Jimmy Harmon

Paul Harvey (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009)

Mr. Paul Harvey Aurandt was an American Icon! He was a radio broadcaster for ABC Radio Networks. He broadcast news and comments on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays. Mr. Harvey was well known for his famous “The Rest of the Story” segments. His listening audience was estimated at 22 million people a week. Mr. Harvey liked to say he was raised in radio newsrooms.

The most noticeable features of Harvey’s idiosyncratic delivery was his dramatic pauses, quirky intonations and his folksiness. A large part of his success stemmed from the seamlessness with which he segued from his monologue into reading commercial messages. He explained his enthusiastic support of his sponsors as such: “I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is.”

For more than 50 years, Paul Harvey was the voice that soothed Americans all over the world. He was, to many people, an American Legend on and off the air. His death comes less than a year after the death of his wife and longtime producer, Lynne.

I have so many fond memories of sitting by the radio with my 2 sisters, my grandmother and sometimes my mother. We waited for what would become the most legendary of legendary phrases, “And now, the rest of the story”.

We have indeed lost someone of special importance. In all my 40 years, I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone utter an ill word about Mr. Harvey. This is something unheard of in our time. It seems like we live in an age where celebrities feel like they can do no wrong because of their financial situation. Mr. Harvey was one of the good guys.

I could go on and on about the things I adore about him, but I won’t. I’ll simply close with the words that have defined a great man…

“And now you know, the rest of the story.”

Jimmy Harmon General Commentary ABC Radio Networks, Broadcaster, Hero, Icon, Paul Harvey, Radio, The Rest of the Story

I’m reading an article in the Arkansas News online addition, and I notice something that most of us would consider a little strange.

Let me explain something first. As I’m sure you know, Wal-Mart recently laid off between 700 and 800 employees. The normal logic to this would be for us to assume that Wal-Mart is having financial difficulties, right? I mean, why else would you lay off that many employees if you weren’t losing money?

Now I’ll explain what I was reading this morning. It seems that Wal-Mart topped over $400 Billion in annual sales.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit fell to $3.79 billion, down from $4.1 billion in the year earlier period. That’s a loss of $310 million for the same period last year. Quarterly revenues rose, however, to $109.1 billion from $107.3 billion a year ago. This means they made $1.8 billion more during this quarter than the same quarter last year.

For the full year, the world’s largest retailer saw its revenues top $405.6 billion, up from $378.5 billion one year ago. Full year net income jumped 5 percent to $13.4 billion compared to $12.7 billion in the previous fiscal year. That’s an increase of $700 million for the year.

On February 1, 2009,  Mike Duke assumed the title of CEO, replacing longtime leader Lee Scott. Were the layoffs some type of power trip? Were the layoffs even needed? Was this a way for Wal-Mart to boost an already huge profit? Is this a way for Wal-Mart to lead the country in the bounce back from the recession? After all, if Wal-Mart starts showing huge profits, then the United States economy must be doing pretty good, right?

Here’s the way I see it.

Wal-Mart didn’t have to layoff anyone at their corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. I can’t predict the future of Wal-Mart, but I can predict that people will always need food, clothes and the many other items they sell. It wouldn’t seem normal to me if my wife didn’t tell me two or three times per week that we needed something from Wal-Mart. It’s a fact! Who knows, maybe their outlook for 2010 looks so bad that they had to start laying off people now in order to keep up. I honestly doubt this is the case.

Here’s another fact for you. Wal-Mart’s full year net income jumped 5 percent and they still laid off almost 800 corporate employees. What does this actually mean? Was this just an opportunity for them to cut a bunch of employees who didn’t make sense for the company? If that’s the case, as much as I hate to say it, it should make us all feel a little better. Why? Because it shows that Wal-Mart layoffs weren’t because of the economy after all, and it’s not as bad as it seems here in Northwest Arkansas.

I’ll probably do a couple of follow-ups on this. It’s got me interested in exactly how our local economy is doing. It’s also got me interested in seeing just how corporations are trying to play the American people by using the current economic recession to their advantage.

Jimmy Harmon Northwest Arkansas, The Economy Bentonville, economy, Layoff, Lee Scott, Mike Duke, northwest arkansas, Wal-Mart