Thankful For Wal Mart

You get thoughts at the strangest times. This morning's thought came as I made my sone a grilled ham and cheese sandwich before taking him to basketball practice. It centered on how good kids have got it these days.

I cannot get across to my children how things have changed in thirty years. For most kids growing up in the 1970s, going out to eat somewhere that did not get your food to you in a minute or so was a big deal. If you found yourself eating a sandwich, it was bologna or Spam and "cheese food." Cheese food was the slices of stuff they put in the plastic. Brown beans or navy beans came to our table quite often, as did tuna noodle casserole. Forget steak or chicken breast. You almost never saw a chicken breast unless it was from Kentucky Fried Chicken. And that was a special meal too!

How about the generation before that? Ever listen to old country songs like "Coal Miner's Daughter?" If you've never heard of that song, look up the lyrics. A lot of people lived like that even after World War II.

The point is that America has advanced its living standards by leaps and bounds every generation in this century. We could do this because we had the most powerful and productive economy on earth. Plus we always looked to find the most efficient and effective ways to produce and do business. Almost anyone can enjoy a ham sandwich with real cheese for lunch and a steak for dinner now, not just because we make more money, but also because food and other items got less expensive. Wal Mart generally provides everything from food to clothing to drugs at lower prices than anyone else. That includes many items once thought of as near luxuries by those with lower salaries. In many counties in our region they employ more people than anyone, too. They need the work because of Obama's War on Coal.

Remember this next time you hear a left wing snob bash Wal Mart. Think of their contribution to America's higher standard of living. Among so many other things, I am thankful for Wal Mart and the American way. Let's hope that the left wing Democrats and Obama don't crush the life out of it.

Capitalism and the Age of the Individual

As I wrap up my Christmas preparations I begin one of my favorite traditions, watching Christmas movies. Whether contrived or based on the way it used to be, it is clear that the song “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” won’t ring all that true with our kids. I doubt that more than 10% of the people in our neighborhood decorate outside for Christmas. It also appears that few, if any, stores decorate for Christmas as they once did. Maybe a wreath or two, possibly some ornaments, but usually just a “seasonal” theme to the marketing displays. I don’t mean to be overly critical. I am just as guilty as we all are of forcing retailers to compete with mega stores like Target and Wal-Mart. Forced to cut costs, store owners save where they can in order to provide what the customer wants, lower prices. Even in my agency, we no longer give out calendars in an effort to lower costs and be more responsive to the changing environment.

As I began wondering what this means, I realized that it is ideal for a Christmas zealot like myself. Lower prices allow the individual to customize their Christmas experience. If I want decorations, special meals, and Christmas Eve candlelight, I can afford to do that. If I simply want to take advantage of discounted prices on toys, clothes, and electronics, I can do that as well. If I want to give away money to the needy or save a Christmas bonus for another day, I can choose that as well.

Unfortunately, you can’t get both the lowest cost and best experience from store owners and pillars of the community. It is up to me and you to customize our own Christmas experience. Those choosing not to participate do not have to participate. Those who want to go over the top, get to do that as well. It is simply individual accountability. I hope that everyone enjoys a safe and happy holiday season. I pray that we will be free from adversity and able to simply enjoy the freedom that we have in this country to not just live, but to change the way we live based on our decisions.

This trend is easily illustrated with Christmas, but is becoming evident in all areas of our lives. Retirement and financial planning are two such areas. More and more we are seeing that the only plan that you can count on is the one that you build and maintain. Employers (small business owners in particular) have to cut costs in order to compete with lowered costs. Taxes are everywhere and can’t be cut, cost of goods may have a little room, but not much, real estate and rents are on the rise, insurance costs are increasing and one of the only places left is to reduce services/ staffing. By becoming more streamlined, an employer is able to compete and stay in business. So the employees and even the employer have to separate individual financial planning and well being from the businesses financial planning and well being. Good employers still work with employees to find third party partners and bring those partners in to speak with the employees, to help build an individual plan, and provide guidance. The employers just can’t afford to carry the burden of being accountable for the financial lives of their employees.

If your employer can’t or won’t provide, the next logical place seems to be to ask the government for help. However, the government is not only incapable of solving this problem; it also has a huge conflict of interest. How can we hold a free election if a significant portion of the population is receiving government aid? Can people vote against their paycheck? Can they endorse a candidate that shares their beliefs if they rely on the competitor for their monthly check?

If we embrace the age of the individual, we need to be honest with ourselves. Social Security is broken. There are a lot of really intelligent government officials, if they haven’t solved the problem, there may not be a solution. Either recognize that there are too many people on the rolls and adjust the eligibility age to accurately reflect the fact that people are living longer than when the program started, or do away with it completely.

If we choose the former then set the eligibility age just past a person’s average life expectancy. Work until you die? What about retirement? Well, who ever promised you a retirement? Not to mention, who said you actually want to retire? When people stop having a reason to get up each day, their health fades, their bodies diminish, and they die. We have an entire segment of the population that are living examples of this fact. Don’t believe me? Hang out at the post office at the first of the month.

If the latter is accepted, any excess money will need to be spent on re-educating people on developing a good financial plan for their lives. A good plan addresses the three possibilities that you can encounter, you can live too long, die too early, or become disabled. That means life insurance, a planned stream of income (or a really big pot of money), and disability insurance. That’s where it starts. The more you want, the more you will want to plan. This individual accountability can be a scary notion at times. But the American Dream is based on being free, and one can’t be truly free if one is reliant on another person for the basic needs of life.

What’s my plan? As callous as it may sound to say everyone is responsible for themselves, that is not really what I am trying to implement in my own life. I don’t wan the government responsible for fixing this problem, at least not the federal government. I like to see local people and local organizations helping the poor in their own community. That involves more than a monthly check. My wife and I maintain the view that we are responsible for our own lives and for the impact that we have on our community. Therefore, we over plan for the Holidays and for our future and use our excess to help make our community a little better. We enjoy helping others and sharing the reason that we are helping, as Christians we believe that it is our responsibility to help others and to share the love of Christ with them. So when we pay for an elderly persons groceries, or give a gift card to a stranger, we take advantage of the opportunity to quickly share our message. It is what we have chosen to do with the savings we see from price competitive businesses. We don’t expect everyone to make the same choices that we make, nor share our beliefs, but we also don’t get the opportunity to help/ share our message if the government beats us to it.

What's Fashionable Isn't Always Fair

It's been fashionable for a long time to bash Wal Mart. To some the retail giant presents an easy target. It started in a poor Southern state and grew from one small general store to become one of the largest chains in the world, an all-American success story. Wal Mart caters to the average American, especially those in rural and suburban areas.

Along the way, Wal Mart eliminated many of its rivals. We don't see many G. C. Murphy Marts or Ben Franklins anymore. Low prices, high variety, and an ability to respond to what the market desired meant that Wal Mart succeeded where smaller chains and a lot of small businesses failed, giving more fodder to its critics. This is the American way too. Those that can serve the market best succeed while others adapt or disappear.

Did Wal Mart wipe out small town downtowns? I remember when I was growing up in Ripley in the 1980s, for a time that happened. Ben Franklin and O.J. Morrison's Department store went out of business because they sold the same items at higher prices. However in Ripley and other areas, downtowns rebounded. Small businesses emerged that satisfied more specific market niches. The new small town economy in many areas has seen a more vibrant array of businesses as a result.

Wal Mart serves local communities in other ways. It provides a strong tax anchor for local government and reliable levels of employment. Certainly the wages are not going to enable the workers to buy a Bentley and critics love to point this out. However, like McDonalds and other service jobs with major companies, adavncement is an option to those willing to learn and work hard. Companies with large organizations such as these provide opportunities that G. C. Murphy and O. J. Morrison could not.

Wal Mart also strives to serve communities as a good corporate citizen. On May 19th in Moorefield, Wal Mart is hosting a customer and military appreciation day with all proceeds going to children's charities. I remember a classmate receiving a full college scholarship from Wal Mart because he never missed a day of class. These types of things are discounted or ignored by critics.

As with a lot of similar situations, Wal Mart bashing reflects a deeper attitude because the chain represents capitalism. Its rise from nothing to prominence in a generation proves that anything is still possible in a capitalist America given hard work, ability and the willingness to take risks. Capitalism and success ought not be dirty words. They should be ideals that guide anyone, like Sam Walton, that dares to dream big.