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Non-Tech : Costco, slow but sure? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (948)	9/22/1999 4:47:00 PM
From: opalapril	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1147

As a COST long but one who detests what Walmart does to so many communities, I sympathize with the anguish behind the California legislation. Category-killers are putting mom and pop stores out of business. For the most part that is not good because it reduces consumer choice and sometimes concentrates too much market, pricing and employment power in the hands of a single entity, especially in small towns and tight neighborhoods. However, the California legislation is the wrong approach. Instead of a prohibition based on the surrogate of the floor size mix of goods, the legislature should have directly addressed the evil it seeks to prevent, the potential abuse that comes with size: monopoly pricing, illegal tying arrangements, and other predatory practices. The Governor should veto the current bill as wrong-headed and too oblique. He should then invite the legislature to reinforce the statutes that outlaw monopoly abuses to keep the playing field level. They won't, of course. That would be too sensible.