Poll Question: Can Wal*Mart be stopped? [View All]

Many recent posts examine the fact that low-paid workers bear the brunt of anything negative that happens to Wal*Mart, while all gains accrue to stockholders and executives. I see two opinions about whether this company's overtaking of most retail sales in all communities is inevitable: 1) People's consciousness will eventually be sufficiently raised to mount enough shopper backlash that the tide will be turned, and locally-owned businesses can flourish again, despite their necessarily higher costs and prices. 2) Wal*Mart is so much a part of the landscape and routine of daily existence that it will continue to do what it does, which is to gain market share with the blessing of those very ones who will be exploited. It is a natural anti-democratic process that has occurred throughout history.