I tend to be a rather loyal customer, especially when it comes to doing business with a company that shares my limited-government/free-market/anti-union philosophy. So I’ve been a steadfast Wal-Mart shopper for many, many years now, venturing into Target only if I couldn’t find what I was looking for at Wal-Mart – which was rare.
And then along came this big announcement last week: “The nation’s largest employer has broken from the business community,” reported The Hill on Tuesday, “with Wal-Mart’s endorsement of a legal requirement that all employers provide health benefits to their workers.”
This is horrifically bad public policy. However, using the government to force all of its smaller competitors to provide expensive health insurance to their employees is a GREAT deal for Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart may have thought it a smart business move to assist the Obama administration in its march to socialize our health care system, but at least one exclusive Wal-Mart shopper that I know will no longer be shopping exclusively at Wal-Mart. In fact, I bought my daughter a summer dress and some new patio cushions at Target just yesterday.
Wal-Mart’s leftward march may be cutting off its nose to spite its face. If the company’s executives continue to undermine the efforts of limited-government conservatives, who will be on its side when the big, bad labor wolf shows up at its door again?
