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WalMart is a commercial pirate and an antisocial monster. To explain: The company exploits its most necessitous, lowest paid employees by forcing them to work off-the-clock, skip meal breaks, lock them in the stores over night and not allowing them to leave upon pain of job loss--so they can stock shelves --again, off-the-clock. The company has been found to be doing these things in several civil law suits in Oregon, Mass. Colorado, New Mexico and other stares--and several of the same type cases are pending in other states. Indeed, the latest hearing was in Maryland just last week.

Let me counter this avalanche of socialist swill with a real-world example. Take the large Wal-Mart at 59th Ave. and Bell, Phoenix, AZ. It attracts vast numbers of shoppers. Right next to it is a whole row of new small shops (so much for the argument that Wal-Mart destroys small business!), representing merchandise that WM does not carry, or upscale extensions of WM's lines. One block over, a Sprouts organic supermarket with a vast array of fresh produce, fine wines, fresh baked goods, and bulk specialties (kaboom goes the argument that Wal-Mart emits secret brain-altering radiation that forces consumers to buy nothing but low-class grocery!). On the other side of Bell Road, a newly-built retail center filled with stores of every description. So where's this "shrinking of options" I keep hearing the Salon.com Soviet whine on about? Oh, and Wal-Mart hires a lot of people over 55. Where else have you seen that happening lately?

What I see is Wal-Mart bring people out to 59th and Bell, then other retailers big and small jumping on the opportunity, generating traffic of their own. A Wal-Mart is the coral reef of retailing; get one going on your neighborhood, a whole new retail ecology forms around it, and everyone wins. It's Galt's Gulch in brick and mortar.

Oh, and Wal-Mart hires a lot of people over 55. Where else have you seen that happening lately

LOL! Right. Wal-Mart greeters, who are generally nice, elderly people.

Well, they are not given 40 hrs of work, meaning Wal-Mart does not need to provide insurance and other benefits for these people. A lot of their minimum wagers work less than 35 hrs as well - meaning Wal-Mart gets out of paying benefits for them as well.

That Wal-Mart employees are usually grouchy and uncaring is NOT suprising.

Wal-Mart. The friendly employer. Right.

It is apparent that you didn't read, or if your read, didn't understand, my WalMart comments. Of course it sells the stuff you report, no one doubts that. My entire post related to the disgraceful nature of it corporate citizenship and coercively making employees work off the clock upon pain of losing their job if they refuse-----and ot locking employees in the store overnight to force them to stock shelves---all off the clock. I didn't mention a single word about its inventory contents.