Wal-Mart renews efforts to get past political barriers into Chicago

People often describe the American economy as capitalistic. But Wal-Mart's difficulty getting around political barriers is one of a million examples why American capitalism (such as it is) is severely compromised.

Here's Miguel Bustillo in the WSJ on Wal-Mart's renewed efforts to get into Chicago...

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mounting a new push to expand in Chicago, hoping that its promises of jobs and sales-tax dollars will prove more tempting in the recession than when city leaders first rebuffed the discount chain earlier this decade.

The world's largest retailer, which so far has been able to build only one store in the nation's third-largest city, hopes to open a half-dozen more in the coming years, according to the company and politicians familiar with its plans. It has been heavily courting Chicago leaders and is studying a dozen potential sites.

Wal-Mart, whose stores are largely concentrated in rural and suburban markets, has long struggled to penetrate the largest American cities amid fierce opposition from politicians sympathetic to organized labor and small business groups concerned the discounter would steal sales from smaller retailers.

But the company now sees the Windy City as a potential proving ground for urban development strategies it could later bring to other resistant markets, including New York and Los Angeles.

Wal-Mart still faces many of the same obstacles it has encountered in the past -- notably labor unions deeply hostile to a company known for resisting worker attempts at unionization....

The average wage of workers in the existing Chicago Wal-Mart is more than $11 an hour. Wal-Mart claims that Chicago residents spend half a billion dollars a year at its stores outside city limits, crimping the city's tax revenue....