nHas opinion turned on Wal-Mart? Like so may questions, it depends on who you ask. In the state of Indiana it just may have:

For years, Wal-Mart was best known as a business killer. The Arkansas-based retailer had a reputation for coming into town and putting competitors out of business. Now Wal-Mart is being hailed by Gov. Mitch Daniels and other Indianapolis officials as an economic savior for opening in a depressed commercial area around Lafayette Square Mall.

"Just by being who they are, Wal-mart is literally as good an anti-poverty program as we have in this country," Daniels said last week. "They leave thousands of dollars in the pockets of people who need them most. Other businesses could learn from Wal-Mart's successful business model by being value driven and taking out costs." "I think this Wal-Mart is a shot in the arm," said Mary Clark, president of a Lafayette Square retail group. "[It could be] a magnet for the rest of the retail industry to look at us again." More than 7,000 applications were submitted for the 400-plus jobs at the store, Wal-Mart said.

Elite opinion within the state Democratic party neither hews the Republican governor's line nor shares his enthusiasm for the retail giant:

Daniels' comment prompted criticism. Jennifer Wagner, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party, told The Star Press, "It's one thing to laud a company for opening a store in an economically depressed area. It's quite another thing to hold up that company as a shining example of the kind of jobs we should be trying to recruit to our state." Wal-Mart and its place in the economy can lead to disagreement even among those concerned about the poor and disadvantaged.

Setting aside the inaccurate implication of the last sentence, i.e. that pro-business forces are less concerned about the poor and disadvantaged, it's worth noting that rank-and-file opinion within the party may be less ideologically driven:

"Any opportunity for economic development in a community is a good thing, especially when there's a need for more of that type of development," Tanasha Anders, vice president of Youth and Family Programs for Indiana Black Expo, told The Star Press. "I was raised in Gary, where our steel mills closed and we didn't have a lot of opportunity and alternatives," Anders said. "A number of things are debatable, but the fact that there's another source of employment for a community -- and not just low-income employment because there are management opportunities -- you can't discount that."

But there are some who, in the name of abstract notions of "social and economic justice", would "discount that". And there are others who- in the name of free markets- would discount prices.