I watched this episode of Frontline last night and found it very interesting. Ever since I finished watching it I've been thinking about the question and so it seems the only real answer it so walk through how this all works.
Now the key to this is to understand that this show is not talking specifically about Wal Mart, but rather the Wal Mart approach that has overtaken our market system. Before Wal Mart it was manufacturers that drove the prices and products on the market, since Wal Mart it is the large box retailers who control price and products coming to market.
Wal Mart and others like them argue that this approach is better for the American people because it helps to reduce the cost of consumer goods and thus raises the standard of living for all Americans. Opponents to this say that it puts undue pressure on manufacturers and in turn pushes jobs out of the United States that are being replaced by lower paying service industry jobs, like working at Wal Mart.
In the next installment we will look at things from the retailers point of view and get an understanding of how their system works and why they feel this is better for the American people than the older system.
