Wal-Mart made “many CEOs choke on their coffee this morning,” said Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans in Slate’s The Big Money. Once “the poster child for corporate villainy,” Wal-Mart is now backing President Obama’s proposal to force employers to provide health insurance for their workers. That’s a big assist to Obama, coming from America’s “largest private employer.”
“The idea of the notoriously cheap chain favoring liberal reforms might seem like a shock,” said Peter Suderman in Reason, but Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott backed universal health care two years ago. There are also at least two good reasons for Wal-Mart to back an employer mandate: “good PR,” and good business. Wal-Mart can afford it; “smaller competitors” can’t.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘No Other Choice,’ ‘Dead Man’s Wire,’ and ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’Feature A victim of downsizing turns murderous, an angry Indiana man takes a lender hostage, and a portrait of family by way of three awkward gatherings
-
Political cartoons for January 11Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include green energy, a simple plan, and more
-
The launch of the world’s first weight-loss pillSpeed Read Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been racing to release the first GLP-1 pill
