Case for Walmart to Receive Nobel Peace Prize

Intention V. Results

To me one of the biggest problems in practical politics is looking at the intention and not the results. The proclaimed intention of socialists is to bring about equality through government intervention. They have enacted social security, minimum wages, price controls, and "free" health care. These programs have accomplished exactly the opposite of what the well-intentioned politicians desired.
Walmart on the other hand exists for the purpose of creating wealth and increasing profit. Its intentions are self interested. But, looking at the results reveals more net improvement in society than any politician could hope to achieve in my opinion. Walmart:

- Provides employment to 1.9 million people; the best defence against poverty is a job.
- Creates thousands of job opportunities for people in developing countries like China and India; this keeps hunger at bay in many households.
- Doles out hundreds of millions of dollars each year in dividends that help fund the retirement of millions of people; the company had sales in excess of $348 billion and a net profit of $11.3 billion in 2007.
- Sells food, clothing and other necessities to Canadians, Americans and others at prices that are 15 to 25 per cent below what other supermarkets charge; this helps millions of low-income families stretch their dollars.
- Pushes the inflation rate down and helps keep interest rates low; this comes in handy for millions of families when borrowing to buy a house or household appliances.
- Disburses $415 million in cash and in-kind merchandise annually to 100,000 charitable organizations around the world.

It seems that this organization is much more deserving of the Nobel Peace prize than Al Gore ever was.