Thanks for the timely blog. Wal-mart is insidious and there are efforts being made all over the country to stop their encroachment. Years ago, I encountered a town that was being destroyed by NAFTA and GATT and seeking desperately for ways to bring business to the town. The genius politicians came up with inviting Wal-Mart to open a store there. I called the show he was on and advised against it as Wal-Mart did not produce wealth or any products at all. It serves to draw off all retail sales and will run the local businesses out. Then they will only have one retailer to deal with, less price controls from competition and result in flight capital not influx of income to town. Oh, I was a fool and anyone would want 'America's' retailer to come with their guarantees of 'Made in America' labelling in their town. The town is more a decrepit abandoned site with a new Wal-Mart on its outskirts now, than a recovering merchant location. The more you put up on this monster that sell American caps made by slaves in countries we never even heard of, the better off we are. Tell us all about it please. After 9/11 I stood and counted 17 different t-shirts and hats with Ameican logos on them with 17 diferent countries who made them. America was not one of them. The more we learn the easier to turn the tide on this fraud and drain on the retail economy of this Nation.

I agree with you both. But I think Wal Mart has gotten to big to deal with. All the people that go there look strangely to me like zombies, "must go to Wal Mart". I myself won't go there if there is a local store selling the same thing even close to the same price. I would rather pay a little more for the same item than go to Wal Mart. They run the Mom and Pops out of buisness. The only thing I buy there is gas. We don't have any small Service Stations anymore around here that are owned by local people, so I feel that the 3 cent discount I get a Wal Mart is money that doesn't go to big oil. But after I fill up, I drive away. Maybe with a small victory.

But I tell you, Ben Franklin said, "it is better to make a penny on one hundred items, than to make a dollar on one." That's how they do it. Putting the "need" items in the back of the store so you walk by the "impulse" items to get to them. I'm glad the gas pump isn't in the store.