Wal-Mart is evil. By now we all know that. Or at least we all know organized labor wants us to believe the discount chain is evil, perhaps because it demonstrates that operating nonunion can work out fine.

And what is the nature of this evil? Wal-Mart comes into town and sells lots of merchandise for less, at more convenient hours, which can lead the proprietors of small mom-and-pop businesses to either innovate or close.

And what do these hillbilly hucksters contribute in return? Not a darn thing. Except, you know, lots of jobs, convenience and affordable merchandise -- merchandise at prices that seem especially attractive to the "working poor," the very folks Democrats and their trade-union allies always claim to be looking out for.

But, their detractors insist, Wal-Mart offers no benefits, and pays so little that their pathetic employees, their ribs sticking out through the gaps in their rags, line up at the soup kitchens and become a burden on taxpayers.

It turns out Wal-Mart does offer benefits, though -- more than a lot of mom-and-pop outfits -- and most employees who are there any period of time sign up for them. The stores also tend to pay more than the minimum wage, to workers who line up looking for the work.

But now Wal-Mart has really done it. The chain announced last week it's using its marketing muscle to introduce a plan to sell prescriptions for a month's worth of any of 300 generic drugs at $4 per month. The company insists it's not a gimmick or a loss-leader, either -- Wal-Mart believes it can reduce the average monthly prescription cost for such life-savers as amoxicillin or Prinivil or Zestril from the current range of $20 to $28 (the higher figure was the 2004 national average, actually) to four bucks. For everybody.

"Wal-Mart's taking this step so that our customers and associates can get the medicines they need at prices they can afford," explains William Simon, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for professional services. "Customers tell us all the time that prescription-drug costs are forcing them to make tough decisions."

Darn it! You see? You let these greedy capitalists corner the market and drive all their competitors out of business, and what do they do? They, um ... slash the price of life-saving drugs by 86 percent.

There do seem to be competitors left, by the way. Walgreens and CVS saw their stocks slip by 7 to 8 percent on news of the Wal-Mart announcement. What ever will they do now? Struggle to drop their own prices, perhaps.

Will Congress stand by and let this happen? Surely now is the time for our lawmakers to set aside their petty partisan bickering to step in and, um ... OK, we'll admit we can't name the government intervention that's needed to mess up a dramatic free-market move that's about to help save millions of lives.

But give Wal-Mart's detractors some time. They'll think of something.