Usually, when people talk about “too big to fail” they are referring to financial institutions and insurance companies.

But what happens when a company is too big to reign in? When it does what it wants and wields so much political clout that investigations seem to evaporate?

Walmart is such a company.

But maybe this time they will have to answer for their actions.

Because, fortunately, it is The New York Times that has been doing the investigating, not a government entity or by Wal-Mart—the internal investigation was shut down by company executives when the evidence wasn’t in their favor—and has been ongoing for years.

It seems that much of Walmart’s global growth in Mexico and other countries has been fueled by bribes.

Rather, Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited. It used bribes to subvert democratic governance — public votes, open debates, transparent procedures. It used bribes to circumvent regulatory safeguards that protect Mexican citizens from unsafe construction. It used bribes to outflank rivals.

In a statement a Walmart spokesman said, “We are committed to having a strong and effective global anticorruption program everywhere we operate and taking appropriate action for any instance of noncompliance.”

But actions speak louder than words and Walmart’s actions are a case study of leadership failure in the home office—all the way to the top.

But Wal-Mart’s leaders did not tell Mexican authorities about his allegations, not even after their own investigators concluded there was “reasonable suspicion” to believe laws had been violated, records and interviews show.

It seems similar tactics were used in India and China, too.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is a federal law that makes it a crime for American corporations or their subsidiaries to bribe foreign officials and the Justice Department and SEC Have started their own investigations.

As the investigations unfold it will be interesting to see if a corporation can, indeed, be so big that it’s above the law.

On a related topic.

One more thought for those who believe that newspapers are no longer relevant.

I seriously doubt that any Internet media company, let alone a blogger, could or would have mounted this investigation and stuck with it—nor can this story be told in 140 character spurts.

No matter what happens we owe a debt to The New York Times.

Flickr image credit: The New York Times and Walmart

Before I get to today’s lineup I need to respond to an email question from a reader. “Joan” first assured me that she didn’t mind, but was wondering why so many of my posts played off articles in the NY Times and Business Week when there were so many sources available.

Simply, there is only so much I can read in the time I have available; I’ve read BW for decades and although I don’t like it as much now as I did in years long past, it still offers varied overviews on a large variety of subjects. As to the NYT, I like newspapers and these days it offers as much veracity and breath as I’m going to find. Enough, in fact, that I plan to keep it when it goes to paid subscriptions next year. (I also get my local paper, but it’s highly focused locally and on the region.)

As I’ve said in the past, I like stories about people, especially when they do the unexpected or the unexpected does them; today we have both.

First up, two with a horticultural bent. One tells the story of twins who have been traveling the East Coast sleeping in trees, while the other gives you a look at a book store in Humboldt County, CA, a place known for Giant Sequoias and pot, whose address was hijacked by pot growers as a return when mailing their product. (Hat tip to Gen, owner of North Coast Gardening, for sending me the link.)

You know all those articles you keep seeing about how Americans new frugality is a sea change and not a temporary reaction to past layoffs and current insecurity? Don’t bet on it as this story about Wall Street spending shows.

This next article highlights the importance of dying on your own terms. It resonates with me, because it focuses on dying at home (which I plan to do). You may not appreciate the subject, but death is something with which we all end up dealing—usually multiple times during our lives. It’s one of those things that is best thought about long before it’s necessary.

Finally, have you looked in your attic lately? I never had one, which may be one reason I can’t pass up a garage sale. An English couple clearing out their parents’ attic found an old Chinese vase; it just sold at auction for 69.5 million dollars (plus the 20% VAT). That’s enough inspiration to make you want to clean out your elderly relatives’ attics.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedroelcarvalho/2812091311/

NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof comments that we finally elected an unabashed intellectual to the Presidency (it’s definitely worth reading), but what resonated more with me was the part that ties so closely with that CandidProf has been telling us.

“We can’t solve our educational challenges when, according to polls, Americans are approximately as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution, and when one-fifth of Americans believe that the sun orbits the Earth.

Almost half of young Americans said in a 2006 poll that it was not necessary to know the locations of countries where important news was made. That must be a relief to Sarah Palin, who, according to Fox News, didn’t realize that Africa was a continent rather than a country.”

• I’ve met people who think that the “Middle East” is a country;
• a nurse once explained to me that the war between Serbia and Bosnia wasn’t racial because both sides were Caucasian;
• a business type told me that Arkansas and Kansas were next to each other like North and South Dakota;
• CandidProf says that his students don’t know that round means spherical, so they think the Earth is a disk;
• something like 20% of Americans are functionally illiterate.

I’m actually grateful for Palin’s error because it highlights the level of ignorance that has become acceptable and the condition of education in this country.

I’m not saying that it’s necessarily great in other countries, but I don’t live in them either and they don’t bragg about being the world’s leader.

Perhaps it’s time to turn our focus from being the ‘leader’ in fixing the world’s problems to being the ‘leader’ in fixing our own.

The stupidity exemplified in the No Child Left Behind law that has led to a lowering of already low standards in the name of receiving funding is criminal.

We need educational reform that isn’t test-based, but focuses on real learning including critical thinking and is adequately funded.

Funding that shouldn’t be the problem once we stop spending $70 billion a month on the war—not that I think much of it will go towards education.

The stupidity of parents in brainwashing their kids into believing they are special and entitled to good grades and good jobs merely because they exist is tragic.

This entitlement stupidity is likely to carry on to future generations, unless it gets good and stomped down when it comes in contact with reality.

What ignorance can you add to the list above?

What ideas do you have for combating the problems?

Your comments—priceless

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Image credit: sxc.hu