Wal-Mart's CEO Starts Food Fight With Pie on his Face.

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott says British authorities should investigate Tesco, since its share of the food market has increased to a record 30.5% over the past three months.

Who knows if Orwell's countrymen will bag their behemoth grocer, but what about the U.S., where Wal-Mart is close to controlling the same share -- 24% of the American grocery market, more than double its next closest competitor and more than the next three competitors combined?

"The question for Wal-Mart should be when will Wal-Mart demand an investigation of itself?" says Paul Blank, campaign director for Wake Up WalMart.

There's no reason to believe the Department of Justice or FTC will take on the retail conglomerate despite the many reasons for doing so -- including its recent announcement that it would enter the banking sector (attention shoppers, now you can conveniently use your Wal-Mart credit card to continue shopping when you can no longer afford to do so...).

Consider these glaring facts about Wal-Mart's market share here in the United States (from WakeUpWalMart):

1) Wal-Mart accounts for 60% of the sales for the $379 billion
market called Discount Department and General Merchandise stores.

2) Wal-Mart's general merchandise dominance means it has sales nearly 5 times more than their next closest competitor and double the sales of their next 3 closest competitors (Costco, Target and Kmart) combined.

3) Wal-Mart sells 30% of household staples bought in the United States, including items such as toothpaste, shampoo, and paper towels, according to Business Week.

4) A report prepared by Retail Forward in 2003 forecasted that Wal-Mart's domestic supermarket-type sales could go from an estimated $82 billion to $162 billion by 2007. In the process, Wal-Mart will consume almost a third of the expected growth in US spending on grocery and drug products during 2003-2007. Growth of this magnitude would give Wal-Mart control of 35% of food store industry sales and 25% of the drug store industry and put many entrenched players in jeopardy.

As writers Gar Alperovitz and William Greider have suggested in their latest books, the quiet revolt against Wal-Mart and the corporatization of the economy has been raging at the local community level, with support from groups like The New Rules Project, Sprawlbusters, and numerous other groups providing support for communities on the front lines.

To learn more about Wal-Mart, check out WalMartWatch and Reclaim Democracy, as well as these other links.