Interesting piece on Wal-Mart ran on Fresh Air today. The take away point I picked up is that Wal-mart saves the average family that shops there $2000 per year. However, the items that family buys at Wal-Mart only make up about 20% of the family's purchases. Wal-mart has no effect on the other 80%, which consists of major expenses such as utilities, rent or morgage, insurance, etc. and may even have a negative effect because the company's efforts to keep prices low means it keeps wages low, making it harder for its massive number of employees to afford that 80% of their budget.
However, Wal-Mart is one of the few retailers to do well in the current economy, mainly through cheap food and flat screen TVs.
Wal-Mart deserves the Nobel Peace Prize
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