Quote:
Originally Posted by calvin-c
*IF* you read my response, you'll see I was saying it's illegal to keep Walmart out while letting other big box stores....
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I don't know about the legalities, but it is fairly common for organizations and even municipalities to take actions that specifically target Walmart, and do not apply these to other big-box stores. E.g. New York City has kept Walmart out, while other stores like K-Mart, Target and Ikea are allowed or sometimes encouraged to build stores. There's probably more people trying to stop Ikea from using the Verdana font than there are organizing to block the store from building in their communities....
As to "dead peasant insurance," it makes some sense on an executive level, since the death of a top executive can have significant impacts and costs. As to rank-and-file, I'd view it as acceptable only with the employee's explicit consent (and preferably opt-in instead of opt-out) -- which apparently has been required by law since 2006. And even with rank and file, it can make some sense as the company can incur many costs when a low-level employee dies.
However a) clearly Walmart is not alone in this practice, thus we cannot regard them as "exceptionally evil" in this matter; b) moral culpability should be distributed, and placed as much (if not more) on the insurers than on the companies. After all, despite the reforms in 2006 requiring notification and consent, COLI allegedly still constitutes 20% of life insurance policies, and up to 25% of Fortune 500 companies supposedly use them.
If anything, it sounds more like a windfall for the insurance companies. After all, someone has to pay for the policies, and if every company with a COLI arrangement was generating profits as a result, the insurance companies would lose money, and either charge more, restrict, or cancel the policies.
Granted there are reasons to be squeamish about "profiting off of death." But if that's your concern, then do you propose nationalizing all life insurance, funeral parlors, estate law firms, hospice care, coffin makers et al in order to push everything related to death out of the market place...?