How is your quality of life?

Gas prices are over the top, causing havoc among U.S. citizens who rely on gasoline to drive to work every day. Automakers are struggling like never before in an entire generation to replace gas guzzlers with four-cylinder econo-cars due to demand to save fuel. Housing prices continue to sit in the bottom of the barrel while foreclosures increase. Commodity and food prices have skyrocketed, causing staples like milk and bread products to rise in a large way. Sound like the end of the world? The way the media portrays it, it sure sounds like it.

Consumer confidence is at a 28-year low. The current executive administration of the U.S. is sitting idly by during the last months of its administration. The presidential race is just that -- a race; nothing will happen from that corner to address the multitude of problems facing the U.S. economy right now. Who can help put the right amount of food on the table, help keep prices manageable and even help at the gas pump? Who else but Wal-Mart.

The power can be concentrated

Although many love to bash Wal-Mart in more ways than one, the retailer did something right when it chose a new corporate tagline last year. "Save Money. Live Better". Those words hold some truth for tens of millions of Americans struggling with fuel, food, and housing issues right now. The power Wal-Mart has over suppliers and vendors, while seen as iron-fisted from one perspective, can lead to a type of price control for consumers that the U.S. government just can't match in many ways.

Are food manufacturers able to stipulate food prices based on the raw materials prices (commodities) that have seen sharp rises in 2008? You would think so, but the Forbes argument is that Wal-Mart sends the pricing message to the consumer -- not the manufacturer. It argues that Wal-Mart could easily spread its wings over pricing control due to the vast purchasing power it has. I tend to agree with that viewpoint.

The opposing perspective has to do with Wal-Mart effectively sourcing everything it sells to China. And, by implication, it controlling prices in tough economic times just means that it's wrangling more value from its Asian suppliers. In some cases, this is true. It would be interesting to determine if the majority of processed food packages are actually manufactured by large conglomerates in China, or just if some of the raw materials used in finished processed goods are grown in China for inclusion into food packages elsewhere. Regardless, Wal-Mart's ability to control prices to its consumers leaves it as the sole breadwinner for inflation control at retail. Even gas prices can be somewhat controlled, since the retailer gives a decent break on a gallon of gas when filled up at its stores if you're indeed a Wal-Mart customer.

What are other retailers doing?

While Wal-Mart may have tried to branch out in the past few years to try and take market share from other hip and specialty retailers, the core competency of Wal-Mart circles around one wagon: keeping prices low. That mantra never really went away, and now Wal-Mart is seeing the fruits of that labor in its most recent results. The retailer, after some serious thought in the past 12 months, is back on the historical bandwagon of marketing its low prices, first and foremost. This is the appropriate response: if the market requires you market what the market needs and expects, fulfill that need.

And don't let it stop there. Capture the elusive, wanna-be upper income shopper who was a Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) fan before, who also shopped at Dillards Inc. (NYSE: DDS), and may now be finding themselves shopping at Wal-Mart to save those precious bucks that need to flow into the gas tank of that Hummer. Maybe, just maybe, Wal-Mart will keep that person as a customer after market confidence is restored and the American economy digs itself out from the hole it is in.

From a purely marketing standpoint, Wal-Mart is the saving grace for millions of consumers in the U.S. right now, and it stands positioned to gain more strength. Whether you are an avid fan of the retailer or a bitter critic, it's in the best position to help the U.S. consumer through its constant policy of low prices. Agree? Disagree?

Join me right here this time next week for another edition of The Wal-Mart Weekly. Until then, have a safe and gas-saving week, okay?