Wal-Mart benefits the public again
see "Wal-Mart Will Offer Generics At Just $4, Roiling Drugstores" (IBD, 9/21/06)
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=5&issue=20060921
In a tremendous demonstration of market power and benefit to consumers, Wal-Mart has decided to offer some generic versions of medicines for only $4 per prescription. The market reaction in other drug companies was swift and brutal with the two largest drug store chains, Walgreens and CVS, each losing at least 7% of their market value as stock traders reacted (probably over-reacted) to the competition. Other drug store chains and generic drug makers also had significant sell-offs.
The way to look at the market impact of Wal-Mart's announcement is that the market value loss in all those companies is a reflection of how much less consumers will end up paying for medicines because of the move. It is not so much about the 291 drugs on the initial list of the $4 program, but the possibility that other more profitable drugs will eventually be targets of Wal-Mart's competitive power.
It's a subject I'll be writing more about soon, but this is another great example of Wal-Mart benefiting the consumer and particularly the middle- and lower-income consumer. Yet the Democratic Party, nominally the champion of the little guy, has made attacking Wal-Mart one of its primary campaign strategies despite the fact that a majority of Wal-Mart shoppers are probably Dems and, given that they could be shopping elsewhere, it is reasonable to presume that they love saving so much money at Wal-Mart.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rossputin on 09/25/06 at 03:02:40 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
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09/25/06 @ 01:19:35 pm
Excellent post! The anti-Wal-Mart movement is attempting to spin this every way they can. It's good to see that there are people helping to spread the truth.
09/25/06 @ 03:44:32 pm
"the Democratic Party...has made attacking Wal-Mart one of its primary campaign strategies."
Really? Where?
I don't see anything about Wal-Mart mentioned at the Democratic Party's national site, democrats.org. Nor does their search function turn up anything. I've been on the national email lists for years, and Wal-Mart isn't a topic I recall ever being mentioned.
Except for Peggy Lamm and Perlmutter trading some accusations, I haven't heard any Colorado candidate talking about Wal-Mart this cycle. Lexis/Nexis doesn't seem to turn up anything salient, either.
I know that Democracy for America, a national 527 group, has screened the movie "Wal-Mart: The High Price of Low Costs." There is probably other independent activity related to Wal-Mart by other liberal organizations, I would guess.
Why do you say that attacking Wal-Mart is one of the Democratic Party's primary campaign strategies? I don't see the evidence.
09/25/06 @ 08:43:49 pm
How's this:
"Wal-Mart a political target ahead of election" (Yahoo News)
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/17082006/6/n-usa-wal-mart-political-target-ahead-election.html
Eye on Election, Democrats Run as Wal-Mart Foe (from the NY Times, not exactly a conservative paper)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/washington/17dems.html?ex=1159329600&en=3cee254e3ff65f3b&ei=5070
Or the liberal CNN: " Greenfield: Running against Wal-Mart"
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/17/greenfield.walmart/index.html
Here's Ned Lamont joining an anti-Wal-Mart group....and Lieberman was also at least scheduled to be there...don't know if he went.
http://www.nedlamont.com/page/event/detail/rallies/whx
Hillary returned a contribution from Wal-Mart and her spokeswoman basically said Hillary disagreed with company practices even though she served on the Board for years:
http://blog.wakeupwalmart.com/ufcw/2006/02/hillary_clinton.html
Teresa Heinz Kerry slams WalMart even though she owns a ton of stock:
http://drudgereport.com/mattjk9.htm
As far as your mention of the Democrats.org site, here are a couple links:
http://www.democrats.com/node/694 (This one is kinda old)
http://www.democrats.org/page/event/detail/nationalorganizingkickoff/wr4f (A Dem organization hosting a "screening of Walmart" called "The High Cost of Low Price".
In any case, if I were the Dems I wouldn't put it on their official site because it's a losing strategy.
And what about Chicago's "Big Box minimum wage law"? What do you think that was?
So, "Thinker", now what do you think?
09/26/06 @ 02:16:12 am
I think you have your ducks in a row Ross.
I've always been a fan of Wal-Mart. Ross is there a list of which drugs will be discounted to the $ 4.00 price?
09/26/06 @ 08:24:57 am
Lucy-
I have the list posted on my blog. You can also find one on Wal-Mart Facts.
09/26/06 @ 08:37:42 am
http://i.walmart.com/i/if/hmp/fusion/Floridagenericdruglist.pdf
Note, the program is only in Tampa for the moment...