20 thoughts on “This just about sums up what’s wrong with our nation’s economy”

  1. There also used to be such a thing as social norms and pressures that kept the 1%-ers’ salaries in a more reasonable line, until Reagan (and others) came along and made unadulterated greed cool again. We need to get those social norms back. The Occupy movement is a good start.

  2. The better Gekko speech is where he says “I don’t create, I OWN.” And he also asks in the same speech “Now you’re not naive enough to believe we live in a democracy, are you Buddy?”

    The situation is as true now as it was 25 years ago. And that’s sad.

  3. Could someone please tell me what is stopping the employee making $8.75/hour from working hard, saving his/her money, advancing his education and becoming the CEO himself someday?

    2. How many folks do you know who are struggling to make ends meet on a minimum wage (or just above minimum wage) salary that can afford to save enough money to put themselves through school, much less the kind of school that they’d need in order to become a CEO of a company like Wal-Mart?

      1. I never said it was going to be easy, but most things in life that are worthwhile take effort. If a person wants to better their situation, it can be done one class at a time. Of course, the flip side is much easier……do nothing to better yourself and demand handouts.

          1. I guess when someone can not intelligently defend their position, this is the type of witty response you get.

        2. Fed Up, how many CEOs can you list that started working minimum wage jobs at their companies and worked their way up to the CEO position?

  4. One of my all time favorite movies. i envisioned the last scene where they meet on the hill and bud fox is wired to be how cullen werwie told scott walker he was given immunity…They probbaly met on Bascom hill.

  5. Are sure it wasn’t jobs czar jeff Immelt and the annointed one discussing how he would get his $20 million per year salary and keep GE tax exempt?

    1. Si welcome back. I would say the starting salary at walmart should be one that keeps their employees off food stamps, badger care, scrip, welfare, etc… Would suffice.

      1. Life gets in the way. Good game last week, maybe they can make it two in a row.

        I wouldn’t have a problem with your statement if it applied to mid level employees. If you are hiring a career employee, then you need to pay them enough compensation to make it a viable career option.

        But as an entry level employee, the work experience
        is more important long term than the money. If you have to pay 15 bucks an hour to entry level employees, no high school kid is every going to get work experience and they will be shut out of more lucrative opportunities.

        I don’t see walmarts CEO as being grossly overpaid. Per yahoo finance he makes around 5 mm a year. A lot of money but to put it in perspective its 3 mm a year
        less than Aaron Rodgers.

  7. If removing all of the legal loopholes and backroom deals that allow companies like GE to reap massive profits, obtain millions in stimulus money yet pay no taxes, then yes I do agree with raising taxes on corporations. I’d also favor ending all income taxes and going with a consumption tax which effectively increase taxes on the rich. Problem is if you believe that any government official really wants to increase taxes on himself and his rich buddies you are sadly mistaken. They tell you they are anti-rich, but they are the rich. Their plans are the old bait and switch, they tell you what you want hear, yet the ones truly paying are the middle class.

  8. it’s easier to maintain your status as richest family when the local taxpayers can cover the costs of food and healthcare for your employees.

    I would also say the typical walmart employee is working there out of necessity not for valuable work experience.

    if their CEO is making 5 mil year then his salary has decreased. I will look into that when I get time.

    1. Wmt has 2.1 mm employees. I think would be hard to stereotype a typical employee. But I don’t dispute that Many are working that need the money and have few other marketable job skills. Between an $8 an hour job and unemployment, I’d rather have these people be employed. Lord, knows if wmt was forced to raise wages too high, they would go the route of auto check out like home depot and pick and save and just eliminate the jobs.

      Heres the executive compensation source.

      http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=WMT+Profile

  9. i admit I spent a lot more time studying Wal-mart a few years ago, when CEO Lee “Im tired of being nibbled to death by guppies” scott made 29 million.

    http://walmartwatch.org/blog/archives/wal-mart-tries-to-justify-lee-scotts-salary/

    as for what they should pay poverty level would be a good start works for me:

    Walmart jobs are poverty-level jobs.
    Walmart’s average sale Associate makes $8.81 per hour, according to IBISWorld, an independent market research group. This translates to annual pay of $15,576, based upon Walmart’s full-time status of 34 hours per week1. This is significantly below the 2010 Federal Poverty Level of $22,050 for a family of four.

    There is also this:

    Walmart can afford to pay higher wages.
    According to a 2011 report (PDF), if Walmart started paying a $12/hour minimum wage, its workers currently earning less than $9 per hour could each earn $3,250 to $6,500 more per year before taxes. If Walmart were to pass this cost directly to shoppers, the average consumer would need to pay only 46 cents more per shopping trip, or $12.50 per year.

    In 2010, Walmart CEO Mike Duke received $18.7 million in total compensation, or 1,201 times the annual income of the average Walmart sale Associate.

    Walmart’s entry into a market depressed wages, displacing better-paying retail jobs.
    A 2005 study (PDF)found that Walmart’s entry into a metropolitan area eliminates similar jobs that pay about 18% more than Walmart. In those areas, the total average earnings of retail workers fell by 0.5 to 0.8% .

    http://walmartwatch.org/get-the-facts/fact-sheet-wages/

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