Wal-mart is not just the biggest company in America built by someone who, when he died, was the richest man in the country. It is also a focus for much of America's unease with a society in which the consumer is such a powerful king. Wal-Mart panders to no one but its customers, mostly small-town Americans enticed by its promise to provide everyday low prices, always. Founded by Sam Walton ("Mr Sam"), a folksy shopkeeper from the Ozark mountains who was once described by an old friend as "cold as a Sunday night supper", the company grew vast on the narrowest of profit margins. All its efforts were focused on cutting costs; it had to fulfil its promise to the consumer.
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