How Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Exposes The Foolishness Of Occupy Wall Street

[DonCoquixote]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/abigailesman/2011/11/14/how-alice-waltons-crystal-bridges-exposes-the-foolishness-o-occupy-wall-street/

This author is clueless, because she seems to think that because one billionaire does an easy act of largess it A) denies the suffering her company does as it cuts benefits and B) excuses the other billionaires that simply steal.

[Malikshah]

1. Abigail Esman--the author of this piece (of crap) needs to retreat into cocoon

of privilege and ponder the inanity of her words. Shame on her! She just does not begin to even remotely understand the vast income disparity in this country. She does not have an iota of a clue as to the corruption of the system that perpetuates these heinous acts on the vast majority of this country.

[Morning Dew]

2. Vanity Philanthropy

It's just advertising.

[PETRUS]

3. Often worse - influence peddling. nt

[Morning Dew]

4. True, true.

In any case, they wouldn't do it if they couldn't get a lot of mileage out of it.

[PETRUS]

5. Quite so.

And big money philanthropists have usually acquired their wealth through the very same mechanisms that impoverish others and create the need for charity.

[JHB]

6. First of all, this whole project is a tax write-off for Walton...

...so claiming it is only an expense for her is willful blindness.

Second, part of what allows Walton to have so much is through the profits of a company that is infamous for its aggressiveness in keeping its expenses down. That would be employee salaries (to the point were some qualify for food stamps) and by meddling in the business of their suppliers, forcing them to move production over seas or lose access to an outlet that may account for a large chunk of their sales. Throwing people in this country out of work, because god forbid Walmart have a lower profit margin.

Alice has a fortune to spend on an art museum not because she made anything, invented anything, or built anything, but because other peoples' wealth has been redistributed into her pockets. You want applause, Alice? Stop squeezing people. It's as simple as that.