by the Way . . .

In our November 29 post, Senator Schumer and I took China and Wal-Mart to task for charging prices that are too low. Now it turns out they are HELPING every American by creating thousands of jobs. The reason you didn't know this before is that Sam was slow to create a PR department, befuddledly thinking running a highly efficient distribution system was enough. For heavens sake, Sam, welcome to the spin century. You can't leave unanswered accusations like those from Wake Up Wall-Mart, a union supported group, which say you violate religious values with your low wages. The "Where would Jesus shop?" campaign could be a tough one. Their TV commercial is "Should people of faith shop at Wal-Mart?".

You can't just blame the unions. It is their job to complain about wages, no matter how high or low they are. I once asked my dad, an airline pilot, how he could go on strike when he was already paid so much more than bus drivers. You learn not to challenge union people. He used to make me sit at the table until I ate my cold overcooked brussel sprouts, or until I cried, whatever came first. When I got too old for convincing crying, I had to sit there until my mother started crying. At the time I didn't know that was a primary union weapon, making you sit at the table until you felt like crying.

So now Wal-Mart has a campaign style war room to respond to these tactics. They are stressing that Wal-Mart is a major engine of job growth, creating over 100,000 new jobs a year. This is a little lower caliber spin than we have grown to expect from government and entities of that size, but heck, they are just getting going and they have a lot of ground to cover. Their web site now boldly challenges the "growing misperception" that they have a policy prohibiting employees (associates) from wishing people "Merry Christmas". They can say "Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Three Kings’ Day, Merry Christmas" or whatever they want. As for where Jesus would shop, surely there is promise in the loaves and fishes story.

The job creation position seems solid. Everyone knows that when a competing retailer shuts down, Wal-Mart has to put on more help. With China the effect is harder to explain, and their war room doesn't seem to be focused on it. Clearly China is not getting the credit it deserves. Think about it. When Senator Chuck and I complained about them keeping interest rates too low, we should have considered the effect on jobs. Low rates mean more borrowing for everything from corporate takeovers to consumer purchases, all of which keep the economy moving. And creates jobs. Just ask your investment banker.