People I know who work for Walmart like working for them a lot. Whenever I go into a Walmart (I avoid them usually because of the crowds) I find the employees to be terrific, with smiles on their faces, not sullen and unhappy. As far as "buying power"goes, Walmart has steamrollered other big retailers with similar "buying power". That is not their edge. They have developed an extremely efficient distibution system that can put a product on the shelf at a lower price than a competitor, even if they start with the same cost at the manufacturer level. Yeah, life was great back in the days when Ma and Pa ran the farm, or grocery store, the one room school house, or hardware store, or shoe store. Everyone lived so much better. There was such a wide selection of goods. The Little League teams were so well financed. Everyone had a well paying job. Nobody beat up their spouse in those days either.