For those who care about the poor, it is time to step up, speak out and join this national discussion.

I have committed my life to helping the poor, and I believe that if more companies followed Wal-Mart's lead in providing opportunity and savings to those who need it most, more Americans battling poverty would realize the American dream.

It's not just a lack of preparedness. I think the easy answer is to say that these are poor people and black people and so the government doesn't give a damn. That's OK, and there might be some truth to that. But I think we've got to see this as a serious problem of the long-term neglect of an environmental system on which our nation depends. All the grain that's grown in Iowa and Illinois, and the huge industrial output of the Midwest has to come down the Mississippi River, and there has to be a port to handle it, to keep a functioning economy in the United States of America.

They are some of the best entry level jobs that are available to poor people. And they also make products available to the working poor.

With this, I had to learn and develop a character over time.

The investor gets the financial return and the 200 poor communities where our shareholders operate will get the social gain.