A Stitch in Haste

Oh the horrors of modern corporate capitalism:

ITEM: Wal-Mart, the destroyer of all things small and quaint (and expensive), shows it's not so "Red State" after all --

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, has adopted a new definition of family that includes same-sex partners recognized under state law.
...
The policy, which lays out the terms under which workers would violate that policy, says, "You are responsible for advancing Wal-Mart's business interests when the opportunity to do so arises. You may not take any opportunities or use any confidential information for your benefit, or for the benefit of your immediate family members, that you discover or obtain through your employment with Wal-Mart."

It then goes on to define immediate family members to "include (whether by birth, adoption, marriage or Domestic Partnership or Civil Union, if recognized by your state or other local law) your spouse, children, parents, siblings, mothers and fathers-in-law, sons and daughters-in-law and brothers and sisters-in-law."

As noted by gay rights groups, if Wal-Mart imposes responsibilities on expansively-defined families, then can benefits for such families be far behind? (Wal-Mart has had a pro-gay no-discrimination policy since July 2003.)

More --

Currently 228 -- or 45% -- of Fortune 500 companies offer health care benefits to employees' same-sex domestic partners or spouses. The number has increased 10-fold since 1995 when only 21 Fortune 500 companies offered the benefits. Wal-Mart competitors Costco Wholesale, Best Buy, and Home Depot all offer domestic-partner health benefits.

Markets in everything. Wal-Mart competes not only on price, and not only on wages, but on benefits as well. As a sort-of Wal-Mart competitor might have said: "It's a good thing..."

UPDATE: Christian Grantham --

After today's news about Wal-Mart extending the definition of "immediate family," how many fewer evangelical patrons do you think will shop at Wal-Mart? My guess is the "values voters," led by Focus on the Family's James Dobson, will loudly rattle threats of boycotts while privately bowing to their more important need for commercial convenience.

Indeed -- such boycotts always generate more heat than light, more smoke than fire. Does anyone even remember this Dobson boycott? What impact did it have, if any?

ITEM: Microsoft, the embodiment of all things uniform, stale and conformist (and efficient and productivity-enhancing), spreads some macroeconomic cheer --

The $32 billion special dividend Microsoft Corp. paid to shareholders last month boosted U.S. personal income in the fourth quarter...

A special Microsoft dividend of $3 a share was paid on Dec. 2. The department estimated that 75 percent of the payout went to individuals, boosting fourth-quarter personal income at an annual rate of $99.4 billion.

Sometimes people need to be reminded that there are other Microsoft shareholders -- lots of them -- besides Bill Gates, who, despite the protestations of some, is hardly the anti-Christ himself.

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