After watching the important video above, I encourage you to find out more about Wal-Mart's predatory business practices in Robert Greenwald's excellent documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. The film exposes the many social and financial problems created every time a Wal-Mart store opens in your area.

While many consider Wal-Mart a bargain, Penn State University researchers estimate some 20,000 American families have dropped below the poverty level due to the astounding growth of Wal-Mart in the 1990's. What's more, in counties where Wal-Mart stores are located, more than 15 percent of families depend on food stamps, compared to the national norm of 8 percent.

Wal-Mart also promotes a substandard and distorted image of organic foods. Since many of their supposedly organic food products are imported from China to make them cheaper, the standards under which they are being grown are dubious at best and non-existent at worst. Wal-Mart also has a history of deceptively labeling conventionally produced products as organic.

Sometimes they obey the letter but not the spirit of the law, as in the case of selling milk produced by factory-farmed herds that are technically "organic" because the cows are occasionally fed grass.

But sometimes Wal-Mart simply outright violates the law.

Consumer fraud investigators in Wisconsin found, after a three-month investigation into Wal-Mart's practices, that they had labeled many conventional food products as organic. The USDA has also identified similar incidents of fraudulent labeling in five states, including Minnesota and Texas.

The true costs of Wal-Mart simply aren't worth the apparent savings.