hoist by that conservative ethic...

[ProblemAgain]

so to follow conservative practices and cut the food stamp budget ends up taking money out of walmart's pocket.....oh, the irony!


Wal-Mart's biggest problem: Its customers
Krystina Gustafson | @KrystinaGustafs
3 Hours Ago
CNBC.com
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Its prices continue to undercut competitors. It's offering a slew of new initiatives, from in-store money-transferring services to organic groceries—even comparison shopping for auto insurance.

But despite these strategies—and a broad consumer base driven by low prices—Wal-Mart's U.S. stores are still struggling to gain traction, having posted their fifth-straight quarter of negative same-store sales last week.

At the center of the discounter's domestic woes is its appeal among shoppers who are facing stagnant wage growth and simply can't afford to spend on discretionary items—or in some cases, food.

"They're lowering prices and they're still not getting the traffic," said Belus Capital Advisors analyst Brian Sozzi.

Clearly, Wal-Mart is looking for a new lever to pull in order to boost its sales growth.
Shoppers pay for their purchases at the cash register at a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Panorama City, California.
Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images
Shoppers pay for their purchases at the cash register at a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Panorama City, California.

Although weather played a role in many retailers' earnings for the first quarter, cold temperatures can't be blamed for more than a year of sluggishness in domestic sales, analysts said. Among Wal-Mart's woes is its grocery business—where the company says sales were trimmed by 0.9 percent because of last year's changes to food stamp benefits.

[LoveLife&Laughter]

This is just the start, at least being noticed.  It actually started when Reagan was elected and has progressively gotten worse, just like global warming with unpredictable ups and downs. The plutocrats want their freedom at the cost of less and less for the majority.  It's their own customers they are killing off.

[ProblemAgain]

priorities are important. after all, if we lay off enough actual teachers, we can afford a big stadium. them football players don't need to be reading and writing that just leads to problems..

Nation's most expensive prep football stadium closes two years after its built

By Ben Rohrbach 1 hour ago Prep Rally

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FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2012 file photo, the scoreboard is shown at Eagle Stadium at Allen High School in Allen, Texas. The $60 million high school football stadium that opened to massive fanfare in 2012 will be shut down for the upcoming season after cracks were found in the building's concrete concourse. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Allen (Texas) High officially closed its new $60 million stadium for the fall season due to unsafe conditions at the nation's most expensive high school football stadium, according to The Dallas Morning News.

As previously discussed on Prep Rally, the discovery of cracking concrete on the concourse level of the state-of-the-art facility shut down Eagle Stadium in February. According to the paper, an engineering analysis is expected to be completed in June and has already revealed structural issues in the stadium.

"The stadium is not safe for public assembly," Allen suprintendent Lance Hindt told the Morning News.

The nation's most expensive high school athletic facility at a taxpayer cost of $60 million, Eagle Stadium opened in August 2012 to national fanfare. Around the same time, Allen officials had already discovered cracks in the concrete, notifying design firm PBK Architects and building company Pogue Construction.

While PBK and Pogue executives originally cited "normal concrete shrinkage" and estimated repair costs at $1 million, according to the Morning News, an early Nelson Forensics report detailed structural flaws and building code violations that could eventually require completely rebuilding the affected areas.

“Once a repair solution has been agreed upon, PBK and Pogue Construction will implement the repair at no cost to the district,” PBK wrote in a statement to The Dallas Morning News on Monday. “At the end of the day, our goal is to provide the taxpayers of Allen exactly what they paid for.”

Meanwhile, Allen officials had orginially hoped the two-time defending state champion Eagles would be able to return to the football field this fall, but they and any fans who hoped to fill the building's 18,000 seats will have to travel to neighboring Plano for home games this fall — at a cost of $5,300 per game for Allen ISD.