Wal-mart reflux

I'm going to set this all down now to reduce the chance of my head exploding. Hey reader, if I can hear the blood rushing around in my brain, is that a bad sign?

My very first post, way back in January, was about Wal-Mart, applauding that Maryland finally stuck it back to the company that was sticking it to the taxpayers. MD decided it had had enough of paying the additional healthcare costs WM wouldn't cover. The law there is now that if you're a company over a particular size, 8% of your payroll has to be spent on healthcare. There are exactly four companies in Maryland that this new legislation affects.

So today when I read that W-M is actually fighting the law, I saw that the rationale by Eugene Scalia, attorney for W-M, is that W-M is the only company impacted by this. (Sound of hand smacking forehead) Do you know why that is? Because the other three companies comply with the law's requirements, and had done so even before the legislation went through.

Beyond that, the rationale is that this law was determined by the state of Maryland, but "only the federal government may dictate health spending by private companies." First of all, I'm not even sure that's true--it seems like the state would have more say in a scene like that--but more importantly, Wal-Mart is not a private company. It's publicly traded on the NYSE (WMT).

There was also some bizarro commentary designed to kick up a little fear about how if Wal-Mart had to pony up, it would (cue ominous music) pass on its increased costs to the consumer, even if they didn't live in Maryland.--What? A company passing on its costs to the end user? Holy mackerel. Can they really do that?

Eugene, Eugene. Here's my advice, bubbeleh. Take your dad out for a cup of coffee. Ask him what he thinks. He's no friend of mine, but he's a brilliant jurist. Hopefully he can make you see that you're fighting a really stupid and ignoble case.

Bottom line: Wal-Mart stands to lose more than any other corporation b/c 8% of its payroll is a hell of a lot of money. W-M did a good job of schmoozing the governor toward its view and thought they had this in the bag, but the gov got steamrolled by a veto so now W-M's gotta take it up a notch. If you think there's more to it than that, you're wrong.



Sources:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-06-23-walmart-healthcare_x.htm?csp=26