Damn. Some people are saying this could potentially destroy other retailers that cannot afford pay the same wage. Is this another genius move by the overlord Bezos?
But then again... Bernie came out praising Bezos. Must be a bad thing for the society as a whole.
A follow up...
###Amazon's hourly workers lose monthly bonuses and stock awards as minimum wage increases
Amazon warehouse workers are no longer eligible to receive monthly bonuses and stock awards. Amazon made the change as it announced a minimum wage increase on Tuesday. The change could make some long time workers to make less money, according to The Guardian.
Hah. I love it.
Bezos is a legit scumbag. So he's going to hike Amazon wage buuuut he'll also lobby heavily for a minimum federal wage hike at the same level, so that he doesn't lose anything against the already non-existing competitors.
We are basically close to a communist dictatorship under Bezos. What he does, everyone else must do.
This is good business....
From his perspective it's great, from those of a market economy, no.
Genius move from a tactical view.
It's exactly this. They get easy covering from liberals, who will now close an eye on the increasing number of abusive behaviour in Amazon warehouses, while killing competition.
I mean he is a great operator and a genius. Idk if we should call him a scumbag for being so darn good at his job.
The pragmatist in me acknowledges that lobbying Washington is part of a F500 CEO's job, so it's hard to say Bezos is the problem. But he sure as hell isn't part of the solution.
thebrofessor interested in your opinion on this
I think with the upcoming holiday season this is perfect timing on behalf of Bezos. Good WSJ article covers this more in depth. That being said raising minimum wage on a federal level to $15 an hour is too high. $7.25 an hour is too low today, and I do not know the perfect in between level to balance this out
don't forget, he's eliminating monthly bonuses and stock based comp: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-employees-say-will-make-less-rais…
political move to make him look better but make his bottom line look the same. can't fault him for it, it's a free country, but I also am not educated enough to opine on the complexity of the right level of minimum wage
IIRC stock based comp is something you opt into at most companies correct? You generally are able to buy company stock at a discount (and the company purchases these on behalf of each employee after each quarter so as to mitigate "insider trading" risks).
Warehouse employees are the least likely employees to opt into this. Let's say an employee's comp can be 30k + 5k stock but they forego the stock so they're only making about 30k, now with the pay hike they make base 32.5k and stock comp of 6k. I'm sure someone could argue "well I was making 35k and now I only make 32.5k". Seems like the numbers can be quite misleading.
Why should there be a minimum wage at all? Why not let adults decide for themselves what they are willing to work for? What business is it of a Maryland Senator to tell a Kansas college student the wage he is allowed to accept?
My body, my choice.
As if dudes with a 10th grade education are going to have bargaining power with Ford Motor.
Because working class people can't negotiate wages fairly. Capitalism is, by design, coercive in that respect. If you don't work, you will starve. It's why so many people are having their labor exploited by garbage people like Bezos.
No problem with him hiking wages, but I detest--I abhor--that he's going to use his lobbying power to try to hurt his competition. Walmart, for example, has 4 times the number of employees as Amazon and is less reliant upon automation. This is crony capitalism at its worst.
Thankfully, I don't even think the Democrats would implement an obscene $15 national minimum wage. It would obliterate jobs in lower cost markets.
There are not enough jobs at Amazon (today) to take all the Walmart employees. So Walmart, Target and other large lower wage employers aren't going to have to raise all wages to $15.
But this will still lend to inflation -> raising of rates -> stalling economy and bigger deficit (higher rates paid on Treasury Notes, slower/no growth.)
LOL, it's not about taking their competitors' employees--it's about raising their competitors' labor costs. Amazon, relative to its size, is highly automated where its competitors aren't. This is the literal definition of crony capitalism--using your influence in government to legislate harm to your competition. It's the worst manifestation of capitalism.
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