Walmart is that dirty little secret in many people's life. Many of us would rather be caught dead then caught in the store by our friends. After all, Walmart exploits their workers, forces prices down through their massive purchasing from factories, pollutes the environment at a massive scale, and engages in all kinds of uncompetitive behavior. Walmart is big and does wrong at a massive scale.

Yet their prices are low, real low. They have things that you and I need or at least want for our lives at prices we can afford and them some. It makes our limited buck go farther. Maybe if your rich and you can afford to pay more, then maybe you should. Yet, for working Americans why should we have to work harder when we can get something at a price that stretches our buck just a little farther?

Maybe we don't need all those things we get from Walmart. Much of what we buy from Walmart gets chucked into the burn barrel or hauled to the dump in a few days or eaten up and the wrapper tossed in the trash. We need food for sure, but do we really need the latest gimmick that ultimately will become trash and pollute our environment? That does mean giving up the latest conveniences of modern life.

Yet all of us who shop at Price Chopper, Agway, Tractor Supply, Pep Boys, Home Depot, or other chain store are not much better. Most of those stores don't have unions and engage in really bad things when aggregated together. Walmart might just be like all of the other chains but it's bigger and has more power to do evil. It's not uniquely bad, it just is bigger and therefore more troublesome.

So before you start criticizing the low, low prices of Walmart remember those of us who shop there. Some need what Walmart gives to us. Walmart should not get away with criminal wrongdoing, and we must vigorously enforce laws against it and the officials working at the mega-chain, but we also should not criticize those of us who go shopping there to just get something a little better for our lives.