Walmart propaganda: staggering new lows

So CNBC is running some weird documentary on Walmart. No revelations of any note, until interviewer asked the CEO about the dismal contribution the company makes to employee’s health care costs. I had to listen to the answer several times for what he was actually saying to sink in.

Let me answer that carefully. Sam would be proud that our people are trying to be good consumers. Part of the reason we have health care costs like we do is that it’s one of the few areas of our life where we are not good consumers. We’re not shopping for reasonableness or anything else. Because we’re not paying any of the money. Sam believed that we as individuals should pay some of that cost to that we would be enlisted to control the costs of health care.

Ah, now I see. Walmart’s crappy health care plans are actually a valiant effort to solve the seemingly intractable problem of rising health care costs. Because when uninsured cashiers earning 18 grand a year stand up to those outrageous doctor’s bills by, um, not paying them, everything will fall into place. And a pony.