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7/16/2006 12:27:44 PM

Big Box Blowback

 Whether it is local municipalities adhering to their own version of the Kyoto Treaty and setting like-minded environmental standards, many local governments are now addressing the economic disparity caused by the refusal of Congress to raise the minimum wage. And so the Chicago City Council is set to mandate wage increases for employees working for so-called ‘big box’ retailers (Wal Mart, Target) located within the city.

 In response came a veiled threat from Target to shutter all twenty-two Chicago stores arguing that the minimum set at $10.00 per hour plus $3 dollars in benefits (for stores over 90,000 square feet and annual revenues over $1 billion) would ’devastate’ the company.

 TCF would advise the Chicago alderman to go ahead and call Target’s bluff.

 Each one of Sam Walton’s offspring is a billionaire and I suspect that Target shareholders are not scraping by like most of their sales associates. This is not an attempt at redistribution of wealth, but offering hardworking people a living wage to support their families. Contrary to the expected retort from the Republicans, Target and Wal-Mart are not small businesses vulnerable to incremental labor costs. In fact, Wal Mart just saw it’s stock downgraded this week because of the adverse effect rising gasoline prices are having on the very wage earners they employ.

 Many of those benefiting economically from the one-sided ‘Bush Boom’ are purchasing second homes, while those on the other end of the spectrum are trimming household spending to fill the family car with fossil fuels. Allowing retailers like Target to escape the pains of such fiscal reverberations by keeping their labor costs artificially low is not an example of fair market forces at work. However, sacrificing only a fraction of their stock portfolio to insure that those possessing the other 99% percent of our country’s wealth keep up with inflation only seems fair.

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