What happened to John Stossel?!

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Sarang01

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I was watching 20/20 today and he was DEFENDING Wal-Mart for crying out loud! What happened to him?! He use to care about the consumer and not be this Ayn Rand asshole. He put some Conservative or Philosopher up with the same BULLSHIT Conservative myth Wealth is created. Wrong, it's just like the clip of "Wall Street" he played rather where Michael Douglas says it's TRANSFERRED. I'm so sick of these two Conservative myths that get played, "Wealth is created." and "Free Trade". One is a concept that hasn't been thrown out like it's left wing counterpart bogus ideology "Communism" because it greatly benefits shareholders and CEO's in transferring Middle Class wealth to the Upper crust.
 
Stossel has definitely gone nuts or something. Capitalism is a good thing and all - up to a point. Past that point bad things happen. In the end, a completely free market winds up not being free at all, because monopolies (either via one company or multiple companies conspiring) come into being which wind up completely controlling the marketplace, preventing any fair competition. For a free market to remain free, it needs to be carefully watched and monitored, to prevent any one entity from gaining too much power.

Anyway, who here remembers back when Stossel actually presented reports to protect the consumer instead of standing up for multinational corporations? Ah, memories...
 
[quote name='Drocket']Stossel has definitely gone nuts or something. Capitalism is a good thing and all - up to a point. Past that point bad things happen. In the end, a completely free market winds up not being free at all, because monopolies (either via one company or multiple companies conspiring) come into being which wind up completely controlling the marketplace, preventing any fair competition. For a free market to remain free, it needs to be carefully watched and monitored, to prevent any one entity from gaining too much power.

Anyway, who here remembers back when Stossel actually presented reports to protect the consumer instead of standing up for multinational corporations? Ah, memories...[/QUOTE]

Yeah in this report they defended Rockefeller, talking about how people chose to buy the products at that low price. So what? Wal-Mart is a perfect example of a monopoly in action, granted it's not national but on a local scale. Disagree all you want but it's true. Look at what's happened to small towns that have it move in, goodbye small business, hello low paying jobs. They were doing a story on this woman who had no previous job history and Wal-Mart hired her and we're suppose to be all cheering for this. She went from being on Welfare and not in custody of her kids, to being in charge of two people, having a house and getting back custody of two of her kids. I don't remember if they mention how long it took her, I think it was 2 years regardless she had NO financial means to support her kids or own her own house with the original wage Wal-Mart was paying her I'm sure. Bout the only thing I can respect about Wal-Mart is that the higher-ups actually share rooms when they go on business trips. Me? I think they could save even MORE money if they stayed in a Hostel if one was available.
 
Hilarious - I was going to create a thread about Stossel too!

He now fashions himself as a libertarian. I am a fiscal conservative who champions small government, but I think that any rational human being realizes that the markets need to be regulated and workers need to be adequately compensated. Stossel was saying that it's very easy for politicians and wealthy liberals to argue that Walmart should raise prices a few pennies and give it's workers benefits - but that these people aren't the consumers that rely on Walmart's low prices to make their family budgets.

Guess what Stossel, it's very easy for you to sit up there as a fat cat journalist and preach about the well-being and supreme authority of the consumer, but there is a limit to how much the consumer should benefit from exploiting the workers in the supply chain.

There was a recent news article about how Walmart is rotating physical activities into jobs in order to encourage less old and sick people to work at Walmart, thus cutting down on healthcare costs. Why wasn't this news item discussed in Stossel's 15 minute Walmart infomercial?

Lawyers for employers and employees agree: A leaked Wal-Mart memo proposing ways to cut health care costs could mean big legal trouble for the world's largest retailer.

"The memo is a cesspool of legal violations," said Jeffrey Winikow, a Los Angeles employee-rights lawyer. Even if the company accepts none of the questionable suggestions it contains, the memo will furnish plaintiffs' lawyers evidence to argue WalMart discriminates against some workers, he said.
...
Writing to Wal-Mart's board of directors in advance of their meeting next month, Executive Vice President of Benefits Susan Chambers suggested that benefits be redesigned to attract a "healthier, more productive workforce," potentially saving $670 million by 2011.

Chambers suggested offering savings on healthy foods and other benefits that appeal to healthy workers. She also suggested that jobs be redefined so that all include some physical activity -- for example, "Design all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g. all cashiers do some cart gathering.)"

"These moves would also dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at WalMart," she wrote.

Employment rules that discrimination against workers on the basis of age or a permanent physical disability run afoul of federal and state laws, whether the discrimination is intentional or not. The laws usually require employers to make reasonable accommodations for a worker's physical disabilities, including chronic medical conditions like diabetes or heart disease.
Click to expand...

FYI I think the healthy food idea is sound.
 
Where have you been? Stossel's been a right-wing propogandist for YEARS.

I'm still trying to figure out when Dennis Miller became a flag-waver, personally.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']I'm still trying to figure out when Dennis Miller became a flag-waver, personally.[/QUOTE]
I think he's said it was 9/11. After that Bush could do no wrong in his eyes. And he stopped being funny.
 
[quote name='MrBadExample']I think he's said it was 9/11. After that Bush could do no wrong in his eyes. And he stopped being funny.[/QUOTE]

He was funny?
 
[quote name='evanft']He was funny?[/QUOTE]

"You know, ________ reminds me of the result of a menage a trois between ______, ______, and ______."

Fill in the blank with obscure and well-known political figures, like Tip O'Neill, Gary Hart, Winston Churchill, Alexander Haig, and Spirow Agnew, and you have Miller's whole schtick.

If you can't laugh at that...then, my friend, you have good taste.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']"You know, ________ reminds me of the result of a menage a trois between ______, ______, and ______."

Fill in the blank with obscure and well-known political figures, like Tip O'Neill, Gary Hart, Winston Churchill, Alexander Haig, and Spirow Agnew, and you have Miller's whole schtick.

If you can't laugh at that...then, my friend, you have good taste.[/QUOTE]

LISA: But only one person in a million would find that funny!
FRINK: Yes, that's what we call the 'Dennis Miller ratio.'
 
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