You're off-base in almost every regard. >It's inarguable that consumers got lower prices, substantially lower prices. That's increased their standard of living

You're off-base in almost every regard. >It's inarguable that consumers got lower prices, substantially lower prices. That's increased their standard of living. It's a multifaceted issue. Yes, Walmart sells cheap stuff, but that's not the company's only impact on the standard of living. The middle class has been steadily shrinking since the 70s, consistent with the rise of Walmart http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/middle-class-jobs-income-_n_3386157.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/middle-class-jobs-i... > You can argue that Walmart hurt the standard of living of the Americans (less than 1% of US employees) who actually work for it. The key issue is not Walmart's employees, but rather the employees of the companies they source from. > Walmart big advantage wasn't labor costs, it was scale and inventory management from day one. Once again, it's about the cost of the goods they sell that has a bigger economic impact than their direct labor cost. What goes into the cost of the goods they sell? Labor costs of their suppliers. What did they do after their advantage of scale and great inventory management management eroded? They started sourcing products from markets that were fueled by cheap labor i.e. not the USA. Sam Walton has been rolling in his grave for years: The first true Wal-Mart opened on July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas.[18] Called the Wal-Mart Discount City store, it was located at 719 West Walnut Street. He launched a determined effort to market American-made products. Included in the effort was a willingness to find American manufacturers who could supply merchandise for the entire Wal-Mart chain at a price low enough to meet the foreign competition. --> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton > I'm always struck by how good the products are and how amazing the prices are. You're probably one of very few