Larison on Wal-Mart
Saturday September 30, 2006
Daniel Larison's thoughts on Wal-Mart's ability to bring down the price of prescription drugs by squeezing suppliers brings to mind what may be the only Gerald Ford quote worth remembering: "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have."
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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My sister, whose husband is a doctor, once laughed that our family was one step from white trash because we shopped at Wal-Mart. She cautioned me not to buy all my clothes from WM, lest my children feel deprived. What she didn't know was that I was buying all of my kids' clothes at the thrift store or the Dollar General (or using hand-me-downs). Bless her heart, I don't even think she knew she was being insensitive.>
To get back to the quote, I always thought Barry Goldwater said that first.>
Sometimes I feel like a bit of snob because I prefer to drive out of my way to *K-Mart*, of all places, rather than go to the local Wal-Mart, if I can help it. ;-) I know, that's weird. But I grew up in a place that had K-Mart but not Wal-Mart, and I'm just more used to some of their brands. But I admit it's pretty bad when you think that K-Mart is somehow a step above Wal-Mart.>
While a can understand many of the criticisms of WalMart (not providing medical insurance for instance) bashing them for making medications more affordable seems absurd. This is especially true when many of the critics want the US govenment to operate as a single buyer (as the Canadians do) and pressure the drug companies to lower their prices.
How is it good for the government to do this and bad for WalMart?>
While all of us here with our probably employer-provided health care insurance (including affordable drugs) can be critical, I think we need to think more about the people who do not have that advantage, and what the $4 drugs will mean to them.
Rod, if you think it a bad thing that Wal-Mart provides this service - and your post implies that you do - I'd be interested in hearing what your alternative plan would be to get essential drugs to people who need them at a price they can afford.
There isn't one? They should just eat cake? You'll excuse me if I'm not overly impressed.>
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