Why I will never shop at Giant again.
by Jim?Rutter
Earlier this week, I wrote about a law recently passed in Maryland that singles out Wal-Mart.? And whenever you hear of legislation designed to specifically target one business, you can confidently assume that a competing business is behind it:
Take this excerpt from a New York Times article reprinted at ?Wake-up Wal-Mart.com:?
One of Wal-Mart's competitors, Giant Food, another of the state's largest employers, came out forcefully in support of the legislation. Giant, which says it spends at least 20 percent of its payroll on health benefits, already satisfies the requirements of the law.
Giant's support "really opened the door," said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, a coalition of unions, consumer advocates and others pushing for the legislation.
Giant violated no (legal) law by doing this, but they violated a moral principle that I take seriously:
Click here to read the rest of this article.
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Comments
aw man! I shop at Giant regularly, now I cant do so with a clear concious :)
Agreed - as bad as these co.s can be, when it comes to the damage to the economy and the constitution they are able to inflict, government makes them look like pikers. More impostant - why do we want to use this misbehavior as an excuse to pass MORE laws, when any observation of this behavior makes it plain that they do it in response to other regulations, as well as at the invitation of governments themselves?!
Yeah, I didn't want to sound "naive" in the article about Wal-Mart, because I realize how little they are in favor of fair and open competition as well. However, I was really pissed about Maryland (and now NY, NH, et al) passing a law that targets only Wal-Mart. Moreover, I will readily admit that I admire the Wal-Mart success, and I will always defend the strong against the tyranny of the weak.
UGH. Giant is another one to add to the list. It seems like all of the "Big Box" retailers, despite their overwhelming success based on free-market principles, still resorts to statist tactics like eminent domain seizures and backing legislation that puts their competitors at a disadvantage. Costco, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart have all done these things - most recently when Wal-Mart's CEO came out foursquare in favor of raising the minimum wage. I dispair of finding a principled free-market company to support!
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