Since it is readily apparent that big companies will not a damned thing that doesn't increase their bottom line unless they are forced to, Maryland Forces Wal-Mart To Help Pay Its Healthcare. The bill calls for companies that employ more than 10,000 people in Maryland to pay 8% of their income to help pay for those employee's health caree, or else pay the difference into a state Medicaid fund.
Which is fair, unless you're Wal-Mart and then you feel like you're being picked on since they are the only employer in Maryland to employ enough people to qualify for the auto-8% that isn't already contributing 8% or more. Johns Hopkins, Giant Food and Northrup Grumman employ enough people but are already being good corporate citizens and don't need to have their arms bent backwards to help cover the cost of their employee's healthcare like Wal-Mart does.
Its very telling how Wal-Mart has reacted. Instead of realizing that this is a good thing for all involved, including Wal-Mart as they won't be quite so heavily parasitic, nope, instead of settling and trying to be better corporate citizens, they are appealling and hiring lobbying firms to fight for them. Nice work, Wal-Mart, you're proving time and again what a truly contemptible bunch of bean counting greedfaced assholes you really are.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, healthcare, Maryland, legislating good corporate citizenship