Thank you, HCN and Stacy Mitchell, for shedding, at the least, a minute amount of light on a most deserving subject — one that most mainstream media sources avoid out of fear for their lives. Wal-Mart and other similar mega-corporations and multinationals have practiced this perversion of "free market" economics for years — and largely avoided the national spotlight, at least enough to avoid or sidestep direct retribution (HCN, 2/2/04: Does Wal-mart really need our tax dollars?). I hope that their day of reckoning is near, that something will stop our slide into uniform monotony.

America, while the latest, and possibly greatest, experiment in constantly evolving social and political systems, has miserably failed to be a truly capitalist society. Instead, the system is driven by powerful entities’ self-preservation and backed by government intervention and influence at all levels.

The answer to the question of whether or not Wal-Mart needs (or deserves, for that matter) our tax dollars is a clear and responding "NO."

Matt Ault
Tucson, Arizona