<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<STYLE></STYLE>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=MailContainerBody
style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; PADDING-TOP: 15px; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; TEXT-DECORATION: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none"
leftMargin=0 topMargin=0 acc_role="text" CanvasTabStop="true"
name="Compose message area"><?xml:namespace prefix="v" /><?xml:namespace prefix="o" />
<DIV>
<DIV>Max is right that WalMart will do what it is doing just as long as it is
powerful enough to do it. If it were possible to imagine that there could
be universal health insurance without any increase in the power of workers, then
WalMart will still pay low wages and continue to be a corporate
scofflaw. I might mention that there are unionized workers in the U.S. who
qualify for food stamps.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Michael Yates</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>From:</B> <A
href="mailto:sawicky@bellatlantic.net">Max B. Sawicky</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org">lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, March 08, 2004 9:23
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [lbo-talk] Hidden subsidies
to Wal-Mart</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>This discussion depends on assumptions on the following<BR>that
nobody has indicated, one way or the other:<BR><BR>is the labor market
competitive for the sector in question<BR>do employers hire based on the value
of the marginal hour or marginal worker<BR>do workers supply labor based on
the returns to the marginal hour or<BR>otherwise<BR>what are the elasticities
of supply and demand<BR><BR>You may think that econ theory is b.s., but the
fact is<BR>that a coherent answer to the question of who is subsidizing<BR>who
depends on the implicit answers to the above.<BR>No theory is worse than
mainstream theory.<BR><BR>For instance, suppose two firms<BR>selling the same
product are located next door to<BR>each other, with equal costs of labor, one
providing<BR>health insurance, the other not. It does not follow<BR>that
the no-fringe firm must have an advantage over<BR>the other. The
opposite could be the case. The<BR>workers' with the untaxed fringe
benefit have greater<BR>after-tax income if they value a dollar spent on
their<BR>health insurance the same as cash, and this could induce<BR>more work
effort for the same cost to the boss.<BR><BR>You might say that's the wrong
comparison. The right<BR>one is two firms paying the same money wage,
with<BR>one providing a fringe in addition. But why would<BR>that
happen. Is there a different species of boss<BR>in each firm? Why
did the older firm provide the<BR>fringe? Because its owners were less
interested in<BR>making money? Bosses used to be less rapacious,
in<BR>the good old days?<BR><BR>Alternatively, if there is a range of feasible
wages for<BR>the employer and employee, with the balance of
power<BR>determining who gets what, then public benefits are<BR>just gravy for
those fortunate enough to get them.<BR><BR>Another factor is that Medicaid is
not work-conditioned.<BR>You don't have to work to get it, hence the
employer<BR>has no leverage from it. If your work is worth X to
the<BR>employer, you can hold out for X or find somebody else<BR>who will pay
X. The only way you could not get X is if<BR>employers conspired to pay
you no more than X minus your<BR>cost for an equivalent to
Medicaid.<BR><BR>Other stories are possible too. I don't know which one
is right.<BR>I do know that empirical research shows
work-conditioned<BR>benefits like the EITC raise worker income. If they
don't,<BR>then as somebody said there is no value to them for
the<BR>worker. By the same token, some economists think a<BR>minimum
wage increase just gets washed away in price<BR>increases, so why
bother.<BR><BR>I think it's possible to mistake the dog's tail from<BR>its
teeth. Walmart chooses cheap labor standards and<BR>an anti-union
environment. Absent sufficient labor<BR>resistance, it will keep things
that way. I doubt<BR>that public benefits or the relative beneficence
of<BR>other firms makes any difference.<BR><BR>Walmart is not competing with
walmart-sub-two. Walmart<BR>is replacing an mixed array of different
business firms<BR>because people will buy their shit, communities
will<BR>tolerate their introduction, and the gov tolerates their<BR>abuse of
labor law. I think comparisons of<BR>Walmart with Ralph's and such are
apples-to-oranges.<BR>Methinks if health had already been completely
socialized,<BR>or if nobody provided health insurance,<BR>Walmart would still
be steamrolling its way forward on the<BR>backs of other firms.<BR><BR>People
seem to be looking for a gadget fix, when the<BR>only solution is political
power.<BR><BR>mbs<BR><BR><BR>___________________________________<BR><A
href="http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk">http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</A><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BODY></HTML>