New Yorkers are smart enough to know what New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio means when he calls Walmart a Trojan Horse. Corporations err when they assume a correlation between income and intelligence. New Yorkers are ready to school the company.

From NewsDaily:

Wal-Mart’s lengthy struggle to open in New York City has hit fresh problems — a controversial report that said America’s biggest discounter does not just sell cheap, it makes neighborhoods poorer.

The report concludes that Wal-Mart, the biggest U.S. private employer, kills jobs rather than creates them, drives down wages and is a tax burden because it does not give health and other benefits to many part-time employees, leaving a burden on Medicaid and other public programs.

The New York City Council will hold a public hearing on Thursday on the impact a Wal-Mart would have but the retailer has declined to attend.

Wal-Mart dismisses the critical report — released in January by City University of New York’s Hunter College Center for Community Planning — as “randomly selected statements from … flawed studies.”

The report is based on 50 studies of Wal-Mart openings and comes as the company tries to gain a foothold in some of New York’s poorest neighborhoods.

“The overwhelming weight of the independent research on the impact of Wal-Mart stores … shows that Wal-Mart depresses area wages and labor benefits … pushes out more retail jobs than it creates, and results in more retail vacancies,” the report concluded.

Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo said a store would bring good jobs and good shopping for fresh food to locals. To push its case, Wal-Mart launched a public relations blitz in mid-January with radio and newspaper ads and a website, www.WalMartNYC.com, which features positive coverage of the company.

Years ago when I was getting ready to cross 5th Avenue to have lunch with my editor, he warned me before we stepped off: Never show fear, the cabbies can spot it.

New Yorkers are tough.

Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 at 0954 by Jeff Hess and is filed under New York City, Walmart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.