The NYTimes reporting today that 20 million people visit Wal-Mart each and every day. If it was a separate country, it would be China’s 8th largest trading partner. Some say their low-cost business model has cut American inflation by 1 percent, saving American consumers millions. They are the pinnacle of technological control married to massive markets. Every penny counted and accounted for. The temperature of every one of their 3,500 stores controlled from headquarters in Arkansas. Also despised as promoters of over-consumption, falling wages, and benefits packages that many employees can’t afford.
The Times article suggests that Wal-Mart is the defining corporation of this era, following in the footsteps of the Pennsylvania Railroad, General Motors and Microsoft. They point out that Wal-Mart’s success derives from it’s ruthless attention to consumption and the consumer. The company gives consumers what they want at the lowest price possible, which leads the Times author to conclude that the efforts to oppose Wal-Mart can never succeed if they continue to be predicated on having ordinary Americans see themselves as something other than consumers.
The key question must then become: Consumers of what? Wal-Mart has built a huge operation that is stunningly effective in serving consumer demands. They don’t do education, they just respond with ruthless efficiency. If consumers demanded healthier, more sustainable products, this machine could be driving down the costs and ramping up the availability of those products. They will never lead demand, but they must respond to it. Even in the face of this apparent economic might, America is still an economic democracy. And as long as we vote for junk, degradation and bad health, our Constitution says we are entitled to as much of it as we can fit in our supersized carts.
If we want to change the world, then we must change our minds — at the check out stand. We need to be more creative, more healthy and more awake and alive in our pursuit of happiness. And once we manage that, as people, I would think that an operation like Wal-Mart could become a priceless national treasure.