America rotting from inside and other small matters

So, I did enjoy reading a story about West-Coasters rejecting gigantic ugliness—though whether the real deterrent for Wal-Mart is snobbishness or land prices remains to be seen. I do know that I have never actually seen a Super megastore (Wal-Mart Supercenter, Super-Target, etc.) on the West Coast. They might be inland, but in my travels through Temecula, Stockton, Sacramento, Medford, and such, I have never seen one. Everyone I know still shops at grocery stores for their food, and some of them even go to the produce and farmer's markets for produce. According to this Slate article, that is because land is too expensive. In fact, where I live, the closest (non-Super) Wal-Mart is pretty darn far away and under a highway overpass. Of course, there's a rumor that they bought part of an old gravel pit in Booneyville (i.e. near my house)—and I would not know about it because I have not been there for a while and my mother knows better than to tell me about these things. That would be disgusting.
Anyway, what brought on this tirade was the same Slate article about Wal-Mart v. Tesco: Tesco, a British grocery chain that I know about from such illustrious sources as Something Rotten and "The Fallen", is opening stores in Southern California. They will be Express Tescos, small grocery stores the size of convenience marts. On the other hand, Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Markets, the scaled-down versions of Wal-Mart that focus on groceries and pharmacy products, are almost as big as Tesco's largest super-stores (called Extra) in the UK. According to the Slate article, all 546 Tesco Express stores in the UK would take up as much space as six Wal-Mart Supercenters. That's just sick. Anyway, another article about American largess has also come to my attention: "Why can't Americans save a dime?". Last year, people in the United States saved at a rate of -.5%. That's negative. I'm not sure how a savings rate can be negative, but I'm pretty sure it's a bad thing. The last time our savings rate was negative: the Great Depression. Nice, huh? Everyone wants to live a successful lifestyle before actually becoming successful. And they are relying on the government to bail them out if they drive themselves to destitution. Guess what, everyone: the government is in debt too! Are we rotting from the inside? You betcha!