With everyone focused on the Kochs (Tied #5 on Forbes' Wealthiest Americans) and to a lesser extent Gates (#1 on Forbes' Wealthiest Americans), I 've wanted to revisit the Walton family who fill slots #4, #7, #8 and #9 of the Forbes Top Ten.
Fourth-richest American Christy Walton excepted (she is widow of Sam Walton's son John who died flying a lawnmotor in 2005), Jim Walton, Alice Walton and Rob Walton learned the family business and rightwing ideology at the knee of Sam in northwest Arkansas. Although Sam put Hillary Clinton on the Wal-mart board at one time, it was all about then-Gov Bill Clinton and less so about Hillary. One can search the Walton clan's political giving (overwhelmingly Republican) or activities of the Walton Family Foundation (school vouchers, privatization, ALEC, State Policy Network) to measure their true ideological position.
Rob Walton is still the Chairman of the Board of Wal-mart. The Walton family cumulatively holds 1.7 billion shares of WMT (approx. 45% of the total 3.75 billion outstanding shares as of 3/31/10.) The Wal-mart Corporation just gave Rob and the family a huge dividend gain. And thanks to Obama's dividend tax giveaway, this gain got supercharged. Instead of thanking Obama, however, this windfall will now go into the Walton's right wing war against the President and everything he wants to achieve. Exactly how much below the fold.
Conservatively: $603,570,800.38
Under Rob's leadership and since raising wages or other benefits are out of the question, Wal-mart raised its dividend from $1.21 per share to $1.46 for the next year. So the family's 1.7 billion shares will result in $2.45 BILLION in pre-tax dividend income for this year alone. Don't hate the Walton children because they worked hard for that.
Now remember the "tax showdown" during the lame-duck session that resulted in the great bipartisan victory for Obama? Neither do I. But one subtext to that "deal" was to make sure that taxes on dividend income remained at 15% (per George Bush's wildest fantasy of 2001) and not re-set to the pre-2001 level of 39.5%. If you take just the Walton's 2011 dividend income at the higher rate, that results in about $971,000,000 in tax revenue to the United States; at the Obama giveaway rate, that results in about $368,000,000 in tax revenue to the United States.
Obama gave the Waltons more or less $603,570,800. And for that windfall, Obama will insist on sacrifices like hungry bellies or cold nights or uneducated special needs kids from America's poor.
And what jobs will the Waltons create with that windfall?
Right wing welfare jobs at (just a sampling):
Alliance for School Choice/American Federation of Children
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
Family Council Action Committee