Comments on: How The Minimum Wage Hurts The Poor http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/blog/how-the-minimum-wage-hurts-the-poor/ Horror Writer and Political Thinker Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:57:45 -0500 hourly 1 By: Aaron Ross Powell http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/blog/how-the-minimum-wage-hurts-the-poor/#comment-20 Aaron Ross Powell Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:08:10 +0000 http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/?p=29#comment-20 Nope. Not really. To begin with, a higher minimum wage would leave more people unable to find work. I'm sure an unemployed person would rather be making something, even if it's less than he'd like, than nothing.<br><br>But I think it's also wrong to think that, if CEOs were just paid less, workers would get more. Let's take Walmart as an example. A Google search indicates that they employ 1.8 million in the world, with 1.3 million of those being in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2010, the CEO of Walmart received $19.2 million in compensation (which is different from, and higher than, salary, but we won't worry about that).<br><br>So let's say the CEO gave 100% of his $20 million salary to the 1.3 million Walmart workers. This is the most we could hope for if an increased worker wage had to come out of CEO pay, after all. What would that mean to the annual compensation of a Walmart worker? It'd mean that each would earn an extra $15. So if Michael T. Duke was paid NOTHING, each of his employees could get a single extra dinner at Applebees EACH YEAR. Nope. Not really. To begin with, a higher minimum wage would leave more people unable to find work. I'm sure an unemployed person would rather be making something, even if it's less than he'd like, than nothing.

But I think it's also wrong to think that, if CEOs were just paid less, workers would get more. Let's take Walmart as an example. A Google search indicates that they employ 1.8 million in the world, with 1.3 million of those being in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2010, the CEO of Walmart received $19.2 million in compensation (which is different from, and higher than, salary, but we won't worry about that).

So let's say the CEO gave 100% of his $20 million salary to the 1.3 million Walmart workers. This is the most we could hope for if an increased worker wage had to come out of CEO pay, after all. What would that mean to the annual compensation of a Walmart worker? It'd mean that each would earn an extra $15. So if Michael T. Duke was paid NOTHING, each of his employees could get a single extra dinner at Applebees EACH YEAR.

]]> By: Aaron Ross Powell http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/blog/how-the-minimum-wage-hurts-the-poor/#comment-1895 Aaron Ross Powell Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:08:00 +0000 http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/?p=29#comment-1895 Nope. Not really. To begin with, a higher minimum wage would leave more people unable to find work. I'm sure an unemployed person would rather be making something, even if it's less than he'd like, than nothing.But I think it's also wrong to think that, if CEOs were just paid less, workers would get more. Let's take Walmart as an example. A Google search indicates that they employ 1.8 million in the world, with 1.3 million of those being in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2010, the CEO of Walmart received $19.2 million in compensation (which is different from, and higher than, salary, but we won't worry about that).So let's say the CEO gave 100% of his $20 million salary to the 1.3 million Walmart workers. This is the most we could hope for if an increased worker wage had to come out of CEO pay, after all. What would that mean to the annual compensation of a Walmart worker? It'd mean that each would earn an extra $15. So if Michael T. Duke was paid NOTHING, each of his employees could get a single extra dinner at Applebees EACH YEAR. Nope. Not really. To begin with, a higher minimum wage would leave more people unable to find work. I'm sure an unemployed person would rather be making something, even if it's less than he'd like, than nothing.But I think it's also wrong to think that, if CEOs were just paid less, workers would get more. Let's take Walmart as an example. A Google search indicates that they employ 1.8 million in the world, with 1.3 million of those being in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2010, the CEO of Walmart received $19.2 million in compensation (which is different from, and higher than, salary, but we won't worry about that).So let's say the CEO gave 100% of his $20 million salary to the 1.3 million Walmart workers. This is the most we could hope for if an increased worker wage had to come out of CEO pay, after all. What would that mean to the annual compensation of a Walmart worker? It'd mean that each would earn an extra $15. So if Michael T. Duke was paid NOTHING, each of his employees could get a single extra dinner at Applebees EACH YEAR.

]]> By: Jay http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/blog/how-the-minimum-wage-hurts-the-poor/#comment-19 Jay Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:47:43 +0000 http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/?p=29#comment-19 For your small grocery store, you say that cutting your pay as upper management wouldn't begin to make the increase in wages affordable. Would you say that's true of most American businesses, with CEO salaries and profit margins that are in the millions? Wouldn't a higher minimum wage help to shrink the gap between people making it and the rich? For your small grocery store, you say that cutting your pay as upper management wouldn't begin to make the increase in wages affordable. Would you say that's true of most American businesses, with CEO salaries and profit margins that are in the millions? Wouldn't a higher minimum wage help to shrink the gap between people making it and the rich?

]]> By: Jay http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/blog/how-the-minimum-wage-hurts-the-poor/#comment-1894 Jay Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:47:00 +0000 http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/?p=29#comment-1894 For your small grocery store, you say that cutting your pay as upper management wouldn't begin to make the increase in wages affordable. Would you say that's true of most American businesses, with CEO salaries and profit margins that are in the millions? Wouldn't a higher minimum wage help to shrink the gap between people making it and the rich? For your small grocery store, you say that cutting your pay as upper management wouldn't begin to make the increase in wages affordable. Would you say that's true of most American businesses, with CEO salaries and profit margins that are in the millions? Wouldn't a higher minimum wage help to shrink the gap between people making it and the rich?

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