but it seems like you have a pretty cold view of the wal-mart effect.

with all due respect to the free-market system, the prosperity that was achieved in the u.s. circa 1940-1960 was the direct result of good paying jobs (generally manufacturing) that elevated ordinary citizens to the middle class and allowed them to stay there (apologies to the g.i. bill, of course).

imo...(and in the eyes of many)...wal-mart is what we have been left with since the purposeful shift from a manufacturing economy to a service economy (circa 1970). and i believe that many people in this thread are arguing that wal-mart (as the largest non-govt employer in both the u.s. and mexico) has established a standard of compensation that simply doesn't allow ordinary citizens to gain middle class status and/or maintain it.

quite frankly, it's the middle class that separates the first world from the third world. for better and worse.