[Vision2020] Wal-Mart Editorial Was Misguided

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (February 28, 2006) University of Idaho Argonaut with a special
thanks to Peggy Jenkins of Deary.

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Wal-Mart editorial was misguided

Dear Editor,

The Wal-Mart editorial in Friday's Argonaut fell far short of your usual
high standards. 

The editorial claims the giant Wal-Mart won't hurt Moscow's economy, but in
fact there is a ton of research out there which shows that WalMart
Supercenters have had a devastating effect on the economies of small towns
all over the United States. This is because dollars are shifted away from
local business that reinvest in the local community and into the pockets of
the Waltons and their shareholders. 
You might want to check out www.newrules.org/retail/

econimpact.html, which has a great summary of the many studies that have
been done on the impact of Wal-Mart. If you did, I think you would find that
the answer is a lot more clear-cut than you think: Wal-Mart is bad for the
economies of small towns, and its proposed Supercenter will be bad for
Moscow.

The worst part of the editorial was your suggestion that the only reason
there was opposition to the Wal-Mart Supercenter was "because people want to
get bent out of shape about something," as though the scores of people at
Wednesday's hearing opposing to the mega-center were nothing but a bunch of
unhappy people looking for something to complain about. Nothing could be
further from the truth.

Most of the people who oppose the Supercenter are doing so because they
enjoy a tremendous quality of life here and feel like that quality of life
is at risk.  We'd all rather be out there enjoying our families and our
community, but we love Moscow enough to fight for it. We've talked to a lot
of students at UI who feel the same.

Peggy Jenkins
Deary, Idaho

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


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"A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means and bad men." 

- Thomas Paine (English Writer, 1737-1809)

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