Now before this thread gets derailed completely and get's shut down by the moderators.
Don't blame Wal-Mart for the demise of the Mom & Pop stores. History has shown that whenever there is a more efficient way of doing something that someone befefits while someone else fails.
Of course I do miss all of those Mom & Pop keyboard makers. When is the last time you saw a computer keyboard that was made in the USA? Most of you have NEVER seen one. I have never personally seen a PC KB made in America. My very first PC back in 1988 had a keyboard made in Japan.
And what happened to all of those little neighborhood shops producing VCRs? Guess what. There never made VHS machines in America.
Look at all of the American name brands that are produced overseas. Who do you blame for that? Think about WHY an AMERICAN company changed THEIR products from domestic made to foreign made.
Wal-Mart is, by far, the single largest private employer in the USA.
EVERY store sells something made outside the US.
Winchester has ammo made in other countries.
Where do you think Aguila, PMC, Sellier & Bellot, Magtech and others are made?
How many of us own a Walther, Sig, HK, Taurus, Beretta, Whetherby, Browning, Norinca, Charles Daly or any of the other miriads of weapons made elsewhere? Anyone here own a AK or SKS? How about a Mauser? A Makarov or Sistema or a CZ pistol? Where do you think those were made? Cleveland?
Some of you with your fancy custom made 1911 pattern pistols might be suprised to learn where many of them were forged or cast. Just because it has an American name on it doesn't mean it was made in America.
A neighbor of mine has a Ford Excuse, ooops, I mean, Escape and a Mazda 626. Same engine in both.
Gun shops are one of the few "industries" that are actually thriving in spite of Wal-Mart and other big chains. They are thriving because they can offer something Wal-Mart can't and that is individualized service.
Nobody shops at Wal-Mart because they are treated so well. They shop there because it CHEAPER and everything is under one roof.
My local Wal-Marts do not sell tires cheaper than Firestone or Les Schwabb.
But you can't buy groceries or CDs, a new VCR-DVD player, the latest copy of Shotgun news or (shock, gasp) ammunition while you're waiting to be rotated and balanced at Firestone.
Sure when I am already at Wal-Mart I often will pick up one box of whitebox .45. But I don't make a special trip there to do it. I can buy ammo just as cheap at my local shops. I only buy a box now and again at Wal-Mart because I want them to continue to sell guns and ammunition.
Hells Bells I'd buy it for $2.00 a box more at Safeway or Albertsons (Kroger & Winn-Dixie to y'all back east and in the south) if I could.
Let's face it friends, that Global Economy the talking heads have been spewing about, it's already here and has been for years. And there's no way it's gonna change.
And don't bring up that "hiring illegal aliens" hogwash. If they weren't allowed to stay here no one could hire them. So that's another Government problem not a Wal-mart problem. But the liberals know that if you have a drivers license you can get reqister to vote. And if you have a voter reqistration card you appear to be a citizen. And if you are an illegal alien and you vote you are more likely to vote for the liberal idiot that allowed you to have that drivers license.
