Reply #68: excellent post....

[mike_c]

I live in a community that rejected a Wal-Mart by voter referendum a few years ago-- WM wanted to open a store on a tract that needed rezoning and the referendum was about the zoning change. The community was deeply divided, however, with many WM proponents making the argument that opponents were letting their "ideals" block poorer people's access to "affordable goods." More people need to understand that making those goods "affordable" is part of the process that keeps workers poor, and that the effect spreads through the broader economy like ripples in a pond. Wal-Mart is a big part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Wal-Mart stands for the absolute worst aspects of corporate capitalism. It embodies the principle that the short-term benefits of "cheating"-- taking advantage of every opportunity to squeeze additional profit from communities regardless of the cost to those communities-- justify any business practice, no matter how egregious.