Voice of the People

I wholeheartedly agree with the Oct. 9 letter by John and Brenda Swibes.

Wal-Mart does indeed set artificially low prices to drive out competitors.

Mall-Wart, oops, Wal-Mart, is so powerful that it mandates the price at which it will buy goods from manufacturers.

Bayer Corporation (formerly of Elkhart) sold Alka-Seltzer, One-A-Day vitamins and Bayer Aspirin to Wal-Mart at a loss while I was employed there in the 1990’s. Of course, these losses had to be made up for by small independent retailers, struggling themselves to survive. As for new jobs, “Nickeled and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich demonstrates how Wal-Mart exploits its employees, who are so poorly compensated they cannot live independently.

Why the Chesterton area would even consider letting Wal-Mart in is beyond me. The Swipes said it succinctly: “(Are we) so desperate to build something, anything, that we are willing to settle for what scraps are shoved under the door?”

Carol Alberti

Posted 10/12/2006