In Reply to: Re: My big problem with WalMart is this posted by Open 24 Hours in MO on September 15, 2002 at 5:24 PM:
So, if Wal-Mart is "better" than a locally-owned mom & pop business, ask yourself this question: would you rather your son or daughter grow up to become the owner of his/her own business, or would you rather they become just another cashier at a Wal-Mart?
The arguments made in favor of Wal-Mart are well put, but fail to take into account the larger picture. Our local businesses that were drying up before Wal-Mart were still drying up *because* of Wal-Mart -- because it was so easy to drive 30 miles to the county seat. So it's the natural course of progress when Wal-Mart arrives in town... just as the natural progress of gangrene will start with an infected toe and eventually cost you your entire leg.
200 jobs at a Wal-Mart do not replace 200 jobs at locally-owned businesses. 200 cashiers and stockers plus a few overworked managers is just not the same as 25 local businesses with 8 employees each. You've turned 25 small businessmen, putting money back into the community, into wage slaves, putting money into distant shareholders' pockets.
Capitalism, in its truest sense, means fair competition between individual entrepreneurs. Wal-Mart is the very antithesis of capitalism -- what is the difference between a huge autocratic company and a huge autocratic government? One difference: you can vote out the government, but you have no say at all -- short of boycott -- in how Wal-Mart treats you and your community.
It all boils down to your vision for the future. Should our children be stakeholders in the community, or cashiers at Wal-Mart?