"I had to shut down cause Walmart took my business"

I wanted to know what you think about this, it's certainly an interesting question.
Although shopping at Walmart does on average save consumers money, is it really good for us?

I had the pleasure of speaking to the former owner of a general store the other day.  Being close to retirement he had a lot of great things to say, and great experiences to share.  We got talking about his shop, and how the Walmart in his town (he was from the southern part of Ontario somewhere) had caused all his business to stop.  This of course had to be taken with a grain of salt, as there is any number of reasons why a business may fail; low-demand, recession, poor entrepreneurial skills, etc.  But then I got to thinking, and that didn't seem to make a lot of sense.  According to the gentleman, he had successfully run the store for over 25 years, and had always updated his products.  Gradually since the Walmart had moved in he had started to slow down, which he attributes to Walmart usually having cheaper costs than he did.  He claimed that lowering his costs to that of Walmart would have ensured certain failure for his business, as he couldn't afford lower profits like a large company such as Walmart could.

That's capitalism for you, right?

But is it really a good thing?  As this happens to more and more people, what really do we see?  Owners of stores put out of business and in many cases losing a fortune, so we can save a couple pennies?  In this economy saving is always a good thing, but the interesting point is that it eventually comes to a point where it costs more than we save.  Maybe not from an economical standpoint, but certainly politically.  In the U.S. corporations can now fund election campaigns, for example.  While the point is arguable, this shows that the corporation has significant influence.
Canada is also not far off from this, with various corporate money saving techniques.  With big companies making so much money do we really want them to have all the influence?
In 2009, Walmart alone made over $404 billion.  While certainly one of the larger companies, many large powerhouse corporations are starting to earn increased revenue, especially with the introductions of financial services, and the closing of smaller, local businesses. 

Now personally, I want Walmart and friends as far away from my politics as possible, but it stands to reason that they want the exact opposite.  In many cases, extreme corruption is often present when profit is around, and these companies are no different.  I sure don't want large companies being treated better than I am (which, thanks to legal loop-holing and our awful legal system as a whole, they are).  Nor do I want to pay more taxes, so these folks can pay less; they already make billions in revenue!

This might be a bit Orwellian, but if you open your eyes, you'll notice that 1984 gets closer and closer every year in one way or another; in fact if you're a conspiracy theorist, you think we're pretty much already there.  And who knows?  Maybe we are.  Fact is, these big businesses are eating our little ones, and frankly they couldn't care less about your needs no matter what the commercials say.  It's all about profit, power, and control.  So next time you decide to spend a little cash, think about how you would feel if some large, greedy business took your job, and please, spend it on your local shops.  The prices are usually similar enough, and you might even get some half decent customer service.

Thanks for reading!