Kerry's WalMart stock

[mikehiggins]

The question was raised about John Kerry holding stock in WalMart. Since nolink was provided I went on google and came up with this:

http://homepage.mac.com/chasbaudelaire/iblog/B1541229392/

He refers to opensecret.org which lists Kerry's financial disclosure form.

According to chasbaudelaire the records do show between $1 million and $5 million in WalMart shares.

I can't confirm it myself because for some reason I am unable to access parts of the .pdf file on opensecret and when I downloaded it there seems to be sections that don't appear.

However, there does seem to be something underneath all that smoke.

[King of New Orleans]

1. So

What is the question?

[ProudToBeLiberal]

3. the question is why

does kerry hold stock in a company that doesn't allow it's workers to unionize etc.

[MAlibdem]

5. Because the point of investing in a company

is to make money. The government is where regulation...the "rules" of the capitalist economy, come from. People abide by those rules. Walmart doesn't have to allow its workers to unionize, JK would fight for that right, however, in the proper forum, government.

[corporatewhore]

8. see my post no.7 in regards to his record of fighting for workers rights

also would you want to invest in a company like nike?

[Clark Can WIN]

19. Oh so fuck everybody as long as you make money?

I thought that was the REPUBLICANS............


was I wrong? :shrug:

[Dr.Phool]

17. OK you just changed my opinion

I said before I'd vote ABB. But I absolutely refuse to shop at Scab-Mart, and if he owns large amounts of stock in it, No way is he getting my vote.

I guess I'm gonna have to move to Costa Rica after all.

[onehandle]

2. I wish I did.

Anyway, crapmart stock is very popular. I understand that they are slightly profitable.

So who cares.

[Clark Can WIN]

23. It's the large shareholders and the CEO's that are shafting us all

Who aspires to be an unconscionable parasite?

You ask who Cares?

When Kerry ventures to the textile mills of the South, and explains his votes in total honesty, he may begin to earn some credit for his "real deal" propeganda.

[revcarol]

4. Now if someone can research where Kerry said we need two more Army

divisions, and cite current re-enlistment and recruiting figures to show that he would need a draft to accomplish this....

Hey, it's out there. It was on DU today, and I am a total computer illiterate and don't know how to research it.

[brainshrub]

6. I will not vote for a candidate who supports Wal-Mart

I would rather vote Lieberman than a candidate who holds significant amounts of stock in that vampire-of-a-corporation.

I would also take a moment and encourage all DUers to disinvest from Wal-Mart as soon as possible. If there is an afterlife, do you really want to go before the Creator and admit that you profited from that horrible company?

[corporatewhore]

7. why am i not suprised he never cared for workers rights

I find it to be a slap in the face to every actvist in the global justice movement to call kerry a liberal when in fact he is a neoliberal he has a long history of voting for GATT/WTO/NAFTA/IMF granting permant trade relations w/china (such the bastion of workersrights/human rights) he also recently voted for bushs fast track to the FTAA sure he did try to get an ammendment requireing human rights and environmental protection but it was left out and he gave bushs fast track to the FTAA his stamp of approval (i risked arrest and bodily injury to protest the talks in miami just another reason why i cant vote for him) I find it ironic when Kucinich marched side by side with union members and activists in the battle in seattle to protest the WTO kerry was working to support the WTO side by side with big corporations to screw the working class the environment and of course the people who are virtual slaves in maquiladoras and sweatshops

[stepnw1f]

11. Anything to get a candidate elected...

just hope it's not Bush.

[revcarol]

14. I can testify to the horrible conditions of the maquiladoras.

I taught English in two different maquiladoras. The employees would get a 25 cents a day raise in pay if they passed my English course, since all the bosses spoke English(American or Japanese bosses, American or Japanese companies), it was supposed to help them obey the bosses better. They made so little they couldn't afford to take the non-company bus. The company bus wouldn't wait for them if they took the English course, so they would end up walking miles home in the dark. They got a cheap lunch, but the sanitary conditions were so bad that many died of food poisoning, they lived in one-room hovels with 4-10 people, no indoor plumbing.They were fired if they talked to other workers because they were obviously plotting against the company...I stopped before all the hundreds of women started getting killed, but I bet some of those I taught were killed.

And ALL of our candidates are promoting this inhumane treatment except Kucinich & Sharpton.

[corporatewhore]

18. Code pink has issued a call to hold vigils on feb 14 in solidarity

w/women of Juarez

[moremorfordplz]

9. This is distressing

Every WalMart I have been in (purely for research purposes only - I have written a critically acclaimed pamphlet on the little acknowledged fact that capitalism is not perfect and is barely workable as a way of life) has had a McDonalds restaurant in-store. So not only is Kerry giving two big thumbs up to WalMart's enslavement of its employees, but he's saying "I'm lovin' it" to McDonalds and their abhorrent, disgusting, exploitative imperialism of the workers, and their nonchalant fattening of the masses on cheap, old meat and buckets of grease.

Could *you* vote for a champion of these two hegemonic causes?

[corporatewhore]

13. Not to mention the destruction of locally owned businesses and devastionto

the environment in austin they were going to build over the aquifer of barton springs (one of the things that makes austin austin) and it took a community driven grassroots movement to beat this monster that kerry invested in

[Clem]

10. also, dailykos has it linked

Mike,

Thank you for digging the info up. You vindicated me...

Clem

[jpgray]

12. Nader and Kerry are more alike than I thought. (nt)

[Edwards4President]

15. This is his wife's stock, not his own

According to Kerry's 2002 financial disclosure, filed in 2003, it is his wife who owned Wal Mart stock as of December 2002. It is not clear whether she still owns this stock since he has not yet filed a financial disclosure for the subsequent period.

[moremorfordplz]

16. Oh, that's okay then

It's only his wife who supports these imperialistic slavemasters and profits from their evil works.

[Edwards4President]

20. I didn't say that. I simply provided information.

Sarcasm is not necessary.

[moremorfordplz]

22. What sarcasm?

His wife is not the candidate.

[OneBlueSky]

21. he probably doesn't even know that he owns it . . .

his list of stock and bond holdings is as long as my arm . . . a lot of the assest are his wife's, too . . .

[farmbo]

24. He has six weeks to unload it...or we (Dems)can't support him.

Walmart is the epitome of Bush's outsourced economy.

[incapsulated]

25. Well, whoever owns it...

Kerry, his wife or his dog, they better dump it. Yesterday. I can only imagine what his union supporters would think of this.

[revcarol]

27. People were jumping all over me when I said that Gephart's

endorsement betrayed labor. Hmmmm.

[bigtree]

26. Mike, you didn't provide a link to proof of wal-mart stock

You provided a link to a blog in which the poster says he got this e-mail with the figures that included the claim of wal-mart stock. A link to open secrets reveals nothing. Like I say, the file won't open. You would question the integrity of a Democratic Senator with a blog link that leads to nowhere. You end your post with . . . smoke.

This should be out of bounds. I'm not denying that his wife may hold the stock. I'm asserting that you are spreading a rumor without a link of proof. Even the poster you linked to has his doubts. He writes:

"Pass it on.

pass on it is more likely...aside from the obvious, like where do bush and cheney have their money, it's important to realize that lots of people have money in these corporations...that's life in america...if you can't vote for anyone who is invested in corporate america go throw your vote at the green party and then shut the fuck up when bush invades iran and pakistan...

and the real issue is this...do the persons responsible for spreading the meme know what senator kerry does with the votes that his many millions buy him? i know i don't. and that is the real question, isn't it? "

Strange ommision. Innuendo. Unsupported rumor. Come back when you can support your claim.

[incapsulated]

28. Look What I Found!

From Kerry's Blog:
http://blog.johnkerry.com/blog/archives/000445.html

Kerry Takes On Wal-Mart
John Kerry has never hesitated to take on powerful political opponents, and this week he went after Wal-Mart, the country's largest employer, over the company's stingy health care coverage of its workers. Wal-Mart is a non-union company, and its lower health insurance costs give it a competitive edge, forcing competitors into a race to the bottom. Efforts by unionized grocery store chains to cut back on their health care plans are the central issue in the United Food and Commercial Workers strike now going on in southern California.

In an editorial today, the Concord Monitor said that Kerry "showed courage" for taking on Wal-Mart's health care practices, and concluded:

"Because Wal-Mart is the major player in so many areas of American business--it is now the world's largest grocery chain, too--its health-care policies work to diminish access and quality care for all. We salute Kerry for pointing that out."

Then a response:

You left this out of your posting of the below article -

Chris Black, a spokeswoman for the senator's wife, said that Heinz Kerry's Wal-Mart stock is held in a family trust and handled by professional portfolio managers. Black said Heinz Kerry gives them general instructions not to invest in companies with poor records on human rights or the environment. And she doesn't put any money in tobacco companies, Black said.

Black also said Heinz Kerry doesn't "micromanage" her money and was unaware until yesterday that she held Wal-Mart stock.

"When I told her, she said: 'Oh thanks for pointing that out,' " Black said. "She said she'd look into it."

http://www.cmonitor.com/stories/news/politics2003/kerry_walmart101603_2003.shtml

[bigtree]

29. Good nuf

Let them spurt over this.

[corporatewhore]

30. what does that say about a person when they dont even know they have

a million to five million dollars invested in one of the most anti union companies around

[ronzo]

31. Locking. Let's have a solid link

If it's readily available, please post a link.

Thanks,

DU Moderator