Chicago trying to get rid of WalMart - UPDATED


Forgetting what pays the bills
Social engineering at it's finest.

The City Council brushed aside warnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to approve an ordinance that makes Chicago the biggest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay a "living wage."

The ordinance, which passed 35-14 Wednesday after three hours of impassioned debate, requires mega-retailers to pay wages of at least $10 an hour plus $3 in fringe benefits by mid-2010. It would only apply to companies with more than $1 billion in annual sales and stores of at least 90,000 square feet.

"It's trying to get the largest companies in America to pay decent wages," Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said.

It is not a lost cause yet.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and others warned the living wage proposal would drive jobs and desperately needed development from some of the city's poorest neighborhoods and lead giants like Wal-Mart to abandon the city.

Somebody is actually thinking about cause and effect.

Here is what most politicos forget.

Economic growth depends on people being productive and making choices.

It can't be mandated from the top down, it can only be built from the bottom up.

Industries that have the most regulation have the least growth.

It doesn't matter if it is a car company, a power company, an airline, or a television network.

You want your economy to grow, slice out the regulation and reduce taxes.

You want your people to prosper, get out of their way as they try to make a better life for themselves.

It really is that simple.

You can't control it. You can only prevent it or protect it.

And no, I am not talking about multinationals ruling the world. I am talking about people making choices and accepting responsibility. Taking chances until they find the ones that pay off.

That's all it takes to create an Apple, an eBay, or a Nike.

Update - Grrrr, silly spell check software capitalizing the "e" in eBay.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - July 27, 2006 at 03:14 PM  Tag


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