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Where are all the posters that were attacking Wal Mart employees for protesting wages last year?
Still though, average wages are only going up $0.15.
"Full-time employees currently make an average of $12.85 an hour and part-time employees make an average of $9.48, says spokesperson Kory Lundberg. Those averages will increase to $13 and $10 respectively under the new plan."
Lousy life choices lead to seeking public assistance more so than anything else.
Most of those choices start with a man and women engaging in unprotected sex without the means or marketable skills to take full financial responsibility for the outcome.
Lousy living conditions and lack of financial/educational opportunity lead to lousy life choices.
I believe everyone is born innocent.
How can you ignore the fact that our manufacturing base was wiped out, while the cost of education increased drastically? We produce NOTHING anymore, while consuming and consuming. Having the largest prison population on the planet, two-working parent households, credit cards, 30 year mortgages and other things have further concealed the deterioration of the middle class and American wealth.
A high school graduate in 1970 owned a home and supported a spouse and 3 kids on their salary. A high school graduate today lives in poverty and works at Wal Mart part time trying to get a loan for $50k to go to school. These are generalizations of course but the point remains-nation-less corporations have gutted our Middle Class and American way of life.
You can go on pretending that everyone is stupid and deserves whatever is coming to them, or you can admit that things like NAFTA and the soon to come TPP are for the benefit of nation-less corporations exploiting our workforce, not for the benefit of the American people.
Walmart gross sales/revenues are about $475 billion annually (taken from above source, for 2014). If the company passes on the entire cost of the pay raise to it's customers in the form of price hikes, then Sam Walton's heirs aren't out a dime and the average cost of purchases at Walmart rise about half a percent.
What size bump is half a percent?
It's nice when it's set properly.
That's right, when you are talking about companies that can't leave the US, such as retailers, fast food, auto collision repair, hotels, home builders, etc, they will pass the cost of additional labor or taxes on to the consumers.
Over time, inflation reduces a dollar's buying power so that the same dollar buys you less from one year to the next year.
So by increasing the cost to companies, you increase inflation which decreases buying power which puts the employees right back to where they started.
With just Walmart increasing prices, it's not going to do that much in terms of Cost Push Inflation, but an increase in the nation's minimum wages or greater taxes on companies will do quite a bit to drive up inflation thus cancelling out those raises.
If trades unions can present a common front then they can bargain for higher wages. Rising wages are a key cause of cost push inflation because wages are the most significant cost for many firms. (higher wages may also contribute to rising demand)" From the link you provided. The emphasis was mine.
Your own source refutes your assertion that inflation reduces buying power. It reduces the buying power of $100. But Cost Push Inflation increases the buying power of 1hr of minimum wage labor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PedroMartinez
With just Walmart increasing prices, it's not going to do that much in terms of Cost Push Inflation, but an increase in the nation's minimum wages or greater taxes on companies will do quite a bit to drive up inflation thus cancelling out those raises.
Cost push inflation puts the squeeze from inflation somewhere else than on the bottom.
"We want associates that care about the company and are highly engaged in our business and are leaning in," he said. "Those feelings generate a customer experience that drives growth."
I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn if you don't think this "announcement" all over the media today had to do with all the negative publicity and protests surrounding Wal Mart last year.
This is more of a publicity stunt than a real change.
I think it is part stunt but possibly part real change. It's stunt to appease the negative image given with the MyWalmart campaigns and the Thanksgiving drives for Walmart employees picture that went viral. Companies are seeing that more employers are creating good paying jobs and realize we spent too long with low wage and part time jobs stagnating meaningful economic growth.
You didn't really think this "trap" all the way through. While you were able to play the "sound-bite" of cost-push inflation, you don't address the other factors.
The minimum wage peaked in the 1960's, being about $10.50 in today's dollars. The nation survived then, why don't you think that it could survive now?
The federally mandated minimum wage hasn't risen from $7.25 since July 2015. Yet inflation hasn't stood still and minimum wage workers have actually lost about 75 cents of buying power in their current hourly rate. Are you really going to claim a "cost-push" deflation effect?
Minimum wage only covers a small fraction of the work force, so a 50 cent bump for such a small portion of the work force doesn't really drive that much cost-push inflation that you would have us believe. Unless you want to try and push the concept that everyone else in the nation must necessarily receive raises because a Walmart worker now gets $7.75 per hour instead of $7.25.
Putting more money into the pockets of the people at the lower end of the economic ladder means that more money will be spent in the economy, increasing GDP, which in itself will lead to a rise of demand for labor.
And just one more thing...
If Walmart employees get higher wages, then Walmart employees receive less governmental assistance, so economically speaking it becomes a wash. Slightly higher expenses for the consumer, but slightly lower government expenses for the taxpayer, and it reduces the size/role of the government in the economy, relinquishing some governmental portion of the GDP and returning it to market forces. Isn't that a good thing?
Or are you in favor of governmental subsidization for corporations in the form of welfare benefits for the employees of said corporations?
You didn't really think this "trap" all the way through...
"1. Rising wages
If trades unions can present a common front then they can bargain for higher wages. Rising wages are a key cause of cost push inflation because wages are the most significant cost for many firms. (higher wages may also contribute to rising demand)" Causes of Inflation | Economics Help
From his link.
He didn't even link to something that didn't argue against his position.
You didn't really think this "trap" all the way through. While you were able to play the "sound-bite" of cost-push inflation, you don't address the other factors.
The minimum wage peaked in the 1960's, being about $10.50 in today's dollars. The nation survived then, why don't you think that it could survive now?
Yes, it PEAKED in 1968 at $10.69 but in 1950 it was at $7.25 (all in adjusted dollars).
As the minimum wage has increased over the years, from $.75 (in the case of 1950) to $7.25 today, there has not been much more buying power for the minimum wage worker. As a matter of fact, it's the exact same today as in was in 1950.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djmilf
The federally mandated minimum wage hasn't risen from $7.25 since July 2015. Yet inflation hasn't stood still and minimum wage workers have actually lost about 75 cents of buying power in their current hourly rate. Are you really going to claim a "cost-push" deflation effect?
Please show me where I claimed cost-push was the only thing affecting inflation and/or purchasing power?
Quote:
Originally Posted by djmilf
Minimum wage only covers a small fraction of the work force, so a 50 cent bump for such a small portion of the work force doesn't really drive that much cost-push inflation that you would have us believe. Unless you want to try and push the concept that everyone else in the nation must necessarily receive raises because a Walmart worker now gets $7.75 per hour instead of $7.25.
When the national minimum wage goes up with any significance, so will the wages above it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djmilf
Putting more money into the pockets of the people at the lower end of the economic ladder means that more money will be spent in the economy, increasing GDP, which in itself will lead to a rise of demand for labor.
If Walmart employees get higher wages, then Walmart employees receive less governmental assistance, so economically speaking it becomes a wash. Slightly higher expenses for the consumer, but slightly lower government expenses for the taxpayer, and it reduces the size/role of the government in the economy, relinquishing some governmental portion of the GDP and returning it to market forces. Isn't that a good thing?
Yes, but that will usually work when it's limited to a company or industry. If the wage increase goes through our entire workforce, inflation puts us right back to where we were.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djmilf
Or are you in favor of governmental subsidization for corporations in the form of welfare benefits for the employees of said corporations?
Of course not. If an able-bodied adult can't live off of a job at Walmart, that person needs to find a second job to subsidize himself.
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