French said.
The district’s measure could also affect other retailers like Best Buy and Macy’s.
Business groups are also concerned a precedent-setting law in Washington could trigger similar measure elsewhere.
‘‘The political forces that have brought the D.C. Council to the brink of economic suicide are the same political forces at work in other cities,’’ said French.
More than 140 cities and counties have laws that require businesses receiving government contracts or subsidies to pay a rate higher than the federal or state minimum wage.
--more--"
Sorry I tired of trying to catch the cat and gave up.
"US decides wolverines need no extra protection" by Matthew Brown | Associated Press August 13, 2014
BILLINGS, Mont. — US wildlife officials are withdrawing proposed protections for the snow-loving wolverine in a course reversal revealed Tuesday that highlights lingering uncertainties over what a warming climate means for some temperature-sensitive species.
(Pfffffffffft!)
Wolverines are rarely seen members of the weasel family that need deep, late-season snow to den.
Also known as propaganda pre$$titutes.
But while there is broad consensus climate change will make the world warmer, determining what that means for individual species remains difficult.
First of all, there is not. My own senses have confirmed record-setting winters, but I suppose those are only useful when it comes to making $elf-$erving excuses for an economic $y$tem that $erves the 1%.
Pffft!
That’s stoking sharp disagreement over the fate of wolverines, with one researcher calling Tuesday’s withdrawal a travesty of science.
US Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said that predictions about climate change’s localized impacts remain ambiguous.
Rejecting the conclusions of most outside experts and some of the agency’s own scientists, Ashe said the uncertainty made it impossible to determine whether less snow cover would put wolverines in danger of extinction in coming decades.
We have just come out of three straight years of record snow! WTF??!!!
The decision carries potential ramifications for other species affected by climate change — including Alaska’s bearded seals, the Pacific walrus, and dozens of species of corals — as scientists and regulators grapple with limits on computer climate models.
THAT is what they are basing all this on? MODELS that are WRONG time and again because of the garbage information being fed them?
‘‘Climate change is a reality,’’ Ashe said. ‘‘What we don’t know with reliability is what does climate change mean for denning habitat that wolverines prefer.’’
I agree; it is getting cooler right now. This summer has been a dud.
He added that evidence of an expanding population means ‘‘it’s possible wolverines are adapting.’’
Or the SNOW COVER is MORE than FINE!
THAT is why they are MAKING a COMEBACK!
So how heavy is a shovel full of wolverine shit anyway?
A leading expert whose work has been cited by the Fish and Wildlife Service said any suggestion that wolverines can adapt to the absence of snow was ‘‘preposterous.’’
‘‘What’s happened today is nothing less than a travesty of science,’’ said Jeff Copeland, a research biologist and executive director of The Wolverine Foundation in Idaho. ‘‘This was not a scientific process. It was a political process.’’
Oh, AB$OLUTELY!!!!
Federal wildlife officials last year said future temperature increases could melt the snowfields occupied by wolverines in some high elevation mountain ranges in the lower 48 states. They called for increased protections to keep the species from going extinct.
And if you don't agree with policy based on fraud and lies, well, then you are just a heartless animal-hater!
Officials from western states including Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho had opposed federal protections, saying the animal’s population has increased in some areas.
Soon there will be calls to thin the herds because they are killing livestock.
That’s similar to what happened to the bearded seal. It received protections from the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2012 only to lose them last month, when a federal judge sided with Alaska officials and said 100-year projections of sea ice losses were based on ‘‘speculative’’ climate model forecasts.
Translation: the models were BULLSHIT!!!!
At least two other species, the American pika and black-footed albatross, were denied protections after the government concluded some of the animals might die off because of climate change but enough would survive to keep the populations viable.
You want to know what is no longer viable?
--more--"
Yup, that's them.
