While everything you said is true (I spent 2 years at Hahn AB in the mid-80's), there's no comparison with the classic robber-baron run company town.
The commissary (military supermarket) is run as a benefit of service, and even if you live in base housing, you're welcome to buy on the economy. The commissary doesn't ship everything in from the US, just items they can't source locally. So Pop-Tarts were imported from the US (accept no substitute!), but the meat and the Brötchen were bought from German suppliers.
Whereas the company store in the company town, as was said elsewhere, was run to the benefit of the company. Prices were set such that even buying just staples there (eggs, flour, etc) would keep you in perpetual debt.
The commissary (military supermarket) is run as a benefit of service, and even if you live in base housing, you're welcome to buy on the economy. The commissary doesn't ship everything in from the US, just items they can't source locally. So Pop-Tarts were imported from the US (accept no substitute!), but the meat and the Brötchen were bought from German suppliers.
Whereas the company store in the company town, as was said elsewhere, was run to the benefit of the company. Prices were set such that even buying just staples there (eggs, flour, etc) would keep you in perpetual debt.