That's the beauty of a free market economy.
A Mom and Pop store can't compete with big business. It's not a free market economy anymore. Monopolies are the issue here.
A relatively recent UN report highlighted the importance of recognizing the political implications of American and European takeovers of Third World companies, which created private monopolies and oligopolies that sustain local price gouging, degradation of living standards, suppression of local independent innovation, and the maintenance of great disparities of wealth.
When consumers buy from a big-box store like Walmart, they generally buy goods from overseas, to save themselves a few pennies, even though I haven't seen any prices dropping in quite some time. So with none of that money recirculating back into the community, the consumers on the whole are poorer. In fact, the only time big-box retailers offer truly superior pricing is when they first arrive in a new community. And that, of course, is just to drive the local Mom and Pop stores under.
And after taking away the livelihoods of the locals, these big-box retailers turn around and offer them jobs at $10.00 an hour. ($8.00 in WI) Then they can accurately say these people demand their low prices, because the big-box retailer just made them poor.
There are many of us who put our wallet where our mouth is. I am by no means well-off. I don't have a lot of money, and I have two teenagers. But, to me, "acceptable" is increasingly unacceptable. Some of us actually shop according to our conscience, which is why I refuse to shop at Walmart. My conscience used to bother me so badly when I worked there, that I would be driving to work in tears. I wasn't the only one either. I knew it was time to go.
An interesting book on the subject....THE BIG BOX SWINDLE
http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-0807035009-0
Large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America and are rapidly transforming our economy, communities, and landscape. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engagement. Mitchells investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylvania towns Main Street. She uncovers the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains.
More than a critique, The Big-Box Swindle draws on real life to show how some communities are successfully countering the spread of mega-retailers and rebuilding their local economies. Mitchell describes innovative approaches — from cutting-edge land-use policies to small-business initiatives — that together provide a detailed road map to a more prosperous and sustainable future.
