Andy Young on capitalism

This story suggests that Andy Young wasn't doing much good on his job as head of Working Families for Wal-Mart -- a group that wants to raise Wal-Mart's public image:

Young was asked whether he was concerned Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close. "Well, I think they should; they ran the `mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood . . . But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."

I don't believe civil rights hero Young is a bigot. But unfortunately the bigoted nature of his remarks will draw attention from the real prejudice here -- against capitalism. It's really all about people who want to make a profit, and those who insist that this is a zero sum game that has to be ripping off the customers.

The result of this attitude is anti-Wal-Mart laws like the one coming up in Chicago that hurt the very people Young fought to defend. Even when hired to defend Wal-Mart, Young couldn't resist bashing it, and others who tried to make a buck.