It has been labeled the "Evil Empire" and the "Scourge of Bentonville." Countless politicians and concerned groups of citizenry have attempted to derail it at nearly every level of government. Comedy shows such as SNL and The Daily News ridicule it weekly, leftist advocates denounce it daily, and the media as a whole seems to have forgotten its unbiased pledge and seems to be bent on beating Bentoville. But the question I put forth to these pundits is this: what is so reprehensible about Wal Mart?
To me, at least, Wal Mart appears to be the model of capitalist efficiency in a market that is currently becoming increasingly inefficient. In fact, it seems that it is this very efficiency inherently coupled with Wal Mart's effective business practices that have brought so much negative attention to the conglomerate. The arguments against Wal Mart include, but are not limited to, the fact that the company pays its employees so little, that it destroys small mom and pop stores, that it is weakening the economy by devaluing the dollar, that it is killing the blue collar industrial worker by importing so much from China, and of course, that its profits are just ungodly.
Most of these arguments against Wal Mart happen to be at least partially factual, but they do not convince me that Wal Mart is necessarily bad for America. To start with, the company employees who make so little have the option to find jobs elsewhere any time the opportunity arises. The fact is that much of the Wal Mart workforce is comprised of part time retirees who find their jobs low key and rewarding. The rest of the workforce is made up of people with little or no education, who could not do any better than working for Wal Mart (because if they could, I assure you they would take such an opportunity). Also, the oft criticized health care plan Wal Mart provides for its employees is more than most companies offer to their employees of a similar pay and educationl background. Finally their is the issue of company stock options, but we'll get to that later.
Secondly there is the issue of Wal Mart's role in the death of America's mom and pop stores. Yes, there is something sweetly sentimental about preserving local hardware stores and pharmacies that have been in family hands for generations. Sadly, though, these local outfits are simly anachronisms waiting to happen. They are outdated, overpriced, and are often run with less efficiency than a well constructed corporation such as Wal Mart. One reason Wal Mart's domination of local enterprises is met with such a large public outcry is the feeling that Wal Mart is turning into a monopoly. This is simply not the case. The company is surrounded by countless competitors due to the myriad of products it offers. Target and Brandsmart are even less succesful (though certainly not unsuccesful) corporations based on the same model. The reason Wal Mart is so succesful is not that it is headed towards a monopoly, but rather that it is encouraging the highest aspirations of Classical Liberalism by promoting "everyday low prices." These low prices are merely a well planned execution of free market capitalism rather than a devious plot to own the American economic landscape. And let us not forget that Wal Mart itself was nothing more than a mom and pop store fifty years ago, and that it is Sam Walton's vision and business acumen that should be aspired to rather than derided by small businesses today.
The idea that America should still be the industrial giant it was in the twentieth century is almost laughable. Wealth was at one time generated by land, and then by steel, but in this new century wealth is created by information. The service industry is where America's future lies, whether Detroit and Pittsburgh want to accept it or not. Younger people on average attain a higher level of education yearly, and hopefully this trend will continue. Also by buying cheaper products from China and Taiwan Wal Mart is merely acting in its own best interest, in the best interest of its customers, and in the best interest of its employees and shareholders, by giving the people the best deal available. We are not to expect or even desire a corporation to act differently. When companies stop acting in their own best interests the premises of our economic system may very well collapse. In this sense, greed is good, because it places all of us on a more equal footing since our visions are not clouded by the unneccessary complications of society's needs, and through the same method greed meets societies needs by providing us with a more rational impetus for our transactions.
Wal Mart's role in the recent devaluing of the dollar is highly debatable. First of all, it is estimated that Wal Mart has increased the US real GDP by three to five percent in the last twenty years. This is not only an astounding measure of the company's success but also a representation of what would typically be a major spike in in the value of the dollar. Also, all those imports Wal Mart brings in have poured US dollars into foriegn hands. US dollars are primarily used in buying US goods which would also drive up the value of the dollar. The funny thing about all this is that it is quite common for the advocates of American industry to be the ones making the point that Wal Mart devalues the dollar. Since a weakening dollar actually increases the demand for American made products, industry would actually be the greatest beneficiary.
Finally there are those ungodly profits. The problem with this argument is that there is simply nothing wrong with making a profit, especially a very large one. This should be the goal of any company, and once again, Wal Mart is berated for being succesful. And remember those poor, underpaid, underinsured, helpless, exploited employees? They reap some of the greatest rewards of profitability since most Wal Mart employees at one time or another have either receiveed or bought at a highly discounted rate company stock. There are stockboys from Bentonville who are now millionares. Do you think these people feel they are exploited?
We live in a time when success is no longer measured with hard statistics and fact but instead in an era when life is an endless popularity contest. But life and business are not popularity contests and real raw success is important as long as it is gained with integrity. Sadly Wal Mart is the archetypal corporate hero fighting a stagnating war with a media that prefers the glitz and glamour of attention hounds and babbling pundits. Wal Mart is big and strong, so what do people want to do? They want to tear it down, to feast on what they can scavenge off of it. Luckily there is still enough of what is right left in our system that Wal Mart can survive and flourish. Hopefully this remains the case.