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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MSB who wrote (67149)	12/18/1999 4:21:00 PM
From: Grainne	Respond to of 108807

<You also didn't address the issue of employees of small business, the owners of which cannot afford to pay health insurance let alone contribute in some meaningful way to some type of retirement benefits.> I did address this. I argued that by eliminating thousands of small businesses, WalMart actually made many people poor. Of course, I guess they could all get jobs at WalMart! I am not sure in a society as wealthy as ours that it is fair that some workers have health insurance and 401K plans, and some do not. If you look at western European countries, the safety net is much more uniform, benefiting all workers. The trade off is that they pay more taxes. Many people actually support this, because there is increased social stability. It looks like you got the shaft, in the sense that while American taxes are lower, millions of Americans suffer because their businesses do not offer good benefits. And an essential question would be just WHY small businesses cannot afford to pay benefits?? Could it be because they have been trounced by retailers like WalMart who can afford to sell items at less than cost to kill competition? If we had universal health coverage, small businesses could flourish without sacrificing the health and future of their employees. I'm not totally sure what you are saying about Costco. Certainly if I have to choose between Costco and Safeway there is very little difference in the two, in terms of social benefits. I try to buy most of what I shop for at garage sales, farmers' markets, crafts faires and second hand stores. I just bought a beautiful medium blue 1988 Volvo, in perfect condition. I consume very little.