Independent New Group Rises In Support of Wal-Mart and Free Enterprise


ATLANTA, Nov. 15, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Noting that "Wal-Mart's low prices have been a great boon to the American people," an independent new advocacy group, Americans For Free Enterprise, kicked off a grassroots consumer effort on Tuesday in support of America's leading retailer at www.americansforwalmart.org .

Americans For Free Enterprise, Inc., a nonprofit Georgia corporation, launched the new informational campaign and website to defend the nation's largest private employer against a steady barrage of largely baseless attacks by special interests. Americans For Free Enterprise and americansforwalmart.org are not affiliated with or funded by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

"Wal-Mart's low prices have been a great boon to the American people. By keeping markups and prices low, Wal-Mart has boosted our purchasing power, reduced our cost of living and increased the standard of living for millions of Americans," said americansforwalmart.org Executive Director Luke Boggs.

An independent academic study released earlier this month by Jerry Hausman of MIT and Ephraim Leibtag of the USDA's Economic Research Service found that the downward pressure on retail pricing exerted by Wal-Mart over the past 20 years saved U.S. consumers $263 billion in 2004 alone. That's an annual savings of $2,329 for every household in America.

"With U.S. consumers saving $263 billion and Wal-Mart ringing up domestic sales of $229 billion, the American people last year saved more money thanks to Wal-Mart than they spent at the company's stores," Boggs said.

Dedicated to defending America's economic freedom and prosperity, Americans for Free Enterprise was founded in August 2005. "Like most Americans, we know that free market competition is essential to our nation's economic success, and we understand that many of the attacks on Wal-Mart are attacks on our free enterprise system," Boggs said.

The website of americansforwalmart.org features responses to more than a dozen of the most common Wal-Mart-related issues, including competition, community impact, imports from China and the grocery industry. In the coming weeks, the site will add reader-submitted stories and articles by free market experts.

"Ultimately, the current controversy over Wal-Mart is about freedom -- the freedom of Americans to shop where they want to shop and the freedom of Americans in retail to serve their customers in the way those customers want to be served," Boggs said.

The grassroots consumer effort americansforwalmart.org is the founding campaign of Americans For Free Enterprise, Inc., a nonprofit Georgia corporation not affiliated with or funded by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The executive director of americansforwalmart.org is Luke Boggs, an Atlanta-based writer who has written for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other publications. For more information, go to www.americansforwalmart.org.



            

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