--On Monday, September 8, 2003 2:31 PM -0500 Chuck0 <chuck at mutualaid.org> wrote:
> It would really help those of us activists in the trenches if we had
> easier access to stats and analysis about what the big stores do to
> communities. I mean, people really think they are saving significant
> money when they shop at Wal-Mart. They never factor in taxes that
> subsidize the Wal-Mart, or all of their personal costs involved in living
> in an area where you have to have a car to go shopping. They don't factor
> in car repairs into the cost of shopping at Wal-Mart.
I'd imagine most people who shop at Wal-Mart live within 20 miles of it (not in my remote neck in the woods; I used to be 55 miles from the closest Wal-Mart). The car repair bills for such visits probably wouldn't add up to much, and, besides, there might not be anything closer anyway (and don't expect people to give up the placid idiocy of rural life for, well, the not so placid idiocy of urban life). The only good reason I can see not to shop at Wal-Mart is the way the treat their workers.
-- Luke