Peace: And the Norwegian Government Pension Fund is not affected by pressure from labor unions, right? Aw well, Wal-Mart will just have to piddle through without them then I guess. They seem to be surviving okay.

As I have said on numerous occasions here on the Mudcat, my son has been an hourly employee at Wal-Mart for seventeen years. He has excellent health insurance, including dental, has a month vacation annually, and earns in excess of $25 an hour. Wal-Mart contributes generously to his 401k fund (which has been hard hit by the market downturn but that's not Wal-Mart's fault). Not too shabby I think. Does he ever bitch about Wal-Mart? Sure, sometimes. None of you critics of Wal-Mart have ever bitched about your employer's though, right?

DougR