Hightower Lowdown

A century ago, Robber Barons used their riches to put a chokehold on commerce, buying off governments and media while crushing competitors, workers, and entire communities. These days, monopoly continues to rear its ugly head. There’s a new brute on the block, exerting power than Rockefeller or Carnegie could only dream of. It is Wal-Mart. Behind its smiley-faced demeanor, this giant is now not merely the largest corporation in the world, but the dominating economic power in our country, able to use its clout to monopolize practically any market it bulls into. First, it has a chokehold on the retail supply chain, able to dictate prices to the thousands of manufacturers that put products in its stores, even compelling these companies to lower wages or move their manufacturing to China. (See Lowdown, April 2002.) Second, Wal-Mart doesn’t play fair in the local market. When it moves into your community, it can drop its prices and lose money for months without affecting its overall profits. Your local grocery, hardware, or pharmacy can’t do that. Wal-Mart shrinks our economy, destroys middleclass wages, changes the face of our communities, and erodes America’s values of fairness, justice, and opportunity. It’s time to free the market again