A couple of weeks ago Frontline did a special on Walmart. If you didn't see it, you can watch the entire program online at Frontline's web site. And the title was: "Is Walmart good for America?" If I had produced the show, I would have put a giant "Not in this lifetime" on the screen. End of show. Then I would rerun "Harvest of Fear", a show about a jellyfish's gene being placed in a potatoe plant.

Frontline should do another indepth show on Walmart called, "Is Walmart good for the environment?" First, they'd show an interview with Lee Scott, Walmart's CEO, descibing how Walmart is using recycled paper bags and low flush toilets in their stores. Then you'd see a boatload of enviromentalist waiting in line to talk.

How can paying $.99 for a toy that breaks after about 5 uses be good for the environment. Not only does it end up in some landfill (far from your house or mine), it typically travels all the way from China on planes, trains and automobiles just to get to some stupid Walmart store. And, don't forget, the toy was most likely put together by a Chinese teenager who should be in school or playing sports or dreaming of a future.

I wonder how many of the 100 million Walmart shoppers each week (unbelieveable, isn't it?) would continue to shop there if the price tags had the actual cost of the item. For example, let's say you picked up a cheapo shirt and looked at the price tag. Here's what it might say:

Price: $3.99 To make this shirt, we paid some kid with no shoes in Bangledesh working under horrid conditions 25 cents per hour. We shipped it across the world using the equivalent of 20 gallons of gas and CO2 where a Walmart employee in the stock room who has no health insurance and typically works a 60 hour week put it on the shelf.

In my family, we no longer shop at Walmart. We've bought about 10 products from Walmart in the last couple of years and almost all of them are tucked away in a closet or taking up valuable space in some landfill.