Walmart in Mexico

Carpe Diem has an excellent post on Wal-Mart. He argues that they are the single most powerful force in the world for raising people out of poverty.

"In Mexico, Wal-Mart has been a counterweight to the powers that control commerce. One of the most closed economies in the world until the late 1980s, Mexico was dominated for decades by a handful of big grocers and retailers. All were members of a national retailing association called ANTAD, and cutthroat competition was taboo."
Translation: Wal-Mart broke Mexico's former grocery and retail cartels, and replaced high prices, limited selection and restricted competition with competitive low prices and lots of choice.

There is a lot of great stuff in the piece, and I recommend you read the whole thing.