This interesting article labels Walmart as "progressive" and good for the poor citing that Walmart's $200 billion-plus assistance to consumers rivals federal programs such as food stamps ($33 billion) and earned-income tax credit ($40 billion).
If critics prevent the firm from opening new branches, they will prevent ordinary families from sharing in those gains. Poor Americans will be chief among the casualties.
Another interesting tidbit is that the "average Wal-Mart customer earns $35,000 a year, compared with $50,000 at Target and $74,000 at Costco."
