24/7: Ten Companies Paying Americans the Least

[Predicto]

Ditto 

 

has raising the minimum wage ever reduced our welfare rolls in recent decades?

 

Has it increased hiring?

 

but then ya'll like welfare in Cali,here we prefer to work.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/28/welfare-capital-of-the-us/

 

Of course, when you play state vs. state, employers will prefer to set up in the states with the lowest employee compensation and protections, just as credit card companies prefer to go to states with no consumer protection laws and polluters prefer to go to the states that do the least to protect the environment.  

 

That race to the bottom ultimately hurts everyone, and I don't have all the answers to it.  

[JMS]

Don't let your mythology interfere with your cognitive processes any more than it has to.  

 

Access to welfare and generosity of welfare benefits has gone way down over the past few decades in real dollar terms.  

 

 

Predicto,  I think you are entirely missing the point here.   In the age where the wall street bail out cost our economy trillions;  and a day after JP Morgan, Chase Financial was hit with a record 13 billion dollar fine for bilking folks out of hundreds of billions...   You Predicto have entirely overlooked the real culprets unfairely getting wealthy at the expense of society.... 

 

It's the wall mart sales associates, the wellfare mothers,  the minimum wage workers,  the social security recipients and let's not forget the freaking teachers.    If we could just get those leaches off the public teet;   we could really then concentrate on those bloody unions!!! 

 

Predicto,  how else are we going to afford the next coming multibillion / trillion dollar melt down by the still unregulated financial markets.

[twa]

the bottom looks pretty good, but then with a low cost of living the bottom ain't really the bottom.

 

I agree working for the minimum wage in SF would really suck

 

http://sfist.com/2013/09/18/map_youd_need_to_work_5_minimum_wag.php

[Duckus]

A Walmart store in OH is doing a canned food drive....for their own employees. 

 

Glad to see folks helping each other during the Holidays, but man, that is sad.

 

[twa]

It is sad that people all over America are in need

[Mad Mike]

I don't think WalMart, McDs etc are under any obligation to pay people a decent wage.  Their business model is predicated on paying their employees as little as possible, and in return offer cheap products to the consumer and huge profits for their owners.  It's not their job to provide socialism for the masses. 

 

Or pay them enough to eat evidently.

 

I swear. one of these days someone is going to start ****ing to me in person about socialism or some such nonsense and I'm going to punch them right in their face. People are working their ass off and still struggle to pay the rent or eat while tea party fanatics and rich politicians call them takers.  

 

How long before the so called takers decide enough is enough and decide to actually take back their lives by force? History says it's only a matter of time.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

If no one was willing to work for minimum wage (or lower if allowed) then the companies would HAVE to pay more.

 

But as long as someone is willing to work for less, why should they pay more?

 

Three Points

 

1. The most brilliant propaganda victory in American history has been American businesses convincing low-wage workers that unions are bad for them.

 

2. Wal-Mart does not offer Wal-Mart prices because of their low wages. Wal-Mart's prices are a result of its supply chain efficiencies. Wal-Mart should always have this advantage over its competitors. McDonalds is similar in a lot of ways. If low wages were the key to business success, then there shouldn't be dominant players like Wal-Mart and McDonalds. It's not like Hardees is paying its employees in gold.

 

3. I don't completely understand the need for the Ayn Rand types to cheer the idea that people live in poverty. Aside from, you know, a belief that poor people should probably do us all a favor and just die already.

[The Evil Genius]

 

 

2. Wal-Mart does not offer Wal-Mart prices because of their low wages. Wal-Mart's prices are a result of its supply chain efficiencies. Wal-Mart should always have this advantage over its competitors.

 

 

 

 

This is even more true when someone looks at a company like Costco and sees that you can keep low prices and pay handsome wages & benefits to their employees (including cashiers).

[Renegade7]

Does anybody really believe a person working 40 hours a week is lazy and deserves to be making $7.25 an hour?

[Mad Mike]

 

 

3. I don't completely understand the need for the Ayn Rand types to cheer the idea that people live in poverty. Aside from, you know, a belief that poor people should probably do us all a favor and just die already.

 

Sadly it's not just tea party people or even republicans...

 

Lawmaker Says Violence Is the Solution to Homeless Problem

 

 

ver the last two weeks, the five-term Democratic state representative has taken his trusty sledgehammer to some 30 shopping carts being used by homeless people around Waikiki to transport their meager possessions.

Brower swears he takes all belongings out of the cart before smashing it to bits, and insists he hasn't smashed shopping carts that were being pushed by homeless people, but tells Hawaii News Now "that may be coming."

 

Evidently his plan is to smash the last belongings of the homeless and harass them until they kill themselves. I can't think of what else he expects the homeless to do.

 

Don't get me wrong. I still blame the Randiots for creating an environment that believes in the persecution of the poor to solve our economic problems. I'm just saying the evil has gone much deeper than any of us imagined.

 

As for Walmart...

 

The Simple Path to a Living Wage at Walmart

 

 

In the past week, both a senior editor at Fortune magazine and the liberal think tank Demoshave made similar proposals for how Walmart could greatly increase worker wages without harming its business prospects. What is this mysterious financial magic?

The two proposals differ a bit in the details, but they use roughly the same mechanism to reach the same goal, so we'll go with Demos's proposal (described in full here) for ease of explanation. Basically, the argument is this: Walmart throws off enough cash in profits each year that it could easily raise the wages of its workers by about 50%, so that they all made about $25K per year, which is what activists are seeking. Currently, the company just uses that cash for other purposes. Like what? Well, Demos points out that Walmart spent $7.6 billion last year buying back its own stock shares, a maneuver designed to buoy the stock price and dividend payments. From the report:

[Kilmer17]

Or pay them enough to eat evidently.

 

I swear. one of these days someone is going to start ****ing to me in person about socialism or some such nonsense and I'm going to punch them right in their face. People are working their ass off and still struggle to pay the rent or eat while tea party fanatics and rich politicians call them takers.  

 

How long before the so called takers decide enough is enough and decide to actually take back their lives by force? History says it's only a matter of time.

People are going to rise up because Wal Mart pays minimum wage to the people punching buttons on a cash register?

 

Just a tad hyperbolic.

 

Nobody is forced to work at walmart.

[Riggo-toni]

In fairness, Walmart made its mark by opening stores in areas too poor to be considered economically viable by the likes of Sears, Kmart, et al, thus providing both jobs and choices in consumer goods in areas that were already impoverished. No surprise that their overall avg wages are low on the national scale.

[LadySkinsFan]

I actually think the problem is that we don't need millions of people to do so certain low-wage jobs any longer.

 

The fundamental problem we face as a country right now is that the 1950s vision of the American Dream with a robust middle class making good salaries may be impossible unless 2/3 of the world is living in ruins. I'm not sure the model of lower class/middle class/upper class actually works. I think that the European model of upper class/governmental class/lower class is probably a truer representation of how a society will fall in line.

 

 

Back in the 50s and 60s, we had more employees as members of unions.  Unions did a lot of good in this country to create a thriving, middle class.  Since Reagan and his union-busting ways (air traffic controllers anyone, and before anyone says I don't know what I'm talking about, my dad was an air traffic controller), the middles class has been losing ground.  I also remember when gas stations employed people to pump gas, wash windows, and check the oil; all while gas was 30 cents a gallon.

 

Now, these big companies build into their "business model" paying their employees the minimum hourly was possible, restricting benefits by limiting hours worked to statutory limits, and depending upon Federal government programs like food stamps, housing, and Medicaid so people can just barely make ends meet.

 

Pay people more, they will support themselves, they will pay more taxes, and best of all they won't rely on Federal government programs to make ends meet.  That scenario will lower the tax burden on the rest of us. 

 

So the corporations don't make as much profit.  Their executives make inflated wages, the profits are obscene.  How many mansions, yachts, expensive cars and other luxury items can one accumulate before it's too much?  Not enough, apparently, for those opposed to raising the minimum wage.

[The Sisko]

Sadly it's not just tea party people or even republicans...

 

Lawmaker Says Violence Is the Solution to Homeless Problem

 

 

Evidently his plan is to smash the last belongings of the homeless and harass them until they kill themselves. I can't think of what else he expects the homeless to do.

 

Don't get me wrong. I still blame the Randiots for creating an environment that believes in the persecution of the poor to solve our economic problems. I'm just saying the evil has gone much deeper than any of us imagined.

 

As for Walmart...

 

The Simple Path to a Living Wage at Walmart

I have a better idea than using the money from share buybacks. How about using the money corporations give to charity. so instead of giving to this, that or the other charitable entity to help the poor, why not just pay your freaking employees a decent wage so they won't be poor in the first place? I know, I know. It's too complicated an idea to actually work.

[Mad Mike]

People are going to rise up because Wal Mart pays minimum wage to the people punching buttons on a cash register?

 

Just a tad hyperbolic.

 

Nobody is forced to work at walmart.

 

No. People will rise up because there are so many examples of wealthy corporations screwing over workers. Banks are stealing from consumers. Politicians are cutting foodstamps, extending corporate welfare, and by labeling corporations as people and giving them all of the advantages with none of the burdens such as social accountability and morals. Just to name a few of the things that are going on in this country. 

 

I had to laugh after the election when Donald trump called for a revolution. News flash for trump... if the revolution comes, it's coming to get you.

[skinsmarydu]

No. People will rise up because there are so many examples of wealthy corporations screwing over workers. Banks are stealing from consumers. Politicians are cutting foodstamps, extending corporate welfare, and by labeling corporations as people and giving them all of the advantages with none of the burdens such as social accountability and morals. Just to name a few of the things that are going on in this country. 

 

I had to laugh after the election when Donald trump called for a revolution. News flash for trump... if the revolution comes, it's coming to get you.

Love it...I have to tell you because I'm out of likes.

[Predicto]

People are going to rise up because Wal Mart pays minimum wage to the people punching buttons on a cash register?

 

Just a tad hyperbolic.

 

Nobody is forced to work at walmart.

 

[Kilmer17]

In the immortal words of bill maher- poor people in the us are fat.

There won't be a revolution in our lifetime or any other. That's a Marxist pipedream

[twa]

I have a better idea than using the money from share buybacks. How about using the money corporations give to charity. so instead of giving to this, that or the other charitable entity to help the poor, why not just pay your freaking employees a decent wage so they won't be poor in the first place? I know, I know. It's too complicated an idea to actually work.

 

great idea, hell eliminate the tax deduction for all corps

[elkabong82]

People are going to rise up because Wal Mart pays minimum wage to the people punching buttons on a cash register?

 

Just a tad hyperbolic.

 

Nobody is forced to work at walmart.

 

Yeah, they have other wonderful options like McDonalds. Travel time and education level play huge roles. How can one improve either of those if their job is denying them the means to do so? Face it, Wal-marts and McDonalds are everywhere, so yeah, in cases people essentially are forced to work there or not work at all. Tell me, if Costco can pay its employees liveable wages, why can't McDonalds and Wal-mart? Sure they don't have to, but why can't they? The answer is they can, but choose not to, and while people probably won;t physically rise up, eventually the bad press and reputation will catch up to these companies and people will eventually reach a breaking point where convenience no longer matters and they'll choose to take their business elsewhere.

 

There is already a fast food revolt because their food is something out of "The Jungle," and Wal-mart is probably the most notorious for screwing over its employees. Eventually that will catch up to them. Eventually the strikes we see against these companies will increase and the bad reps will accumulate more and more and it will be the undoing of those companies. There are already people who refuse to go to to these places, and certainly the reports about both causing their employees to go on gov't assistance and drain the economy turned off even more people. Eventually they will face the choice of actually eating into profits *GASP* and paying their employees reasonably or they'll lose business and go the way of the do-do.

 

Case in point: Papa John's. Owner Schnatter caught a lot of bad press when threatening to keep worker hours below 30 hours/wk in order to avoid having to pay them healthcare benefits. The backlash was so bad he had to issue a statement where he tried to backtrack and say he was just speculating, but their shares took a big hit and their rep today is not what it used to be. 

[Larry]

In the immortal words of bill maher- poor people in the us are fat.

There won't be a revolution in our lifetime or any other. That's a Marxist pipedream

Remember the Rodney King riots?

When people think (rightly or wrongly) that they're being oppressed, it doesn't take much.

[Mad Mike]

 

In the immortal words of bill maher- poor people in the us are fat.

There won't be a revolution in our lifetime or any other. That's a Marxist pipedream

 

Yeah, go into the projects and tell everyone you can find just how good they have it. Please take a film crew. I want to watch what happens.

 

Let the tea party have their way and gut welfare programs for the poor while freeing corporations to do what they want. Kill the ACA and deny decent health care to those who need it. Continue disenfranchising the poor and minorities with voter ID laws and gerrymandering. Let things get bad enough and see how things go.

 

CEO Council Demands Cuts To Poor, Elderly While Reaping Billions In Government Contracts, Tax Breaks

 

 

As part of their push, they are advocating a "territorial tax system" that would exempt their companies' foreign profits from taxation, netting them about $134 billion in tax savings, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies titled "The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks" -- money that could help pay off the federal budget deficit.

Yet the CEOs are not offering to forgo federal money or pay a higher tax rate, on their personal income or corporate profits. Instead, council recommendations include cutting "entitlement" programs, as well as what they call "low-priority spending."

Many of the companies recommending austerity would be out of business without the heavy federal support they get, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, which both received billions in direct bailout cash, plus billions more indirectly through AIG and other companies taxpayers rescued.

 

“Riots always begin typically the same way”: Food stamp shutdown looms Friday - Salon.com

 

 

Food stamp recipients face a massive benefit cut set to kick in when stimulus funds expire Friday. The nationwide cut “is equivalent to about 16 meals a month for a family of three,” according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis using the USDA’s “Thrifty Food Plan.” CBPP called the roughly $5 billion annual cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program “unprecedented” in “depth and breadth.”

“If you look across the world, riots always begin typically the same way: when people cannot afford to eat food,” Margarette Purvis, the president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, told Salon Monday. Purvis said that the looming cut would mean about 76 million meals “that will no longer be on the plates of the poorest families” in NYC alone – a figure that outstrips the total number of meals distributed each year by the Food Bank for New York City, the largest food bank in the country. “There will be an immediate impact,” she said.

[twa]

So we are addressing obesity after all. 

 

Odd we still need stimulus spending what with recovery summer long gone

[Springfield]

Well the food that gains weight IS the least expensive. So it makes sense that the fattest people are also the poorest.

Sure, they aren't starving but to act like a diet of McDonalds, Ramen, Spaghetti O's and Hungry Man is going to help someone keep the weight off is a bit obtuse.

So we should be proud that we don't have a large starving population but rather a population of people that can only afford to eat food that will make them fat, induce heart disease and other widespread health concerns. Cool!

[twa]

Well the food that gains weight IS the least expensive. So it makes sense that the fattest people are also the poorest.

 

I think you are mistaken, but you probably do have a point if ya want to eliminating purchasing processed foods with snap