Torture & Wal-Mart

Mikaela says:
Just when I thought I would have a light day (yes, an analysis of the social justice of the Oscars is light fare for M-Pyre!!), the New York Times had a banner day for editorials. Dammit, man!

First up, Bob Herbert wrote a scathing indictment of Bush's hypocrisy in touring Europe to lecture them about freedom and democracy while we're still shipping suspected terrorists back to countries that we know will accept them with open arms -- brutal, torture-loving, armed open arms. Very well-written with plenty to think about.

Second, and a subject closer to M-Pyre's planning little hearts, Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary, castigates us as consumers for allowing Wal-Mart to undermine workers and communities by shopping for the lowest prices. His impetus for the piece (illuminatingly titled "Don't Blame Wal-Mart") comes from New York City's recent rejection of a downtown Wal-Mart, to be the first worm in the Big Apple. While I agree with his main point that consumers do have power to vote with their wallets for fair employment and business practices, he seems to forget that there is another option to asking consumers to bear the cost of fair wages and health care: take it out of corporate profits and salaries at the top. I'm not advocating socialism here, people, I'm saying -- why squeeze the middle and lower classes who can barely afford to SHOP at Wal-Mart when 6 people at the top rank among the RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WOLRD? Come on, they can afford to pay for worker health care and STILL be the richest people in the world. As consumers, we can choose to buy local and support unions in order to pressure corporations to "do the right thing," but wouldn't legislation help a bit? This is still government of the people for the people, right?