You hear this day-in and day-out. Cheap junk, made by the Chinese, constituting a waste of American consumers’ money that only serves to enrich Sam Walton’s ghost. And his heirs.

Cheap junk, like 42-inch flat-panel televisions.

Wouldn’t most consumers prefer to save a few hundred bucks on a brand new flat-panel TV, like, for instance, this 42″ Panasonic.

“To bolster sales, Wal-Mart … marked down 50 small appliances and almost 100 electronics items. It reduced the price of a 42-inch Panasonic plasma television 28 percent to $1,294.”

(this price appears to include shipping charges) The base price was just a hair cheaper than the same TV at Best Buy.

“OK,” the critics might say. “But the profits still unfairly enrich Sam Walton’s ghost and his heirs.”

They conveniently neglect to mention all of the shareholders, including anyone whose mutual funds or pension funds or life insurance contains a single share of Wal-Mart stock. But distribution of corporate profits aside – aren’t they overlooking what is probably the most significant gain – that of the individual consumers?

Consumers who purchase a new TV at Wal-Mart get a far better TV than they previously could’ve enjoyed, or they get a TV they previously could’ve afforded at a lower price. Broadly, they have an additional $400, which they can spend on other goods and services in order to make their lives better. This money is spent on other, non-competing goods and services; and it is money that goes to industries which would otherwise have received nary a dollar from those same consumers.

It is the abundance of goods and services which constitutes the wealth of a society.

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In other news, Wal-Mart’s profits are up.