Wal-Mart's PR Makeover

Wal-Mart has a new slogan: "Save Money. Live Better." Who knows if it will resonate with the larger population, but I like it. It really gets at the positive aspects of Wal-mart (specifically) and international trade (generally). Namely, that our standards of living improve as we specialize in our comparative advantages and trade with each other. That's not to say to say that there aren't trade-offs, but in the aggregate, standards of living do improve. The "low prices" mantra means less in an age of low inflation and broad big-box market dominance. But people sometimes need to be reminded of the contributions Wal-mart and the other massive retailers make to society; the fact remains that the net effects of Wal-mart are positive, and probably massively so.