1842 WalMart, Target and the left

Why do you suppose liberals hate WalMart so much, but seem to like Target? Target is much more upscale, so is it just snobbery? But now WalMart is moving into that area too, and I don't think liberals will love them just because they carry a better line of clothes or make wider aisles, gussy-up the stores, or put their mega-stores in cities instead of small towns.

Target and WalMart both got their start around 1962 in non-metropolitan areas, but Target should have had a huge head start, being part of the Dayton-Hudson group and WalMart was just a family who'd run a successful Ben Franklin store in Arkansas. They both have "global" suppliers; both oppose unions; both have super stores; both put surrounding smaller retail firms out of business because they can't compete. Both pay about the same entry level wages and offer the same kind of benefits. But WalMart's done everything better, faster, and with more innovations and tighter margins.

WalMart has also served the poor and low income consumer better. And I suspect that's what is at the heart of the liberals' ennui and dislike for the world's largest retailer. WalMart succeeded by marketing to the low-end customer, someone just about all other retailers except the little local guy forgot about. At WalMart needs are met, desires satisfied, and the consumer who wouldn't walk into a regular department store or boutique because of their high prices, can be quite happy in a WalMart.

Liberals don't want the poor to be happy; they want them to be angry and feeling victimized--dependent on the government and Democrats for special programs. Not programs that lift them out of the bottom quintile, mind you, but programs that keep them right there where they belong--as their power base. The left is getting very aggressive with law suits against WalMart--and it's not just their deep pockets they're lusting for, they truly want WalMart to fail. Gimme back my po' folk!.

Think about it. Is it snobbery or just old fashioned power politics?

Update: I hadn't seen this WaPo op ed when I wrote this, but here's someone with the details. "Wal-Mart's "every day low prices" make the biggest difference to the poor, since they spend a higher proportion of income on food and other basics. As a force for poverty relief, Wal-Mart's $200 billion-plus assistance to consumers may rival many federal programs. Those programs are better targeted at the needy, but they are dramatically smaller. Food stamps were worth $33 billion in 2005, and the earned-income tax credit was worth $40 billion." Some interesting facts for all you WalMart haters.

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