What happened when Walmart left
Since nobody&#x27;s touching this (comment-wise) w&#x2F; a ten-foot-pole, I&#x27;ll put in my 2c just to say that this article illustrates well how large corporations squeeze the wealth out of small, already poor communities, leaving them worse for wear.<p>It was a big deal in my town when the city allowed the local Walmart to start selling grocery items. The concern was that the long-running local grocers wouldn&#x27;t be able to compete.<p>I&#x27;m under the impression that the majority of commenters on HN are pro-Capitalist, and while these Capitalism-critical articles occasionally make it to the second or third pages of HN, nobody really wants to talk about the deletrious effects that Capitalism wreaks on the working poor. It&#x27;s not just Walmart, the article also mentions McDonald&#x27;s, as a provider of &quot;cheap&quot;, &quot;bad food&quot;, which is making people sick.<p>I know that a lot of people in tech are really, <i>actually</i> trying to make the world a better place; but... if we can&#x27;t start discussing and unpacking some of our base assumptions about how the world <i>actually</i> works, we&#x27;re just adding more fuel to the fire, feeding the beast, enriching the rich while impoverishing the poor.<p>I&#x27;m not starting a war... nor do I think that the other &quot;ism&quot;, Socialism, however it might have been, or be, implemented, is the &quot;one true economic theory&quot; that will save the world from poverty. The world is not Black and White, no matter how many &quot;Cops&quot; episodes might portray otherwise.<p>I do think that we should question the status quo, and meaningfully consider, and attempt, alternatives to it.<p>My personal experience with pro-Capitalist folk is that they tend to view the world as a zero-sum-game, whereas I see it as a non-zero-sum-game. If there are any pro-Capitalists here who also see the world as a non-zero-sum-game, I would love to hear about your perspective. Hell, I&#x27;d love to hear your zero-sum-game perspectives as well, although I don&#x27;t think they&#x27;ll change my mind. But who knows?<p>People already in power have no incentive to change the rules of the game (as far as I can see). But people just now gaining power (e.g., people in tech), do have an opportunity to change some of those rules, and could very well &quot;undo&quot; some of the damage that has been done by the incumbents.<p>Again, just my 2c.