Wal-Mart makes good on those promises. It employs 1.2 million in the United States alone; and one is hard-pressed to name another store that sells trash cans or paper towels for less.
But Wal-Mart has satiated consumer wants on the backs of their employees - and taxpayers.
The non-union jobs don't pay the best. And as more states, including Pennsylvania, have discovered, Wal-Mart's company health insurance can have such a pernicious impact on a worker's paycheck, that some Wal-Mart "associates" must rely on a state's medical assistance for coverage.
To qualify for state medical assistance, a worker must make $17,000 a year or less.
It's not as if Wal-Mart's bottom-line is in peril; last year it made $10 billion in net income on sales of $285.2 billion.
That's a lot of paper towels.
Like their cohorts in New Jersey and Maryland, who are faced with declining Medicaid funds, Pennsylvania lawmakers want Wal-Mart to pay its fair share.
State Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver County, has fashioned HB 1336, which would order businesses of 20 or more employees to provide reports each year that detail how many of their workers get state medical assistance. The idea is to keep tabs on large companies, i.e. Wal-Mart, that can pay for health insurance but don't.
Critics contend Wal-Mart's health insurance policy costs Pennsylvania taxpayers about $30 million a year. The Wal-Mart health plan calls for a minimum of $17.50 for individuals, and $70.50 for families every two weeks. But there's a $1,000 deductible, and it takes full-timers six months to qualify, part-timers two years.
In New Jersey, a bill has been introduced that requires large employers to increase their level of coverage or pay extra into state Medicaid. A Maryland bill to have companies with 10,000 employees spend more on health- care benefits was vetoed by the governor. Bad for business, he said.
State subsidization of Wal-Mart is bad for taxpayers.
No matter how cheap the paper towels.
