Dear Mr. Reich

I read you op-ed piece in the New York Times with great interest. As an economist, I have often struggleed with the anti-corporation advocates (as well as the anti-capitalists). However, I feel your editorial does a grave injustice to the ideals which Democrats believe in. Your piece demonstrated a fundamental disregard for the (as you rightly call it) Faustian bargain all people engage in on a daily basis. However, I believe that Faustian bargain is rooted in a degree of exploitation on tfhe behalf of companies like Wal-Mart. In the mid-20th century, labor unions were a large(r) part of the economy. During the days in which General Motors was the largest employer in the U.S., labor unions flourished alongside significant economic growth and were indeed among the core contributors to the growing prosperity. Under a Wal-Mart economy, so much is demanded of the government by corporations like (and led by) Wal-Mart. To have a corporation who is the largest private employer in the U.S. economy engage in such anti-labor practices is unwise for the workers of the U.S. and the boon they recieve is more than offset by the banes of healthcare costs and other afflictions associated with low-wage jobs. They also are hit, as you must know, by the indirect cost of a Wal-Mart economy in the extra tax burden they assume by supporting Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart causes (and also encourages) more people (their employees) to ask for government support in order to survive. In the end, Wal-Mart places a tax upon the entire American population for the "right" to have super-low prices. Regardless of the costs of their low-wage policies overseas, a higher price is passed onto the American consumer than what appears next to their yellow smiley face at their stores.