Spending habits, not Wal-Mart, destroying America

I was surprised to find the Linda Bower column in the Nov. 11-17 Springfield Business Journal titled "Wal-Mart: Bane on society or efficient business?" I was glad to see the diversity in opinions included in the SBJ.

I am not going to defend or attack Wal-Mart, although I have thought about getting a T-shirt that just says "I'm a Wal-Mart Basher," so I don't have to say more.

One point that I find frustrating on this topic is that many people blame Wal-Mart for current small community decay. Wal-Mart is a predatory retailer, but it is not Wal-Mart destroying rural America.

The loss of rural communities and the decay of small retailers is the fault of the consumer, people like you and me.

We vote with our dollars to determine the future of small business and agriculture in America.

When we make the choice to shop at super stores such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot, we support their economic practices. These include enslavement of less-developed cultures around the world, unsustainable agricultural practices, excess consumption of fossil resources, harm to the environment, and the loss of American jobs.

We can no longer purchase American-made clothing with American grown cotton, yet as taxpayers we bear the burden of huge subsidies for cotton production in the United States. We continue to purchase confinement poultry and dairy products known to create environmental decay.

People blame beef cattle operations for clearing the forests of the world to increase grazing areas. It is not profitable to clear forests for pasture, as forestland fertility is completely opposed to fertility requirements for permanent pasture. The timber and paper industry are the ones responsible for clearing the forests.

Americans again pay huge subsidies to agricultural land out of production and turned into grasslands, which can only be used to feed livestock during emergency drought periods. One point on forests: People do not realize that confinement poultry are sitting on fresh cut wood products.

Americans, not Wal-Mart, are destroying America (and the world) by the choices we make when we spend our hard earned incomes.

Rick Hopkins

President, American Pasturage Inc.

Marionville