Question of the day

So a friend asked me why I don't mention Walmart (herein referred to as the store that must not be named or TSTMNBN, lol) at all on my site. That is a great question. This is a frugal-ish type of blog. Well recently I watched a movie called The High Cost of Low Prices (Thanks to netflix streaming). There was some pretty disturbing facts about Walmart, their payscales and benefits that really turned me off. But what really got me were the sweatshops and the people making what is "spare change" to us, a day in wages. It got me thinking how does TSTMNBN sell us things so cheap. If you think about the costs for making a t shirt, for example, you have to pay the person making it (who is probably underpaid), a gazillion bosses (who are probably overpaid), the costs of running the factory (rent, lights, water, etc), shipping it from where it was made, the cost of running TSTMNBN (employees, rent, marketing, lights, etc) suddenly you start to realize the value of that shirt, and it is a lot more then the $4 we are being charged. Of course they use sweatshops, we demand rock bottom prices. While none of us would work for so little in such squalid conditions, here in America, many other countries are just grateful to work for what they can.

It is a tough thing to balance out in my mind. I have been that underpaid worker (not sweatshop underpaid, but America underpaid), and I have been that mom looking to get the best deal. I want to clothe my constantly growing son, but I don't want to have to move to a cardboard box to do it. So my Morals has led me to not shop at TSTMNBN. There are so many deals to be found from other places (sears rebate, etc) and in the end I am not spending anymore then I would had I shopped at TSTMNBN.

I know I am crazy right, lol. How do y'all balance your bargain hunting with real world issues?