This has been a good discussion in that it has helped me understand why I think Wal-Mart is a cancer. I have had this deep seated feeling that I could not fully articulate, that I think I understand better now why I felt that way. I do not have the time nor the energy to fully articulate the entire reasoning, in depth. Let's start at the most fundamental point. As a Christian I believe we are part of the community. I believe we are blessed to bless. In other words we should share our time, talents, and treasures with our community. I also believe the word of God says the worker's wages cry our for him. - James 5:4 - "Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you.". There is two issues here. 1) The government is in the process of creating a welfare state which allows those who are so inclined to redirect that subsistence into their own pockets. 2) Wal-Mart has become an expert in creating an environment where they funnel our tax dollars, indirectly thought government subsistence, into their pockets. My point is just because you can does not make it right. I do not see Wal-Mart moving to limit government subsistence. Nor do I see them working to create an environment where less government subsistence is necessary. What I do see is a very powerful company taking advantage of the system instead of working towards fixing it. I believe in the book of James it says that a person shall be know by his works or the fruit he bears. Wal-Mart impacts the community in a bad way. They lower wages and kill main street. I call that sin. Each one of us has a fiduciary responsibility to do good not evil. Just one small example. Wal-Mart contracts with China to make some of it's products. It has been documented that these Chinese companies are sweatshops. Now just because one can does not mean one should. This comment only addresses the labor issues, it does not address the product safety issues. As of late we have found that China has a real product safety problem. Lets look at this from my business prospective. I am a LAMP developer and I have SEO skills. I could expand my website to bring in lots of projects and I could hire some Indian programmers and designers for $5/hr and I could charge American companies over $100/hr. I could probably build a business that could bring in 200k or 300k a year doing so. Under this model I would be able to keep the vast majority of of what I would charge. I would be well off and living high off the hog. I could do this and it is completely legal. If I took on this business model, I would be thinking only of myself. Sure I could tithe to my church and even give to other charities so I could point to all the good I had done. In the end I would only be thinking of Keith. I would have missed an opportunity to impact my community in a good and necessary way. Lets look at a different model. I expand my website and start bringing in lots of projects. I hire LAMP programmers from the local community, and I'm not cheap about it. I make less, however I have just created wealth within my local community. These are American citizens who buy products and services within the local market. They pay taxes. This model helps us all. Doing business this way is doing business the right way. Each of us has a responsibility to our community. If we have, we must give back in some significant way. We must get to a point were we understand what it means to give a hand up not a hand out. There are circumstances where long term subsistence is needed, however there is no place for a dependent class. We must create an economy that allows the worker to make a living wage and have NO need for government subsistence. Just because Wal-Mart can does not mean they should. Notice I have not suggested any government intervention. We need no artificial wage control nor do we need vast welfare programs. What we need is 1) moral business leaders 2) the Church to take on it rightful roll in helping those who cannot help themselves and creating a "hand up" environment. Recently a Christian pastor told me that the government is only doing what the Church has failed to do. The only problem with the government filling that void is the government had perverted and is now using dependency for its own political gain. There are strings attached when government gets involved. Lets come together as a community and solve this problem. ------------------------ Keith Smith --- On Mon, 8/30/10, joe@actionline.com <joe@actionline.com> wrote:
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