[Toddsterpatriot]

So Wal-Mart when it started bragged about 'Made in America' but then (without pointing out to the consumer) 'encouraged' its suppliers to engage in wage arbitrage, pocketed the bulk of the savings, and passed a bit of the savings on to its consumers.

That's funny! That's why their operating income is a massive 5.88% of revenues.

[grey_whiskers]

Yep. The average grocery store has a profit margin of 1-2% overall, so Wal-Mart is doing quite well compared to them.

For the nonce, try looking up and then reading on the actual production costs of mass-produced items (including processed foodstuffs), and the mark-ups along the way for transport, shipping, middlemen, and the like.

The savings from going overseas are the lower wage scales, lack of environmental regulations, and the like; the physics and chemistry of the production processes are identical.

Cheers!