if walmart paid a living wage

[Danzig]

they say they'd have to raise prices to do so...check out this video, that shows what that would mean exactly:

http://www.slate.com/articles/busine...uch_would.html


so, if you spent 500 a month on groceries...1.4% would mean you'd pay...

i know the answer, but i thought i'd get people to do the math.


also, knowing that many corporations are nailing record profits, and knowing what they pay for their top management (who have seen wages increase while everyone else's has languished) don't tell me it isn't affordable.


but, boy, those banks sure make a lot of money processing ebt transactions, don't they?

[dellinger63]

If WalMart employees would have worked harder and been more responsible when they were in school, they wouldn't be forced to work at WalMart or some other menial job requiring little to no skills and would have a job that paid a living wage.

For heaven's sake the greeter at my WalMart can't get out of a chair and manages a 'welcome to WalMart' every 3rd customer. And she deserves a raise?

You want to give them more money, do it out your own pocket. Or organize such an effort.

BTW if 1.4% is such an insignificant number might I suggest the Federal Government give a 1.4% rebate, across the board on this year's personal income tax collected. What do you suppose $40 billion infused into the economy would do as opposed to taking an extra 1.4% from every WalMart shopper including seniors buying their drugs.

I'm not sure what your personal peeve is with WalMart but it's not just the Walton family and upper management that is making money. It's also their shareholders including most pension, education and diversified mutual funds. What do you suppose an arbitrary 1.4% raise in prices at the register would do to its stock price?

[dellinger63]

god save us

[GenuineRisk]

Silly Danzig- if Walmart paid their employees a living wage then Alice Walton might not be able to pay $70 million for an apartment!

http://pagesix.com/2014/04/03/wal-ma...719.1370441377

Where do you expect her to live? In some $60 million hovel? How dare you!

I mean, Del has already made it clear that he thinks Wal Mart workers are lazy scum and don't deserve to live, when will you get with the program? Alice Walton worked very hard to get born into such a rich family!

And having worked retail, it's not an easy job. It takes a great deal of patience and energy not to punch ******* customers in the face who automatically assume you're a lazy moron because you work retail. Retail is the worst. And it's mostly the customers. I remember one woman attempting to use coupons in my checkout line for things that not only did she not buy, but we didn't even sell. And when I said no, she marched over to the managers' office to complain about me.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Silly Danzig- if Walmart paid their employees a living wage then Alice Walton might not be able to pay $70 million for an apartment!

http://pagesix.com/2014/04/03/wal-ma...719.1370441377

Where do you expect her to live? In some $60 million hovel? How dare you!

I mean, Del has already made it clear that he thinks Wal Mart workers are lazy scum and don't deserve to live, when will you get with the program? Alice Walton worked very hard to get born into such a rich family!

And having worked retail, it's not an easy job. It takes a great deal of patience and energy not to punch ******* customers in the face who automatically assume you're a lazy moron because you work retail. Retail is the worst. And it's mostly the customers. I remember one woman attempting to use coupons in my checkout line for things that not only did she not buy, but we didn't even sell. And when I said no, she marched over to the managers' office to complain about me.

yeah, retail workers don't earn their keep, but old alice has. i'm not surprised that's his response-but i put him on ignore some time ago to spare myself.
i also worked in retail, and if i had to do it again, there's no way i could. i learned a lot there, everywhere i worked i learned valuable lessons.

what i've learned most tho-is people who deride walmart and fast food workers (for example) don't know what they're talking about. neither do people who think all military enlistees do so because they can't do anything else.
my son passed up an lsu scholarship for the navy, and is now a nuclear electronics technician. he'll make handsome dough when he gets out after giving his time to the navy in exchange for several years worth of education and training.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Danzig

my son passed up an lsu scholarship for the navy, and is now a nuclear electronics technician. he'll make handsome dough when he gets out after giving his time to the navy in exchange for several years worth of education and training.

Glad he isn't going to HAVE to work at WalMart.

You and he do realize LSU has a nuclear engineering program? And a 4 year scholarship is worth about $140K. And a nuclear engineer starts out with a salary 40% greater than a nuclear electronics technician?

Forget it and no wonder you don't read my posts.

[Danzig]

http://news.msn.com/us/median-ceo-pa...lion-in-2013-1

NEW YORK (AP) — They're the $10 million men and women.


Propelled by a soaring stock market, the median pay package for a CEO rose above eight figures for the first time last year. The head of a typical large public company earned a record $10.5 million, an increase of 8.8 percent from $9.6 million in 2012, according to an Associated Press/Equilar pay study.

Last year was the fourth straight that CEO compensation rose following a decline during the Great Recession. The median CEO pay package climbed more than 50 percent over that stretch. A chief executive now makes about 257 times the average worker's salary, up sharply from 181 times in 2009.


yeah... money's tight, can't afford raises for the employees. god, these poor companies. i hope they can hang in there!

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by Danzig

yeah, retail workers don't earn their keep, but old alice has. i'm not surprised that's his response-but i put him on ignore some time ago to spare myself.
i also worked in retail, and if i had to do it again, there's no way i could. i learned a lot there, everywhere i worked i learned valuable lessons.

what i've learned most tho-is people who deride walmart and fast food workers (for example) don't know what they're talking about. neither do people who think all military enlistees do so because they can't do anything else.
my son passed up an lsu scholarship for the navy, and is now a nuclear electronics technician. he'll make handsome dough when he gets out after giving his time to the navy in exchange for several years worth of education and training.

I sure hope for his sake that both he and you have that guaranteed in writing somewhere.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

I sure hope for his sake that both he and you have that guaranteed in writing somewhere.

don't need it in writing, just know what the market is for his job.
he just got an almost six figure bonus for re-upping, demand is that high.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

If WalMart employees would have worked harder and been more responsible when they were in school, they wouldn't be forced to work at WalMart or some other menial job requiring little to no skills and would have a job that paid a living wage.

For heaven's sake the greeter at my WalMart can't get out of a chair and manages a 'welcome to WalMart' every 3rd customer. And she deserves a raise?

You want to give them more money, do it out your own pocket. Or organize such an effort.

BTW if 1.4% is such an insignificant number might I suggest the Federal Government give a 1.4% rebate, across the board on this year's personal income tax collected. What do you suppose $40 billion infused into the economy would do as opposed to taking an extra 1.4% from every WalMart shopper including seniors buying their drugs.

I'm not sure what your personal peeve is with WalMart but it's not just the Walton family and upper management that is making money. It's also their shareholders including most pension, education and diversified mutual funds. What do you suppose an arbitrary 1.4% raise in prices at the register would do to its stock price?

I obviously agree with you that the more skills and talent a person has, the more money they deserve to make. That being said, that doesn't mean that a person in a menial job should have to practically starve. I mean there is a happy medium.

I heard some fast food workers (who are making $9 an hour) are asking for $15 an hour. That is a little bit extreme. They shouldn't go from $9 to $15. But if they got $10 or $11 an hour, I think that would be a reasonable compromise.

What you said about people working harder in school may have some merit, but I'm sure plenty of those people worked hard but just aren't very smart. Just because someone isn't very smart, it doesn't mean they should starve. I mean they don't deserve to make a lot of money but I think there is enough wealth in this country to at least pay the bottom jobs a slightly higher wage. There is a happy medium.

In addition, the job market is so poor right now that even some people with good educations and good skills can't find a decent job. I'm sure there are some employees at Walmart who are overqualified but who can't find decent jobs anywhere else.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

What you said about people working harder in school may have some merit, but I'm sure plenty of those people worked hard but just aren't very smart. Just because someone isn't very smart, it doesn't mean they should starve.

They shouldn't starve for sure!

But at the same time also shouldn't be offered a salary breeding

[jms62]

And meanwhile everyone is missing the real problem which is the gutting of the middle class. The middle class that buys a hell of a lot more cars, houses,ovens, etc. then the top and bottom combined. Who is going to buy your products Mr. CEO when your customer or their customer has no job. Those on these boards that think their job is immune are whistling by the graveyard.

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

In addition, the job market is so poor right now that even some people with good educations and good skills can't find a decent job. I'm sure there are some employees at Walmart who are overqualified but who can't find decent jobs anywhere else.

Yes, so let's import millions more.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by jms62

And meanwhile everyone is missing the real problem which is the gutting of the middle class. The middle class that buys a hell of a lot more cars, houses,ovens, etc. then the top and bottom combined. Who is going to buy your products Mr. CEO when your customer or their customer has no job. Those on these boards that think their job is immune are whistling by the graveyard.

Too true.
I put the link to that article in this thread because it was the most recent thread dealing with wages, etc.

Obviously not a Walmart problem, but a wage problem...with wages stagnating everywhere but the very top.the union my husband belongs to will be in contract negotiations soon, the current contract ends this year. We are wondering what scraps will be tossed by the company.
This isn't the production union, but covers electricians, instrumentation and mechanical. Skilled workers with years of experience, who keep this place running. And they are hard to find. Won't matter, judging by past experience.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by jms62

And meanwhile everyone is missing the real problem which is the gutting of the middle class. The middle class that buys a hell of a lot more cars, houses,ovens, etc. then the top and bottom combined. Who is going to buy your products Mr. CEO when your customer or their customer has no job. Those on these boards that think their job is immune are whistling by the graveyard.

This. The amount of labor required to build a $100,000 car versus a $20,000 is minimal, compared to the amount of labor required to build 5 $20,000 cars versus one $100,000 car. The middle class will consume more than the wealthy, because there are more middle class. That's more money continuing to flow through the economy, instead of being socked away.

Call the ultra wealthy what they really are: hoarders.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

This. The amount of labor required to build a $100,000 car versus a $20,000 is minimal, compared to the amount of labor required to build 5 $20,000 cars versus one $100,000 car. The middle class will consume more than the wealthy, because there are more middle class. That's more money continuing to flow through the economy, instead of being socked away.

Call the ultra wealthy what they really are: hoarders.

true.
a million dollars in the hands of a millionaire sits in a vault.
take that million and spread it out to the rest of the country, it gets spent.

it just boggles my mind that people are perfectly ok with pay to the top skyrocketing, while the rest of us are supposed to be happy with the crumbs. that people explain away stagnating wages-while the money is still there, it just goes to the very few now.
what changed? why are the mindsets of the businesses changing? why don't they view it like henry ford, where the workers have to be able to afford the products they make?


i think another round of tax cuts to the wealthy is the answer. it's bound to work eventually.

[jms62]

Unfortunately I think as a country we are headed towards bloodshed. The sky has been falling for sometime.

http://www.priceactionlab.com/Blog/2...y-bull-market/

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by jms62

Unfortunately I think as a country we are headed towards bloodshed. The sky has been falling for sometime.

http://www.priceactionlab.com/Blog/2...y-bull-market/

Be careful there, you'll be labeled a conspiracy theorist

This has been the FED model ever since the collapse of the economy and subsequent "propping-it-back-up" with borrowed money.

You never see Obama talking about restoring the middle class, only "creating good paying jobs". It is not in the government, nor the FED's interest to create policies that restore the middle class. Quite the opposite, actually. We discussed Thomas Pikkety's book in the last thread this topic came up in, I'd really suggest anyone that has an actual interest in the fundamental cause/effect of Capitalism run amok take some time to read it. There's only like 800 years of data that points out precisely what happens next (believe it or not, we're not the first ones to be in this current state)

Of course it is sooooo much easier to blame the big ole' meanies that run Walmart because they hate 'Merica.

[Pants II]

the rule makers don't care. The choice was made.

Technology won. We lost. The end.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Be careful there, you'll be labeled a conspiracy theorist

This has been the FED model ever since the collapse of the economy and subsequent "propping-it-back-up" with borrowed money.

You never see Obama talking about restoring the middle class, only "creating good paying jobs". It is not in the government, nor the FED's interest to create policies that restore the middle class. Quite the opposite, actually. We discussed Thomas Pikkety's book in the last thread this topic came up in, I'd really suggest anyone that has an actual interest in the fundamental cause/effect of Capitalism run amok take some time to read it. There's only like 800 years of data that points out precisely what happens next (believe it or not, we're not the first ones to be in this current state)

Of course it is sooooo much easier to blame the big ole' meanies that run Walmart because they hate 'Merica.

Was going to order that, thanks for reminding me.