By making drugs cheaper. From the Chicago Sun-Times:
Love Wal-Mart or hate it, you can't deny its shrewd business sense -- and, don't scoff, its social benefits -- in using its clout to lower the cost people have to pay for consumer goods. But muscling record companies into lowering the cost of CDs was one thing. Making some 300 generic drugs available for $4, which it announced it will do, has the potential to improve the quality of life for many uninsured and under-insured people and force the pharmacy industry to introduce more competitive prices for the drugs. (The sharp drop of shares of CVS and Walgreens tells you what a radical notion that is.)
The new policy also drives home, for those who still need it driven home, the importance that landing a Wal-Mart holds for poor communities. People there benefit not only from lower prices, but, crucially, from desperately needed job opportunities.
Can no one save us from this big box menace?
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