13 May 2026 10:44 am
Hmm, does your net worth at death signify the amount of value you added to the economy? I think not. A fairly poor person that is a long term saver could end up with millions while the super rich guy decided to give his money away before death. Now do your little math exercise.Cannonpointer » 11 May 2026, 5:08 pm » wrote: ↑ I consider the other two low hanging fruit - too easy; So let's work with old Sam. I have mad respect for Sam Walton. I believe he was a good man. Let's say he was worth 8 billion when he died.
My grandfather was a commercial fisherman in the Pacific Ocean. He owned his own boat. He retired in 1964 with 40k, which grew to about four hundred hundred thousand before my Gramma died and left it to the kids. Let's use the 400k that his fortune became, rather than what it was when he died in 73. I'm curious if you believe that Sam Walton provided 20,000 times the value my grandfather did.
I'm not trying to **** on anybody - not on sam or you or my grandpa. I'm just trying to plumb your thinking on this. I mean, ANYBODY can answer from the tautology. But what does your gut say? Did Sam Walton deliver 20,000 times my grand daddy's value to society, middle-manning products that other men produced?
You can say he "created jobs," but I argue that in truth, the market Sam Walton rode to wealth created those jobs. The consumers of those goods created those jobs. The producers of the goods created those jobs.
Sam didn't build that.
If anything, Sam CUT jobs - because that's how ya **** win. You do it cheaper than the competition in a market when labor is your biggest cost after COGS. So, did Sam Walton out-contribute my grand daddy by 20,000 times, in your opinion?
It doesn't make sense to me to compare your Grandpappy to Sam Walton. Literally everyone ends up at a different number in the end and doesn't really tell the story of ones life.
We can look at some numbers concerning Walmart though.
Walmart is generally, on average, roughly 9% to 25% cheaper than Safeway and Albertsons, making it the more budget-friendly option. According to 2026 data, Safeway is about 8.8% more expensive than Walmart, while Albertsons is significantly higher at approximately 24.8% more expensive.
Higher end food stores like Sprouts, Trader Joe's, etc. will cost you 25-40% more than Walmart.
90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart.
Walmart serves 190 million customers a month in the US, 2.2 billion annually.
Now consider that every transaction at Walmart saved the consumer 9-40%. That is a massive number and then multiply it by the 34 years since Walton died. The number is staggering.
I would say even in death Sam Walton adds value to consumers in a big way.
The Walton wealth doesn't bother me, I spend $500-800/ month at Walmart and Sam's club. Mostly Sam's. It saves me money.
What if Walmart never happened? Sam was content with his hand full of stores at the time.
I don't frown on people's wealth. ****, the "Shamwow" guy kicked my ***. $20k investment on a commercial and he sold millions of units in a 2-3 year period. Life takes you exactly to where you are.
Now I know where you got your saltyness.