Only 211 million more to go...

[doom&gloom]

(h/t Financial Armageddon)

[don]

Re: Only 211 million more to go...

I apologize for not providing a link but I read that 40% of Wal Mart's profits are from food stamp sales.

Another virtuous circle . . .

[Mega]

Re: Only 211 million more to go...

I was in Walmart today here in England (Called ASDA).......i bought Mum (Who is 80 tomorrow BTW) a gift bag for the present i got her & a Card.........Both made in CHINA !
Mike

[seobook]

Re: Only 211 million more to go...

I read that 40% of Wal Mart's profits are from food stamp sales.

their p/e is 15.81 & their market cap is 249.30B, making their earnings about $15.8 billion
their p/s is 0.56, which would make their sales ~ $445.2 billion.
that would put their average profit margin around 3.55%

recent food stamp estimates

First, the benefits. Wal-Mart receives between 25 and 40 percent of all Food Stamp spending. Yes, you read that correctly. Up to 2 in 5 dollars spent by all Food Stamp recipients is spent at Wal-Mart.

Considering that the federal government spent approximately $72 billion on Food Stamps last fiscal year , Wal-Mart would have earned up to $28.8 billion in sales from the program alone. The company brought in $448 billion in sales last year, so this government program is clearly a big winner for them.

if they earned an average margin of 3.55% on that food stamp spend, that would be about $1.02 billion of their profit. and that's before you add in the $2.66 billion they get as a subsidy for food stamps for their employees each year. adding those 2 together is $3.68 billion.

$3.68 billion is 23.3% of $15.8 billion in profits

and that is ***before*** considering healthcare costs society bears from the part time associates & junk food sold there.

the nation's largest employer (1.4 million workers and counting) announced it was rolling back is health benefits for part-time workers. These were benefits that Walmart expanded just a few years ago in response to criticism that by underpaying workers -- and refusing to provide them with access to health insurance -- the company effectively shifted much of its labor costs to the federal Medicaid program.

Under the new plan, Walmart will no longer provide health insurance for employees who work fewer than 24 hours per week. Those who work from 24 to 33 hours per week can still get coverage for themselves and their children -- but their spouses must now seek their insurance elsewhere.

a 2005 study states they increase "Medicaid expenditures by roughly $898" per employee.
add 8% inflation to that for 8 years (roughly the CAGR of medical costs) & it comes to $1,662 per employee.
multiply that by 1.4 million employees & it comes out to another $2.33 billion, which is 14.7% of their profit.
add the 14.7 to the 23.3 and it comes out to 38% of profits...which is pretty close to 40%

(and that is before you account for non-employees buy diabetes causing junk food with SNAP & so on, seeking further entrenchment in the medical vertical, their property tax assessment rebates, or their other perks like tax exempt bonds & so on)

____

and where have we seen these guys before?

JPMorgan Chase holds contracts in 24 states to administer SNAP benefits, indicating concentrated power and a lack of competition

the phrase plunge protection team was a bit of a meme for a while, wasn't it? wonder if there could also be a plunder protection team

[flintlock]

Re: Only 211 million more to go...

The current US policy on welfare and illegal immigration is simply corporate welfare. Import poor cheap labor and encourage growth in native poor. They cant afford to live on their wages so government makes up the difference. Nice smooth transfer of wealth from taxpayer to corporation. Rinse and repeat. IMO, one of the biggest reasons outside the banking industry for the wealth disparity in the USA. The message is, hook your wagon to a large corporation, government entity, or at least a business that supports one of the above. Otherwise you are paddling upstream without a subsidy paddle.

Walmart was built to some degree on this government policy. But they are by no means alone. And lets not forget how much the bankers made off pushing bad loans on the masses of cheap labor that couldnt afford them. You could almost beleive it was planned that way!

[Raz]

Re: Only 211 million more to go...

the current us policy on welfare and illegal immigration is simply corporate welfare. import poor cheap labor and encourage growth in native poor. They cant afford to live on their wages so government makes up the difference. Nice smooth transfer of wealth from taxpayer to corporation. Rinse and repeat. Imo, one of the biggest reasons outside the banking industry for the wealth disparity in the usa. The message is, hook your wagon to a large corporation, government entity, or at least a business that supports one of the above. Otherwise you are paddling upstream without a subsidy paddle.

Walmart was built to some degree on this government policy. But they are by no means alone. And lets not forget how much the bankers made off pushing bad loans on the masses of cheap labor that couldnt afford them. you could almost beleive it was planned that way!

+1.