The Hidden Costs of Socialism

Read this - it'll blow your mind. It's an article by two UC Berkeley professors explaining the "hidden costs" of Wal-Mart.

They claim that because Wal-Mart pays "less than average" wages, in turn Wal-Mart employees are reliant upon the government and programs "such as food stamps, Medi-Cal, and subsidized housing - to make ends meet." Indeed - you'll never hear a nuttier claim by liberals that in fact reliance upon government entitlement programs is "bad."

Actually, if Wal-Mart raised their average wage $5/hour and removed the strain of "$410 million" from the state of California's treasury, then could California reduce it's spending on food stamps and subsidized housing as a result? I doubt either of these UC Berkeley profs would argue for that.

So what is the point here? (Besides, of course, the shrill of "Wal-Mart is evil!") I for one would be the first to point out that many of Wal-Mart's corporate practices are not what I would call "ethical" by any stretch of the imagination. However, claiming it's existence places a drain on government resources while still claiming that such government programs are indispensable is quite stupid and hypocritical at best.