One Cheese Pizza, Hold The Lead

"You can make a pizza so cheap that no one will want to eat it." Gordon Bethune, former CEO of Continental Airlines once uttered these words of wisdom when asked why he decided not to cut costs to the bone during the airline's second trip through bankruptcy reorganization.

Turns out he was on to something.

Take lead for example. We've all seen the stories in the media about poisonous lead in toys, many of which are sold at deep discount stores like Walmart and Target. These stories definitely explain the what, but they decidedly avoid the why--or the "back story" about our recent close encounters with lead.

Indeed, the why part of the story seems to be off limits.

Here's one reason why: we live in a time that values the relentless pursuit of cost reduction--regardless of the impact upon our society. If it's cheaper, it has got to be better. And if something undesirable like lead winds up in our toys, then the invisible hand of the free market will take care of that. Sure, it may take a little time, and some lives may be lost--but that sure beats any type of regulation--especially by big government.

And so we shop--at Walmart, Target--any place that's cheap. Maybe that's because we have less disposable income. Maybe that's because we refuse to pay a tiny bit more for something made locally--even if it would benefit our neighbors, our community. And we read that it is the evil people putting the lead into the toys that are ones to blame. We play no role in this dynamic at all, do we?

But we do play a role--we buy the cheap stuff, sometimes because we have to, sometimes because we save five cents. We're driving the demand for this junk. Can you imagine a local company selling toys containing lead? Poisoned dog food? How long would they stay in business? Could a local business face their neighbors everyday, while still allowing their poisoned products to be sold? We think not.

If our local media highlighted the role we play as consumers in driving the demand for ever-cheaper goods, would Walmart or Target be as eager to put their advertising inserts into our local papers?

You decide.