Wal-Mart: A Race To Gotham

Richard Schwartz of the Daily News makes a rather lame argument for the infitration of Walmart into our cities' outer boroughs.

Why the resistance to letting mega-discounters into Gotham? It's not the consumers doing the protesting. The bumps in the road come from a loose confederation of unions, endangered shopkeepers and community kibitzers who get their jollies stalling anything one might call progress.

First of all, is he kidding? A resistance of mega-discounters in New York? Though he allows that "a handful [of stores] have made it into enemy territory," his argument has no basis in reality. If anything, New York has already allowed too many megastores into its ranks. Schwartz goes on to say:

To be sure, Wal-Mart carries some ugly baggage, like class-action suits for stiffing workers on overtime pay and for sexual discrimination. If America's largest employer hopes to do business in the world's media epicenter, it had better clean up its act. That said, it would be economic injustice to deny New Yorkers something other Americans take as a given: the right to get the best deal for the dollar.

If New York allows Walmart into our city, what incentive would they then have to "clean up [their] act?" As far as the "best deal for the dollar," how does Schwartz think Walmart acheives this? He should read this for starters.