A Message Concerning the Sam Walton Retail Empire
Almost a century has passed since the devastating economic depression of the 1930’s. Very few are alive who remember those harsh times, even fewer who knew the cause and saw the degradation happen in plain sight, helpless in prevention. More than 200 centuries have passed since the great famine in Egypt as told of in the book of Genesis. John Kenneth Galbraith, an influential author and economist, in his book “American Capitalism” published not long after World War II described the American political economy post war as a “system of countervailing powers” in which the power of big business was kept in check by other sources of power typically created by the state.
Galbraith’s opinion runs parallel with that of many modern historians who place the emphasis of American economic strength on large, bureaucratic organizations in American business today.
The forced intervention of policy by the government contributed to the break up of the telephone monopoly Mountain Bell in the early 20th century. The late 20th century saw the democratic president Bill Clinton intervene with the professional basketball strike. The countervailing power to contend Sam Walton’s empire of retail stores right here in the new millennium is sitting on the bench, apparently. His retail stores represent 8% of the overall sales in America excluding automotive and restaurant sales, all according to Lee Scott Jr, CEO and longtime friend of the Walton family who got started with them as a fleet operator in 1979.
“We think it’s our obligation to give back to the community” Scott said in an interview with Salt Lake Tribune’s Abigail Goldman “That’s where the money came from, that’s where it ought to go back to.” Ironically, scores of authors and journalists, small business owners and union workers campaign daily trying to prove publicly that Walton’s stores are taking a lot more out of the community than Jr. claims, and putting extremely little back in.
Small newspaper and television appears to be the only tool for attack against Walton’s stores, but somehow after a decade of printing revelations regard the behemoth designed by Walton to save people money, the corporation has become the largest retail giant in the entire world. Followed closely behind by Microsoft and Disney. Either the government lacks the clout needed the intervene, or the accusations stacked up against the store chain concerning everything from unscrupulous hiring practices to global economic parricide are over-exaggerated.
A possible third scenario, one which promotes more hope than the first two, may be that in which unwitting authors are not only wasting talent attacking Walton’s empire systematically to keep food on their own table, but may in the process be furthering the stores’ popularity. Co-opted by clever publicity tactics into feeding the frenzy of low-price product mayhem brought about by the “Walton phenomenon”, poor, misguided authors are feeding the man-eating plant that keeps them in business.
If one of Walton’s retail chain stores appears in a community ready to open it’s doors for business, the local journals and television stations will predictably shout the news to it’s inept public, who don’t necessarily understand why the stores are accused of being unethical capitalista, only learning to associate the name (which I dare not utter here) with insane savings, therefore becoming affixed with the notion of spending less and getting more. How much more, or how much less is to them, an entirely different issue. Inevitably one writer after another will, with best intentions, fall into the pitfall of perpetual Walton store propaganda while attempting to rally enthusiasm against the mega corporation. The simple fact is: Every time these ignoramus authors print the “W” word another wave of untapped consumers flock to the mere scent of savings. It seems as if modern authors have forgotten the ways of slandering a superpower, Martin Luther would be ashamed.
Were all the ink wasted by pseudo-economists and self proclaimed humanitarians regarding this unusual state of affairs were bottled and sold, the profits therein could finance the next deep space mission. Their cute but realistically weightless proposals and commentaries continue to make zero headway in a losing battle against the behemoth. For as much is being said about the problem, every writer seems equally stupefied at moving to act or create reaction somehow. Not enough is being done by anyone, including authors in a position of power (if they really do exist) to create any sort of positive change.
Undeserving of negative (but useful) attention from the free press, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club are the only retail stores in America which extend an open door to the homeless. This less attractive fact escapes the allure of the average local paper or news program, but is unquestionably true: Wal Mart and Sam’s Club “give back to the community” by offering homeless transients refuge inside their well lit, heated warehouse stores. Providing unlimited time to shop at the very same store that keeps them alive with candy and fruit at rock-bottom prices, why would a homeless person shop anywhere else? For those who’ve somehow lost their foothold in society Wal-Mart offers discount prices that the other corporations just can’t beat.
So if you see someone on the street who’s obviously down on their luck, tell them Sam Walton has a place for them at Wal-Mart, maybe even give them a ride to one of their convenient locations along all major freeways. After all, if it weren’t for Wal-Mart and it’s humane hospitality to the homeless by providing food, shelter, and social interaction with fellow customers and employees, the quality of life for these men and women would be unbearable. Now that’s what H. Lee Scott Jr. calls “Giving back to the community.”
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