Sprawl-Mart

You may have noticed several of my entries take shots at Wal-Mart. As much as possible I stay away from the bouncing yellow ball.......I find myself in the aisles maybe once a year. And that is truly painful. And now they have on-the-spot medical attention.......or Wal-Doc, as I like to call it. What won't they sell next? How about Wal-Grave? Always low prices on cemetery plots, always. I can see vast expanses of cemeteries created below asphalt parking lots in front of Wal-marts with those concrete parking curbs turned headstones for Aunt Beth. Maybe with a yellow smiley face. "Here Lies Aunt Beth $19.15 - $20.07. Save on Purina today!"

But what untold.......and told.........destructive force it is having on our downtowns across Indiana and the rest of the country. This is the price of capitalism. And I don't believe we've seen the worst of it-you think dangerous toys from China is bad, wait until Wal-Docs take over.

In just about every case I've seen a Wal-Mart open in a small city-the downtown is sure to suffer. Mom & pop just can't compete in terms of prices and the endless aisles of stuff of every color, shape and size. And of course, the American manufacturer can't compete in terms of wages, with China. And we're consuming huge chunks of farmland we need for ethanol (facetious) for the big box complexes that often bring restaurants and everything else-that used to be downtown. Wake up America, you're killing yourself.

Instead, we find it almost romantic......this idea of Wal-Mart. The big box has found its way into at least three country songs. Some lament the dying of downtown, innocence and all that is good about the mom and pops. And dare I say this, but, we country music lovers are probably the most seduced by Wal-Mart! All part of the joy in being a Hoosier.