Just a Matter of Trust
Last week, the MSM was saturated with the story that an independent poll conducted by John Zogby had demonstrated that 56% of Americans believe that Wal-Mart is "bad for America." (See here and here and here).
But as Joel Mowbray points out in today's Washington Times, well -- not so fast.
Most of the stories about the poll do mention that it was commissioned by the anti-Wal-Mart (i.e. pro-union) outfit "WakeUpWalmart." What they don't mention -- perhaps because the press release accompanying the poll didn't tell -- is that:
(1) Pollster Zogby has received about $90,000 to testify in favor of individuals suing Wal-Mart;
(2) The press release accompanying the poll was drafted by his client, WakeUpWalmart, but was placed on the Zogby web site and distributed over its wire; and
(3) The poll questions were drafted "in consultation" with WakeUpWalmart.
Shouldn't any of this information have been made public in conjunction with the poll? Makes it hard to trust Zogby work in the future, doesn't it?
But as Joel Mowbray points out in today's Washington Times, well -- not so fast.
Most of the stories about the poll do mention that it was commissioned by the anti-Wal-Mart (i.e. pro-union) outfit "WakeUpWalmart." What they don't mention -- perhaps because the press release accompanying the poll didn't tell -- is that:
(1) Pollster Zogby has received about $90,000 to testify in favor of individuals suing Wal-Mart;
(2) The press release accompanying the poll was drafted by his client, WakeUpWalmart, but was placed on the Zogby web site and distributed over its wire; and
(3) The poll questions were drafted "in consultation" with WakeUpWalmart.
Shouldn't any of this information have been made public in conjunction with the poll? Makes it hard to trust Zogby work in the future, doesn't it?
posted by LadybugUSA at 8:55 AM
1 Comments:
Duly noted, Carol; polls are mostly subjective.
I'm still wondering, however, if your vision of America's future includes a spot at the table for the underclass, or just the Waltons...
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I am sure that in the bubble in which you reside someone who works forty hours a week makes enough to pay for housing, food, clothing, insurance, transportation, education, AND entertainment. Well, you've never worked at Wal-Mart or anywhere else paying at or near the minimum wage. Did you know that since the last minimum wage increase, average CEO pay in this country has QUADRUPLED? Did you know that a single mother of two earning the minimum wage, full-time, lives below the poverty line? Do you care?
While WM continues to keep wages as low as possible they, like many a company, also continue to whittle away at employee benefits wherever possible. Reduced (or no) insurance benefits mean more money for them to lobby Congress to make sure they continue to get tax breaks for their monstrous stores that suck the marrow out of small downtowns across America.
This would all be a little more palatable if the government would step up and increase the safety net for the working poor who are forced onto Medicaid and food stamps. (This, of course, ignores the question of whether they're entitled to a little dignity as full-time employees in this system of ours.) But no, Republicans in Congress continue to slash those funds too, under the guise of "fiscal conservatism," while turning around and giving more money than was saved by those cuts back to the Walton family.
Low prices. At what cost? Free enterprise. At what cost? Higher stock prices. At what cost?
The chasm between the richest and poorest Americans widens, and those of us pointing it out are neither socialists nor un-American. We simply know what has happened to every great society the world has known when such an enormous chasm grows unchecked.
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