On the other coast today, I have a column in the N.Y. Post about Wal-Mart’s plan to offer a month’s supply of some 300 generic prescription drugs for $4 a pop. While a small part of the story is Wal-Mart using its evil “monopsony” power to push down prices charged by drug makers, the real story is that Wal-Mart is simply cutting its profit margin on generic drugs for broader strategic reasons:

The company has simply decided to cut its profit margin on generic drugs for three basic reasons: 1) to get more people into the stores, 2) to get the people who already shop there to stop by more often, and 3) to get an advantage over its competitors, such as Walgreen, CVS and Target.

In fact, hours after Wal-Mart made its announcement, Target declared that it would match Wal-Mart’s program in the markets where Wal-Mart rolled it out. Shares of Walgreen Co. and CVS, meanwhile, immediately dipped 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

(Wal-Mart’s fourth reason for cutting drug prices - good publicity for a company embattled by unions attacking its health-care policies - is also not inconsiderable.)

Liberals’ views of markets are a funny thing. When Wal-Mart’s aggressive tactics put the squeeze on toy or underwear makers or “mom and pop” stores, we’re told the company is destroying the middle class and the American way of life. Yet when it’s making meds affordable to the poor and uninsured, the company’s seen as doing a selfless public service.

In truth, Wal-Mart isn’t doing a public service in either case - it’s acting as any capitalist corporation should, trying to maximize its profits. And in both cases, it’s offering a benefit to the public in terms of low prices. That’s what the free market is. That’s what the free market does.

The Left, including Wal-Mart critics, has mostly kept its powder dry on this one. It is, after all, hard to criticize a company for offering a steep discount on life-saving drugs. What I wish more Wal-Mart critics would recognize is that discounts on any product — drugs, underwear, food, etc. — are just as vital to the people who shop at Wal-Mart regularly.