Jimmy Harmon

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.

Michelle Burwell, a really good friend of mine from Christian Life Cathedral in Bentonville, Arkansas sent me the picture that I’m showing you.

Miracle on the Hudson

For those of us who are believer’s, this is an excellent interpretation of “what happened on the Hudson”. I have no doubt in my mind that God supernaturally intervened in what could have easily been a horrible tragedy. It’s easy for people to undermine the fact that God does actually exist and intervene in our daily lives. For those of us who believe in the One True God, it’s one more example of how good our God really is!

With the recent tragedy of flight 3407 that killed all 49 people on the plane and 1 person on the ground, it makes one wonder why God would save one plane and not the other. The simple answer is, “I don’t know.” If I tried to come up with an answer, I’d be lying. I’d also be trying to second guess God, and that’s something I won’t do.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of flight 3407. While it’s natural to mourn over their deaths, it’s also important to celebrate the fact that 155 people were saved from certain death only a couple of weeks earlier. It’s not up to us to try and figure out why, but more importantly, to accept that fact that we could die at a moments notice. I encourage you to follow the link below and send the author a quick email in support of his recent cartoon.

Here’s a link to the newspaper where he works. http://www.sacbee.com/babin/

Thanks to Michelle for sending me the cartoon.

It may take awhile, but I think Alex Rodriguez will realize exactly how much he’s lost. Not financially, but with the fans. Sure, he’ll end up losing a pretty fair amount of money through endorsements, etc. But what about the fan base? What about his nephew who still plays on Alex Rodriguez field who doesn’t want to speak right now? There’s a level of disappointment that goes way beyond money and power. After all, it’s not always about money and power. Sometimes it’s just about life in general.

I just read an article about where Alex Rodriguez went to play baseball as a youth. The field where kids go to play baseball is named after the Yankees superstar. His picture still hangs on the wall in the main room. Oddly enough, it hangs next to a picture of Michael Phelps who was recently caught smoking dope out of a glass bong.

I guess what it boils down to is this; Will superstars Alex Rodriguez and Michael Phelps bounce back from drug use and become role models for American youth? As adults, we strive to have our children follow individuals with good morals, ethics and sense of responsibility. We want our kids to have role models that have actually had to work for what they’ve received. We want of kids to know that it takes hard work to get to where these athletes are today. Personally, I don’t want my children growing up thinking there’s some type of miracle drug that can make them some sort of superhero overnight. I want them to work hard in order to achieve greatness.

The one thing that makes me curious about Alex Rodriguez is his “admittance” interview with Peter Gammons. Was this a genuine apology after deciding to come clean? I believe it was genuine, but I believe it was for the wrong reasons. It paves the way for a fruitful meeting with MLB and Government officials. Of course, I’m hearing today that the Government will pretty much leave Alex Rodriguez alone. After all, the Government only goes after liars, right? But nonetheless, he did come clean and he won’t face charges for lying to Katie Couric. Is he truly sorry for what he’s done, or is he sorry he got caught?

Only time will tell if he’s genuinely sorry for what he’s done. He’s already done so much for the community, but now it’s time to do even more for the people he’s let down. Including me. He was someone I looked up to in the sports world.

You know things are getting pretty bad when Walmart starts to lay off employees.  CEO Mike Duke announced yesterday that Walmart would lay off approximately 700 – 800 employees from the Walmart home office in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart has always been a stronghold here in the Northwest Arkansas area and I’m sure it’s one of the hardest decisions CEO Mike Duke will have to make.

With 2.2 million employees worldwide, 700 – 800 seems like a small number. When you take into consideration what it does to the local economy, it takes on a whole new meaning. The most recent economic reports indicate that the 3rd quarter of 2008 saw a slight decrease in Bentonville’s unemployment rate to 4.11% from 4.52% in 2007. The Walmart layoffs will have a definitive impact on both the economy and the unemployment rate.

Even with the layoffs, Walmart spokesman David Tovar says the company plans to add employees at retail stores across the country, according to the Associated Press. Since most of the layoffs are coming from the home office in Bentonville, the skill level of the newly unemployed is probably a little higher than that of a retail worker. Nonetheless, I wonder if Walmart tried offered the jobs to the ones they’re letting go. It would be at least somewhat of an initiative. I wouldn’t expect many of them to take jobs in a California or New York Walmart, but it would be an excellent gesture.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see what it does to our local economy. Northwest Arkansas is a strong community. I believe that if there’s one community in the country that can beat the odds, it’s Northwest Arkansas!

It seems to me that something’s being left out. It’s something that needs to be addressed to anyone who has and wants to defend someone using performance enhancing drugs. It’s the performance of the players not using performance enhancing drugs. Not only is it not fair to the individuals who have worked to get where they are the honest way, but it could potentially be devistating to their careers as well.

Imagine if you will a pitcher. He pitches a perfect game into the 8th inning. A drug enhanced player comes up to bat and hits a homerun. The pitcher ends up losing the game. Now imagine, the same pitcher, playing in 10 straight games in this same manner. What do you think would happen to his career?

I know most of you are probably thinking to yourselves, “The odds of this happening are a million to one!” So what about the one pitcher that loses his career? Does he become just a statistic?

The one thing I thought Alex Rodriguez had going for him was his honesty. It turns out that this isn’t true. He will go down in history as one of the greatest players who “admitted it”.

Alex Rodriguez admitted “experimenting” with steroids during his stay with the Texas Rangers from 2001 to 2003. He went on to become one of the highest paid players in Major League Baseball with the Yankees. A contract valued at $252 million.

SI.com reported Saturday morning that Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan during his 2003 American League MVP season. There are no indications that Rodriguez tested positive at any time after that campaign.

Alex Rodriguez should be very ashamed about what he’s done. He becomes just another tainted baseball star who has failed to live up to, not his playing potential, but his ethical potential.

So they’ve passed the stimulus package… now what? The Dow took a dive of more than 380 points and the economy still looks as bad today as it did yesterday. In fact, the economy looks worse today then it did 2 months ago. They spent so much time fighting over the amount of the package that many businesses looking to gain from the stimulus package are going to fail even if they get it.

I’m not a statistician, so I can’t tell the difference between the Great Depression of 1929 and today. All I know is we’re on the brink of economic failure that could potentially devastate the complete world economy. If you think I’m kidding, just look at what the markets are doing each and ever time our leaders go on TV and state how bad the economy is doing. If we fail economically, the world will fail economically! It’s as simple as that!

President Obama says he wants the bill on his desk by February 16th, 2009. Will it happen? Will it really make a difference?

We’ve had a total 100% transformation of the site. We’ve literally had over 5 million visitors in the last 5 years, so there are many of you who know what a change this is going to be.

For the most part, this has become a commentary only site. I’ve got way too many opinions bottled up inside for me to stand idly by anymore. The thoughts and opinions expressed will be mine. If anyone has a problem, they can feel free to send me an email.