IRVINE, CA--Cities around the country are preventing Wal-Mart from opening new stores on the grounds that these stores would "threaten" other businesses and replace higher paying jobs with lower paying ones. In reality, such cities are using government coercion to prevent free competition, argues Dr. Edwin A. Locke of the Ayn Rand Institute.

"No business has the right to be protected from competition," says Dr. Locke. "Innovative businesses of all types replace competitors with better value for the money. This is the way capitalism works--automobiles replaced the horse and buggy, sound movies replaced the silents and computers replaced the typewriter. The business that offers the customer the best value for the money wins.

"Nor does any city have the right to dictate local wages, directly or indirectly. Wal-Mart's low prices, which are especially beneficial to lower-income individuals, are made possible in part by paying lower wages than those paid by unionized stores. But no business can force an employee to work for a given wage without the employee's consent. Wages, like other prices, are properly set by the free market.

"Wal-Mart should not be feared but admired--as an American ideal--a rags to riches story in which a single five-and-dime store in a small Arkansas town grew into the largest corporation, in term of sales, in America.

"Trying to stop Wal-Mart is not only morally wrong, it is un-American."

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Dr. Edwin A. Locke is Dean's Professor Emeritus of Leadership and Motivation at the University of Maryland at College Park and is a senior writer Ayn Rand Institute. Dr. Locke is available for interviews.

Contact Larry Benson at larryb@aynrand.org or (800) 365-6552 ext. 213