High oil prices have reduced the profits of Wal-Mart indirectly by the low end of the market customer not being able to afford to burn a few litres of petrol to go to the Wal-Mart stores... Thus Wal-Mart now is targeting its advertising to more affluent Americans to whom the price of petrol is just a bit less pocket money...

‘There can be few chief executives in corporate America more uncomfortable at the moment than Lee Scott of Wal-Mart. Not that he should necessarily have our sympathy: his company, known unaffectionately as the Beast of Bentonville, after its corporate home, is the biggest single private employer in the United States. Its network of more than 3,500 discount retail stores has been lambasted repeatedly in recent years for its rock-bottom wages, which oblige thousands of its lower-end employees to resort to government subsistence, including food stamps, to make ends meet.’ 

 

Wal-Mart: Is This The Worst Company In The World?

From our ABC

British MP falls foul of wiki-d pranksters

A British Government Minister may have thought he was keeping up with [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1731396.htm|modern trends] when he put a draft policy on the Internet on Friday, but he was soon left red-faced when hundreds of pranksters defaced it.
Weblogging, techno-savvy Environment Secretary David Miliband, tipped as a bright young spark in Prime Minister Tony Blair's administration, had put a draft "environment contract" on his department's website, setting out social responsibilities for people, government and businesses.
But embarrassed administrators were forced to haul it down after more than 170 cyber-jokers trashed the document by adding in bizarre paragraphs for fun.
The page used "wiki" editing techniques, which allow readers to alter the content.
A heading of "Who are the parties to the environmental contract?" became, "Where is the party for the environmental contract? Can I come? Will there be cake? Hooray!"
Another asked: "What would an environmental contract for energy look like? Will it look like my face? My beautiful face?"
The tricky question of "what tools can be used to deliver the environmental contract?" received the answer: "Spade, Organic Yoghurt Stirrer, Old washing up liquid bottle, Sticky Back Plastic."
Meanwhile, a list of tools that "create the right incentive frameworks" was doctored to include "Big stick" and "Owl magnet".
read more at our abc
__________________
Gus: I do not know much about the process but it seems elementary, my dear Watson... I believe that this site is foolproof to such attacks apart from our own silly mistakes...

your wish is my command Gus .... albeit I'm a bit slow off the mark at times .....