Manic Monday

The upcoming annual meeting of Wal-Mart store managers and suppliers slated for Kansas City on Monday reminds me that local hippies and marginally employed people will set upon this town to protest the corporate behemoth and try to harm the only place on the planet where I can purchase my weight in corn chips for less than five dollars.

Of course, these folks might have a point about low wages, poor overtime compensation, unfair treatment of women, third world exploitation and the impact on the economies of small towns across the country but then again none of them are offering to sell me ice cream by the half ton at a discount price or make sure that $7.99 will buy me all of the Q-tips I'll ever need for the rest of my life.

Of course the protests will get marginal coverage by the local media and to make watching it more fun you should look for:

The sexy, skinny broad yelling obscenities and wearing a brightly colored, authentic cap from Guatemala.

A portly guy with a white beard and glasses that make him look like Trotsky after a pizza binge. He'll be holding a clever sign so you won't notice the shoes he purchased from another discount retailer that also buys 3rd world goods made by toddlers.

An Older white broad with gray hair way too long for her age. She'll look like she's been through hell and she probably has . . . She's protesting but she's surprisingly upbeat because she enjoys the company.

A person that is way to angry, yelling with a raised fist. This man or woman hates Wal-Mart almost as much as they hate their father.

And while all of this might raise your emotions if you actually took it seriously, the important thing to realize - what both Wal-mart execs and protesters don't know - is that there is an finite limit to every company's market share. Put simply, trees don't grow to the stratosphere and natural market forces stand a better chance of stopping Walmart than boorish documentaries or the indignant rage or folks who don't have many real problems.