The Real Public Service

Dr. Sowell errs only when he unconsciously veers into some areas of urban mythology. (e.g., Edison's vs. Westinghouse's role in electricity, as a previous post noted.)

Similarly, Sam Walton was just a me-too discounter. His luck was building his stores in C and D counties while the big discounters focused on big metro areas.

Once momentum was achieved, his successors now need only to keep the behemoth afloat — unfortunately, by systematically driving vendors to source from China.

Writers who wax rhapsodic about Wal-Mart need to study their history. Sears was also a juggernaut a century ago. Now it's owned by K-Mart.