New York Times writes favorable story about Wal-Mart

Yes, it's true. The New York Times wrote an article about Wal-Mart that doesn't demonize the retail giant.

For decades, the "Old Gray Lady" has placed itself on the left side of the political sphere, the last time it endorsed a Republican for president was in 1956.

Lately, the Times has been leaning far-left, which makes this Michael Barbaro article from Monday such a shocker. Wal-Mart-hatred has unfortunately become a standard creed for the liberals. But not Target-hate. Since Wal-Mart is more successful than any other retailer, including Target, part of the problem Wal-Mart faces is its own success.

Remember the Clinton administration's fight against Microsoft? Bill Gates' company became a success not be raking in federal grants, but by offering a product and service people wanted. In a much different industry and in a different way, Wal-Mart has done the same thing.

And to that segment of the population who believes the federal government must be involved in everything, such successes lead them to one conclusion, albeit an incorrect one: They're not playing by the rules and should be punished.

In Monday's New York Times article, Barbaro writes about several small businesses that buy from Wal-Mart's warehouse seller, Sam's Club.

Cheryl Cook owns Fresno, California's Sparky Electronics. Because she was a Sam's Club member, for $100 (others were asking for $1,000), Cook was able to get this web site up and running. Cook also purchases electronic parts for her retail customers from Sam's Club inexpensively.

Then there is Chairity Meagley of Nacogdoches, Texas, who buys bulk products from Sam's Club for her small convenience store and eatery. Purchasing potato chips in massive quantities for her K.C.'s Country Store, allows her to cut overhead costs.

Pretty darn impressive, I hope news like this gets spread around.

On the flipside, in today's Chicago-Sun-Times, it was disclosed that Edward Burke, a powerful Chicago alderman, apparently was pressured by unions to dump some Wal-Mart stock he owned.

However, Burke's judgement may not be the best.

In March there was a primary election in Illinois, and in Cook County, where almost half the state's population lives, new voting machines were used. By all accounts, the tallying was a mess. But last month, Burke brought Hugo Chavez into the mix:

We’ve stumbled across what we think could be an international conspiracy to subvert the electoral process in the United States of America.

The parent company of the firm that sold the machines to Cook County is owned by a Venezuelan firm.

Burke went on to imtimate that Venezuealan leader Hugo Chavez could have been the culprit of the county's electoral troubles.

But Burke did sell his Wal-Mart stock.

Thanks to Marsall Manson for alerting me to the New York Times article.

Technorati tags: Wal-Mart WalMart Hugo Chavez chavez New York Times Target Chicago Ed Burke