The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Viewpoints

I am one among the army of die-hard Wal-Mart haters. I am adamantly against their exploitation of small business, their absurd control over a large number of markets and most of all, that they are the number one music retailer in the nation and they won't sell albums with Parental Advisory stickers on them. I hate walking through the dimly lit corridors of the warehouse-like superstores where countless Americans go to die. I hate it all.

But when I need to go grocery shopping, I find myself filling a shopping cart with every article of food and gadgetry I can pull off the shelves.

At this point, I understand that there are plenty of readers who would love to point their fingers and label me as no more than a hypocrite. But how can I be blamed for shopping there? I don't have a lot of money. I can get everything I need at a price that I at least feel justified in paying. Wal-Marts are everywhere and many of them are open 24 hours. It's convenient, cheap and reliable.

The combination of all these facets of the store make it a very appealing place to shop. Also, it makes it much harder for me to hate Wal-Mart, even though I believe its hideous edifices and looming presence throughout nearly every county in our nation are leaving our land pock-marked and scarred. Imagine if Wal-Mart, or a store of equal magnitude, did not exist. What would all of the families living under the poverty line do to feed not only themselves, but their children as well?

The kind of economic pressure that capitalism places on people to provide for themselves leads people to doing scores of things, legal and otherwise for cash. Why do you think so many people become drug dealers? It's fast money that goes untaxed and is much more profitable than working an honest job. Do not think that I am implying that Wal-Mart's existence is curtailing the quantity of hustlers in our nation. I am simply stating that the affordability of Wal-Mart's products, ranging from car parts to food to clothing to movies, allow families to get by in a much more manageable fashion than if they all had to shop at the Food Lion.

Also, about two years ago I remember reading a headline that explained that 0.5 percent of all Americans work at Wal-Mart. The monster company has around 1.9 million employees. That's more than three times the population of Columbia. Though their employees are known for being treated terribly, they are still getting paid for labor. Wal-Mart even assists the elderly poor by offering them jobs as "greeters," even if those who hold these posts often depress customers more than cheer them up.

In the end, I still hate Wal-Mart. They are the paragon of evil corporate America. But I can't help believing that, from a microeconomic viewpoint at least, Wal-Mart offers Americans many advantages.

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