date:Feb 22, 2013
Even as the world's largest retailer reported an 8.6 percent rise in fourth quarter profit during the critical holiday shopping season, it offered a weaker forecast for the coming months. The problem? The poor and middle-class Americans Wal-Mart caters to - and who are big drivers of spending in the U.S. - are struggling with higher gas prices, delayed tax refunds and higher payroll taxes.
Melanie M. Burkhardt, the mother of two teenagers, is one of those people. Burkhardt, a Waycross, Ga., res