Monday, September 13, 2004

Wal-Mart In Ruins Capitalism hit a new low with the news that a Mexican version of Wal-Mart is to open this December in Teotihuacan, an important archeological site outside Mexico City. This is akin to Starbucks setting up shop inside the Alamo. Now longtime readers of this site will know that I'm usually as big a fan of Wal-Mart as anyone.  It's the redneck in me that's drawn to "Always Low Prices" like a moth to a bug-zapper.  But before someone shouts "hypocrite," let it be known that I don't support Wal-Mart in this instance. Sure, if a town out in the dusty middle of West Texas wants a Wal-Mart Super Center, then so be it, even if it dries up downtown quicker than spit on a hot skillet.  But if they're going to plant one right dab in the middle of an ancient city still coughing up its buried treasures, against the will of the people who live there, then what's next?  If there isn't a line drawn here, where will it be drawn? And don't you just love this part of the article? Amid rising controversy, Mexico's government this month said a small pre-Hispanic altar was found buried at the construction site. Plans call for preserving the small structure under plexiglass in what will be the store's parking lot. Gee, how nice of them.  How long do you think that plexiglass covering will last with hundreds of runaway shopping carts ramming up against it each day? In sum, building a Wal-Mart, or its Mexican equivalent, in a valuable historic area is as bad an idea as they come.  Deplorable if you ask me.  I still wouldn't mind a Wal-Mart inside the Vatican, though. Related link: Wal-Mart in the Rhineland:  a visit last year to a German Wal-Mart 9:07:58 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.