The internet is filled with ideas that seem to make sense at first glance, causing them to be shared through social media, filling up your Facebook wall and Twitter feed with well-meaning, but illogical nonsense. Here's another one and why it doesn't really make sense.
Here's the original post in its full form. I've broken it down section by section below.
The person starts by telling us how big Wal*Mart is. Because it's big. Really big. I can quote big numbers too...
To the editor:
1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart every hour.
1. People spend $1,484,018 on porn every hour.
2. That works out to $20,928 per minute.
2. That works out to $24,733 per minute. My number is higher because I can do math and the original author cannot. The inability to divide a number by 60 makes me slightly less than confident in his or her logical skills.
3. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot+Kroger+Target+Sears+Costco+K Mart combined.
3. Porn revenue is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined. Those would be Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, Netflix, and EarthLink.
4. Wal-Mart employees 1.6 million people, it is the world's largest employer.
4. 102,434,567 people view internet porn.
5. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
5. 35% of all internet downloads are pornographic.
6. Wal-Mart has approx. 3,900 stores in the USA, this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.
6. 24, 644, 172 websites are pornographic.
7. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart. The earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion.
7. 68 Million search engine requests a day are pornography related. That adds up to 24,820,000,000 porn search experiences a year. The earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion, because that matters somehow.
You may think I am complaining, but I am really laying the groundwork for suggesting that maybe we should hire these guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy.
Well in that case, I think I have just laid the groundwork for suggesting that maybe we hire the guys who run porn to fix the economy. Unless, you know, the numbers you just said have no bearing on anything.
We have 535 voting members of the legislature. Its official, the majority of you are inept.
Well, you got the math right, so you have that going for you. And the problem is greed and the desire to be re-elected over doing what's best for one's constituents, so if people were simply inept, we would be much better off.
The U.S. Postal system was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it's broke. Social Security was established in 1935. You have 74 years to get it right and it's broke. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right, it's broke. The war on poverty was established in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right and you haven't. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 45 years to get it right and it's broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it's broke.
You're aware that legislators are not immortals, right? Or have you simplified "government" down to one entity that encompasses anything associated with the government? The USPS was running just fine for the vast majority of those 234 years you mention. Same with Social Security, etc.
The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more than ever yet we have vast oil reserves here at home.
So, "Drill, baby, drill?"
You have failed in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars. Now you want us to believe you can be trusted with a government - run health care system?
I'm going to ignore the "shoved down our throats" overheated rhetoric. I actually wish this came sooner so I would have known to ignore everything else, but oh well. Let's start with the easiest one...The USPS has failed? When you have sent a letter, did it get there? Have you received mail? Hardly a failure. The problem is that you're conflating programs that are in need of reform with "failure." Changing economic and demographic climates call for different solutions, which means that yes, some government programs need to be changed. But, every program is a failure makes you sound like a lunatic.
Someone please tell me what's wrong with all the people that run this country!
The fact that one political party refuses to budge one bit on anything and has been hijacked by its radical wing? Well, you asked.
We're broke and can't help our seniors, veterans, orphans, homeless and yet in the last months we have provided relief to Hati, Chile, Turkey and now Pakistan. Imagine if the government gave US the same support they give to other countries. It's sad isn't it?
The government is not "broke," regardless of what some will have you believe. The reason for that is that the government is not the same as a household budget, and it's not the same as a business. Of course, the "government is broke" rhetoric only started about 5 years ago. Before that, we had things like this: Cheney - Deficits don't matter.
RC May
Bokeelia
I'm guessing this is who wrote this, or who copied and pasted it from World Net Daily or Glenn Beck or wherever it originated. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due.
At this point, I would like to point out that the author never made his or her case for why Wal*Mart should "fix the economy." I guess we're supposed to believe that since the corporation makes a lot of money, the same principles can be applied to a nation's economy. And how would they "fix" it? Impose a maximum wage? Make a law that people can't work long enough to be eligible for health benefits? It would be nice if the author of the above would have at least made SOME connection for us.
To keep from making this longer than it needs to be, let me make this simple for you. A business has one job: making money for its shareholders. That's it. Yes, many people who own businesses do good things for the community, but that's not their job. Making money is. Wal*Mart makes a lot of money. But their employees are at or among the highest group of people in many states who are eligible for food stamps or Medicaid .
So, no, the people who run Wal*Mart should not be "hired to fix the economy." If you believe that based on this person's Facebook post, then you have to admit that I've made an amazingly strong case for the people who run porn to be "hired to fix the economy." Of course, I haven't. I just listed a bunch of statistics. And that's the point.
Sources:
http://www.techaddiction.ca/files/porn-addiction-stats.jpg;
http://www.techaddiction.ca/files/porn-addiction-statistics.jpg
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