A weblog titled “The Neighborhood Retail Alliance“ offers what it calls the “Conservative Case Against Wal-Mart in NYC“, an economic study for the case against Wal-Mart, which being served from a small business alliance, should make the reader question the inherent bias and accuracy in which they present the issues The “study” engages in the trade-deficit fallacy when discussing how the dollars are exported and thus diverted from the local economy.
That aside, they do make one compelling point regarding the subsidization of Wal-Mart’s employment costs which happens because of existing nanny-state freebies such as healthcare, food programs, housing subsidies, etc (which absent of, the argument goes, Wal-Mart would have to raise salaries substantially to compense).
Whether you hold that against Wal-Mart is an area of discussion I expect Austrians, libertarians and mutualists to clash ideas over. If anyone is interested in preparing a rebutal, I would love to see it.
