It's always interesting to see how Wal-Mart will respond to a public policy that affects it in a significant way. Wal-Mart, reacting to yesterday's decision that Chicago "big box" merchants will be required to pay $10 per hour in base pay and $3 per hour in benefits to workers by 2010, had this to say:

"This vote sadly puts politics ahead of Chicago's working men and women. It sends a message that Chicago is closed for business, closed for development, and closed for job creation."

Yes -- there was much more as well. Wal-Mart is basically stating here that it was ready and willing to provide more jobs for hard-working Americans, at a competitive wage in-line with other retailers, but that Chicago basically said "no thanks -- not today" to the notion.

What do you think? As a WMT investor, do you think the Chicago big-box ordinance will spiral into other communities with similar ordinances? I don't think it will, as some workers will almost take a job -- any job -- with pay over the possibility that the "job" may not be there if the retail employer does not see a future where it can make enough money to make certain locations viable. In other words, potential will win over abandonment everyday if the working class make the decision, and not politicians with possible other agendas.