DSN Retailing Today: Is retailing ready for President Nader?

I suspect that many Americans--including many in the retail community--are unsure about the nation's present course, but unconvinced that John Kerry would put us on the right track.

There is, however, a third choice ... and maybe it's time to consider how the interests of retailers would fare under an administration headed by consumer activist Ralph Nader.

So far, Mr. Nader has been anything but shy about talking about where he would lead the country as president. Here's where he stands on the issues:

* Business practices. Nader built a career crusading against corporate excess, and the recent financial scandals at Enron, WorldCom and other large companies have encouraged him to ratchet the rhetoric up even higher. As president, he would spearhead a new "crackdown on corporate crime, fraud and abuse" that would involve stronger corporate sunshine laws, new requirements obliging public companies to make their tax returns public and dollar limits on executive compensation. He also wants "an expanded tort system" to make it far more costly for retailers and other businesses to harm the public through "price gouging, shoddy merchandise, phony repairs," and other anti-consumer practices.

* Worker's rights. A key plank in Nader's platform is a national "Employee Bill of Rights" guaranteeing workers "a living wage--not a minimum wage." He also wants federal laws preventing employers from reducing health care or pension benefits to either current workers or retirees, tight new restrictions on the hiring of temporary workers or independent contractors, repeal of "the notorious Taft-Hartley Act," and labor regulations recognizing that "non-union workers need upgraded rights against the likes of Wal-Mart."

* Employment opportunity. Nader has called for "a Feminization of Power" throughout the nation--a goal he hopes to achieve by moving "more feminist women into policymaking positions in government, business, education, religion and all the other powerful institutions of society." He also wants to crack down on job discrimination based on sexual orientation and has advocated "litigation" to eliminate the "sticky-floor ... dead-end, low wage jobs that keep so many women in poverty."

* Tax policy. Nader would like to replace retail sales taxes with less regressive taxation targeting corporations and "the wealthy." He wants a "fundamental reappraisal of our tax laws" starting with the "principle that taxes should apply first to behavior and conditions we favor least." In practice, that means "instead of the 5% to 7% sales tax on food, furniture, clothing or books," the United States would place heavier taxes on activities such as pollution, speculation, "extreme luxuries," gambling and on "clearly addictive industries" such as alcohol and tobacco.

* International trade. While he acknowledges global trade as a "fact of life," Nader wants an end to "secret, autocratic" treaties. As Nader sees it, both NAFTA and the World Trade Organization need to be replaced with new "fair trade" agreements that do not "strip-mine environmental, social and labor standards."

* Job growth. Nader proposes to create "million of new jobs" by "requiring equitable trade, investing in urgently needed local labor-intensive public works, creating a new renewable energy efficiency policy, fully funding education and redirecting large bureaucratic and fraudulent health expenditures toward preventive health care."

Of course, Ralph Nader has also taken positions on a number of non-retail related issues that offer insight on how the country would be governed if he sat in the Oval Office. Among other things, Nader advocates withdrawing all U.S. troops and civilians from Iraq, lowering the voting age to 16, legalizing marijuana and other controlled substances, and lifting the Drug Enforcement Administration's restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Ken Rankin

Washington

Editor