Virginian-Pilot gets it wrong about Walmart

In “An Example Worth Following,” the Virginian-Pilot applauds Walmart’s decision to pay workers above the minimum wage.

By 2018, eight states will have minimum wages in excess of $10 an hour.

Last week, the nation’s largest employer joined them.

“Starting in April, [Walmart] workers will earn at least $9 per hour, or $1.75 above the federal minimum wage,” The Washington Post reported. “By February 2016, those workers will make at least $10 per hour.”(VP)

One problem is Walmart isn’t the nation’s largest employer.

The Federal Government is, and by far. Walmart’s 2.2 million workers pales to the good ol’ bloated and busting-at-the-seams federal government, who cranks it up above 4.2 million workers, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

And Walmart does it while having a surplus. See, if they don’t make a profit, they go out of business. Government can’t make the books match to save its life with annual deficits around $500 billion and debt at $18.2 trillion, and it keeps chugging along.

The other problem is funny to me, and it’s the “diving catch in the outfield” metaphor. You know those baseball players who make those running, diving catches that make the highlight reels? Usually that’s a player who horribly misplayed the ball and has to dive to have any chance to make the play. They get applauded for being in the wrong position in the first place, or getting a late start.

If Walmart hadn’t been paying minimum wage in the first place, there wouldn’t be this dramatic move to raise it and make the Virginian-Pilot’s highlight reel.

Here’s the funny thing. This minimum wage talk all comes back to Medicaid expansion. George W. Bush raised the Minimum Wage three times, and the result was that a large number of people were pushed above the Medicaid Income threshold – hence, the “need” for Medicaid expansion.

Another couple bucks to the minimum wage and watch the so-called Medicaid coverage gap explode! Look at the numbers. Most of the states who increased their minimum wages above the federal level have expanded Medicaid.

Should we increase the minimum wage and force more people off Medicaid? It would save medicaid dollars, that is, until coverage is expanded. Then we’re right back where we started, until the next minimum wage increase. Nice cycle, huh?

Instead of worrying what Walmart is doing, why doesn’t the press and the government leave the private sector alone for once and let them try to repair the economy that government almost destroyed. Neither the press nor the government have any bragging rights concerning financial management.

If the press wants to report on our largest employers, let them look at the real largest employer in America, government, and let’s see the editorials for getting government back to a balanced balance sheet.

Leave the ones who are making profits alone.

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