It's hard to believe our own version of Halloween lands in twoweeks when PPACA kicks off round two of open enrollment…

But that certainly doesn't mean we're all sitting aroundtwiddling our thumbs.

Meanwhile, the country's largest private employer did its partby announcing plans to toss 30,000 or so part-time employees offits benefit plans and into the market. Obviously, the Walton clanisn't alone, following competitor Target, among others, in sheddingplans for part-timers.

In short, the retail giant—which pulled in $473.1 billion in netsales last fiscal year—will trade in 2 percent of its Americanworkforce to pocket an estimated $50 million in savings nextyear.

And guess who gets to pick up the tab for these 30,000 newlyuninsured? That's right, you and I do. Yup, we get to subsidize thehealth care for yet another private employer.

Lost among the flurry of the latest earnings calls were thestagnant sales of both Wal-Mart and Target in the last quarter.Warehouse club competitor, Costco, on the other hand reportedbooming sales.

But they're all the same, right? Not quite.

The Harvard Business Review is one of many media outlets thathave compared the two over the years, but I think this representsone of the more nonpartisan examinations of these two similar, yetvastly different, business operations. It's admittedly a few yearsold, but relevant.

The average hourly wage at Costco is about $17. At Wal-Mart,it's closer to $10.

So this expensive benefits strategy must be breaking the back ofCostco shareholders, right? Not even close. Costco boasts aturnover rate less than half that of their closest competition, amore productive workforce and much lower rates of employee theft—Ilove that they call it “shrinkage.”

Crazy, right? This must make the heads of my Republican brokerfriends spin like wind-up Linda Blair dolls.

As an industry, our very livelihoods are based on this verypremise. Reward employees well and everyone wins—the employee, theemployer and the broker. (Sure, carriers do all right, too.)

Yet, I see so many of you on these forums praising the perpetualcost-cutting strategies of companies like Wal-Mart and Target, asif this benefits arms race to the bottom does anyone good besidesthe shareholder.

You don't really think there's any room for you in there, doyou?