For all you Walmart haters out there...

Check it out.  Their lower prices help poor and middle class urban types like me afford healthy food.  People like me who lived in an urban area that had nothing but Whole Foods, posh personal shopping services, fancy caterers and 7-11s understood this, but now there is a published study on it.

See for yourself. 

Original Post by pgeorgian:

fair enough, 'gator and split, but what do you think of the claim that walmart is making it's customers healthier?

Disingenuous without doubt.  But that's marketing, and in that respect Wal-Mart is no better and no worse than any other corporation.  Are Lean Cuisine frozen dinners nutritionally balanced as well as low calorie?  By offering side salads, has McDonald's made the Big Mac good for you?  Is Campbell's "Healthy Request" really healthy with over 1,000 mg of sodium per can?  Does the Omega 3 content of farmed salmon negate the health concerns of concentrated toxins?  

I absolutely concede that all of these claims are framed within the context of the market research to put them in a positive light, but that's what effective marketing is all about.  In this respect, Wal-Mart is no more devious than Exxon Mobil, General Motors, Home Depot, Proctor & Gamble or any other successful American based company.

nasuoni - I think we live in a special area, being that we live in an agricultural state.  Not only is the produce good, we can verify that is is actually organic and fresh.  The same might not be true in say.... Colorado.

I personally agree with you though.  I go to my local farmer's market, and I know which guys to go to, and which ones not to.  Hell, my friend regularly plays tennis with my "strawberry guy".  I get discounts for being a frequent customer, and I feel good about giving back to the local economy.

P.S.  Unrelated, but I thought I would add cause it is funny.  My hubby's friend is an organic farmer, and runs a co-op.  His pest control?  His pet bulldog.  Hah.  When they find gophers and other mammals, they feed them to his dog.  So messed up, but at least it doesn't mess up the environment!  :)

frothbeast, does that make them crunchy apples?

sounds delicious

did you realize that starting around the year 2000 and continuing until last year, American workers reached higher and higher productivity levels (record high levels), yet their wages stagnated or dropped?

it was the first time in history that an increase in worker productivity didn't produce an increase in income

and so, alan greenspan, realizing that the economy needed to continue to expand, made credit more readily available so that consumers could easily get home equity loans and continue to buy stuff

so, manufacturing of goods takes place mostly overseas, is shipped to the U.S., the largest consumer market in the world, we buy their stuff creating a trade defecit, they use the money we spent with them to buy government bonds to finance our debt and now we owe them interest too

how can anyone think this arrangement is going to end well?

i don't blame walmart for our entire economic financial system - they have merely profitted from it using heavyhanded tactics to bully manufacturers to produce to their specifications (cheapest possible, literally), forcing manufacturing off shore, leaving us vulnerable in at least a dozen different ways

and i didn't even mention child labor

if it's good enough for asian children, it will likely be good enough for our children in the not too distant future

i will say that until last year, i lived in a town where the ONLY place to shop was walmart -- prices weren't cheaper, but higher

now that i have a choice, i choose not to shop at walmart

i don't hate walmart - that would be a waste of energy - but i don't want my money to end up in their hands

i don't have access to a whole foods where i live either, but when i've been in them in other towns, i noticed that not all of their food is pricey - some of their stuff is downright cheap - you just have to be shrewd

you're so intelligent and informed nomo

that's why I like talking with you.  thank you for the information  :)

I guess I must be confused about your "enjoy your bread" comment, then jewels...

#66- I guess THAT one would be tangy.

While the local one with bugs would be crunchy.

Either way sounds delicious

-sarcasm 

*points a finger at frothy*

uncalled for!

*gags*

ewwwww.......

Original Post by bettypage4:

you're so intelligent and informed nomo

that's why I like talking with you.  thank you for the information  :)

 i guess the subtext here is that the rest of us are stupid and uninformed.

lmao frothbeast!

happened just last week at a restaurant, too

hm, looks like a pattern

could it be me???

hahaha

You like Wal-Mart, well goody for you.

What's with the hostile rant.

The business is unethical on a myriad of levels, and so many of us choose not to support its share holders with our hard earned coin.

Frothbeast....mortar and pestal's rock!

S'ok frothy.  Not a posting violation or anything....just really gross.....

*shudders*

*faints*

oh please, pg

refer to post #53

you are hardly stupid and uniformed

bagga, MY hostile rant?  Check out the initial responses to the OP

feel free to rub a grody apple on my bread to make me atone for being open and honest