I have heard these things before and think there is truth to what you are saying. It's a good point. When Sam Walton was around you didn't hear these stories. Walmart's "Americanism" back then, IMO, was a lot of hype. But still, Mr. Sam wasn't forcing businesses to go overseas or stuff like that. OTOH Walmart is one of the biggest employers around here. Rost also makes a great point about a lot of the businesses that were put out by Walmart. What are you gonna do if you're a young family man whose wife works also and you're both gone during "business hours". Mom and Pop stores' refusal to change to meet the demands of their demographic along with other things are one of the big reasons they're gone and Walmart remains.

I like Walmart A LOT better than Target, K Mart or some of the others.

Being rural we have no choice most of the time, and thankful that the days of overpriced commodities screwing the rural folks are somewhat over.

IMHO the local shopkeepers screwed themselves by overpricing goods when they only needed to charge a fair price. Not an outrageous one.Jeff

Last time I was in Wal mart in Anchorage they had a fine selection of handguns. Kind of surprised me as they have no guns here in mid Michigan