Wal-Mart is so powerful that it moves the economies of entire countries, bringing profit and pain. The prices can't be beat, but the wages can. Wal-Mart, once a believer in buying American, extracts ever lower prices from 10,000 suppliers worldwide. Workers struggle to keep pace. Wal-Mart plans to open 40 of its nonunion Supercenters in California. Labor is fighting the expected onslaught, but the big retailer rarely concedes defeat. As Wal-Mart sets the stage for a wholesale invasion of California, the Los Angeles Times has published this three-part series. I can see this becoming a campaign issue. The Wal-Mart Effect | 
