Say Anything Blog

Believe you me, Wal-Mart isn’t doing this out of concern for the proverbial poor, down-trodden masses.  Wal-Mart is doing this because a government mandate for business-provided health care will kill their smaller, more-regional competition.

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, announced Tuesday that it would support a mandate on businesses to help expand health care coverage, an about-face from other business interests that have strongly opposed any such requirement.

It’s amazing to me how many liberals decry big corporations like Wal-Mart and talk about how they’re “running the little guy out of business” without realizing that liberal, big-government policies contribute greatly to the growth of big business.

And not in an economically healthy way.

Corporations like Wal-Mart support big government regulation like health insurance mandates and cap and trade and the minimum wage because they know that while they can shoulder the burden of those additional regulations and taxes, their smaller competition cannot.  In fact, a trend develops once a government begins regulating businesses within an economy more and more.  The more tax and regulatory burdens businesses must shoulder the larger businesses must become in order to survive.

There are always niches where small businesses can still flourish, but if you’ve ever wondered why there aren’t more new car companies (as an example) it’s at least partly because the industry in question is so heavily regulated and taxed that only giant corporations can survive.

Wal-Mart is playing a cynical game here.  They know that an employer health insurance mandate isn’t good for their bottom line.  But they also know it’s even worse for the competitions bottom line.

Meanwhile, Americans in general suffer as a result of this unholy alliance between big government and big business.

I’m a Wal-Mart fan.  Have been for years.  I’ve cheered as the company has revolutinized the retail industry and brought goods and services to Americans at cheaper prices as a result.  But corporate rent-seeking is wrong.