It’s lowering their standard of living by making them wage slaves.

Since you like Wal-Mart so much, why don’t you get a job there? That way, when you are checking people out of checkout lines for $7 an hour with no benefits or hope for promotion, you can think about how you are “maximizing shareholder value.”

You must have missed this story.

And if it is, its because of the lower prices that benefits the shoppers. As you said the government’s job is not to put up protectionist boundaries for companies but protect the consumer, right?.

If local businesses cannot compete with walmart, they should move into some other business. Thats capitalism.

When the government decides who can run what and charge how much and pay how much, thats socialism.

If people can’t afford to live in san diego, they can move to many many other parts of the country, which they are doing. which is my whole point. by not letting walmart build a superstore, the local government is making poor/middle-class people pay more for stuff and thus lowering their standard of living.

I bet you don’t shop at walmart.

How did you conclude that people who work at Walmart seem very happy with their jobs? I would be interested in the methods you used to make that conclusion. Would you like to work at Wal-Mart? Why don’t you? Perhaps because you have other opportunities?

Also, are you familiar with the tactics that Wal-Mart uses to prevent employees from protesting their pay and other things? If Wal-Mart even suspects an employee of planning a protest, that employee is considered to be taking the beginning stages of starting a union, and that employee is immediately fired. Workers do not have free speech rights to protest their employers. Sure they can quit, but with Walmart putting other companies out of business, often times there is no where else for them to work.

The employees cannot stand up for themselves, so the government does, which is what the government is supposed to do. The San Diego board is responsible to members of its communites, not to the bottom line at Wal-Mart. Remember, the government is by the people and for the people- not by Wal-Mart and for Wal-Mart.