What Would Wal-Mart Do?

Wal-Mart is apparently considering a legal challenge to a new Maryland law that would require the retail giant to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health insurance, or pay the difference to the state. According to the ABC piece;


Supporters say the law is needed because Maryland is underwriting the cost of health care for many Wal-Mart employees who can't afford to pay their share of insurance premiums.

The lonely libertarian believes that a legal challenge is the wrong approach. Why not just play hardball? If Maryland doesn't like paying for the health care costs of some Wal-Mart employees, I wonder how much they'd like paying the full health care costs of thousands of the unemployed former Wal-Mart employees that would be left behind if Wal-Mart was to shut down all of its operations in Maryland.

Not that such a thing would ever happen, but we can dream, can't we? And I wonder what the state would do under such a scenario. It just goes to show that this is not at all about worker rights and every bit about attacking a powerful, successful corporation.