I do all my shopping at Walmart, You really do save $$$$$

Personally, I feel Wal-Mart is bad for the economy. However, I understand enough to realize I have absolutely no clue when it comes to economic theory.

All I can see are the results of how they treat people. I am not a fan.

Part of me feels I was born about 2 generations late :) I am much more of a small town, main street sort of guy.. I'd much rather pay more to buy from someone I know in the community, who helps support a lifestyle I enjoy. I still try to do this here, but not nearly as much as I'd like.

I also feel that many smaller companies, while certainly less efficient in most cases, are orders of magnitude more resilient than huge monolithic corporations. See the banking crisis for this - you don't see too many small credit unions who didn't farm out loans going bankrupt or asking for money - they made responsible financial decisions and while hurting, are still fairly healthy today. When the people selling the product (in this case, loans) don't have to stand by it - then you get into the scenario we have today of effectively scam artists running things.

Sorry.. went off topic

I think you will find, that Wal-Mart takes a loss on the staple foods that grab headlines/attention such as Milk, Bread, etc. This gets people into the store because it is "so cheap!!!" and then they can charge higher amounts for other products when you don't notice.

It would be interesting to take a standard shopping list containing a nice mix of milk, cheese, meat, fruits/veggies, prepared foods, etc. and buying the exact same quantity/brand (when possible) from both Wal-mart, and your local discount grocer (here it would be Cub Foods - not something fancy like Wegmans or other "higher end" grocery stores). Also of course be careful a "box of pop tarts" or whatever is the same from both stores - e.g. verify quantities :)

I think you will find the totals are pretty close, far closer than you may think.

You have some severe reading comprehension problems.

I didn't write half of what you think I did. You must have misread or not understood the subtlety of some of the points I was making.

Your lack of comprehension doesn't = me not making sense.

I said that Wal-Mart was good, but does not deserve special tax considerations from municipalities. Those two statements are not inconsistent with each other.

You are the one who chose to use California as an example. Then you say they succeed "despite" the government policies, not because of them.
Then why don't other states with lower tax burdens and less regulations grow even more than California? You use California as your example of why free markets rule, and then dismiss the fact that the market there is less free than it is in most other places in the country.....but I'm the one who is confused?

Maybe free market capitalism has very little to do with California being a large economy. Perhaps the climate and proximity to the ocean are the reason people move there and bring their capital with them, and that grows the economy?

I bought an Acai drink from Publix market 2 weeks ago and it was $4.99 I bought the same exact brand and size drink for Walmart Neighborhood Market (Their food only store here in Florida) for $3.39 yesterday. All other prices are similarly disproportionate. I'd much rather give my money to Publix but I find myself saving so much money at the Walmart store it doesn't make sense to shop elsewhere.

And I do know the ramifications of shopping at Walmart.

SouthPark nailed this along time ago BTW.