Thoughts on economy and Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart's U.S. CEO spoke in downtown Los Angeles as part of the Town Hall Los Angeles leadership forum.

The gist of it for me was -- as Wal-Mart goes, so does the rest of retail. Though it may be that Wal-Mart and the rest of retail are going in different directions. As CEO Eduardo Castro-Wright pointed out, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is uniquely positioned to ride out the nation's economic downturn because it sells not only what people want, but what they need -- and for cheap prices.

Since Wal-Mart is kind of a barometer of consumer sentiment, it was interesting to see what Wal-Mart is finding in the concerns and buying patterns of the company's customers.

For one thing, no longer are healthcare and gas prices the top concerns of most of Wal-Mart's customers. The top concern for 80% of them is now financial security.

Everything follows from that concern, it seems:

*Credit as a form of payment is declining.

*Private brands are growing at 2.5 times the rate of national brands.

*Higher gases prices are impacting when and how often people shop.

*Paycheck cycles are becoming increasingly pronounced. That is, people are buying based on when they get paid rather than spreading out their buying patterns over a month.

The event also offered an opportunity to check in with a group of students on what they thought of the nation's economic woes.

The Economics and Business Society at Cal State LA was in the audience to see Castro-Wright speak.

"It's definitely diffucult," society member Lisa Duong, 21, said of the slumping economy. "Graduates are worried about finding jobs."

But its wasn't all gloomy for this group.

"It's a good time to invest," society Vice President Sabin Kith, 23, said. "It's like Christmas."