This is an academic discourse on economics. You remember, that black art that so elegantly explains things that don't ever occur. One of the foundations of free-market economics is that the market has a hand which invisibly insures that progress is fairly consistnetly made and shoddy goods fall by the wayside. Don't make fun, they are doing better than the alchemists. Given economic theory, it's hard to explain why, in this day of the Eveready Bunny, Radio Shack can consistently succeed at selling crummy batteries. Even if they are cheap, they are a hassle because you have to change the dead ones every 30 minutes. Even if you are short on cash, it's inefficient to slug along 75 packs of batteries just to make your camera flash work for a whole roll of film. So what gives? Well, Radio Shack is owned by the Tandy Corporation, a firm that has always been totally focused on Middle America. They are head- quartered in Texas. They know their way around a trailer park. And they target Joe NerdRAM (Joe SixPack's cousin). Joe consumes 89 pounds of pure fat in a year. He watches more than 8 hours a day of TV, and has an 80% chance of subscribing to cable, and still has a problem with his VCR clock is always flashing. His wife now works 32 hours a week. And he has 2.3 kids, bratty style. And consequently, 760 toys. Now 140 of those toys make irritating noises, most of them powered by electricity. So when faced with the task of buying batteries (not included, thanks to the thoughtful Taiwanese), Joe has a clear choice. Would *you* buy an industrial-strength long-life battery, even if it weren't more expensive than the 30-minute specials from The Shack? This is an IQ test few parents fail. Which leads to an important conclusion for stock-market watchers: Radio Shack succeeds by selling cheap trash to parents. This is a year-in, year-out business. Granted, Tandy doesn't have the cachet of Disney or the elegance of McDonalds. But they have the most fundamental advantage: the junk franchise.