Comments by "whyamimrpink78" (@whyamimrpink78) on "Wal-Mart Welfare" video.

If low skill people want a fair wage then I, with two science degrees and multiple years of experience, want a Porsche, a 5 bedroom house, and sex with Kate Upton and Selena Gomez at the same time 5 days a week. Sounds fair to me. Fact is that Walmart is wealthy because of shareholders, not their workers. Their workers don't make the company that much. Do you really think the checkout worker that works from 2AM to 7AM on a Wednesday early morning makes that much money? No, they don't. This guy put Bernie in his place. He asked a very simply question, where is the money going to come from and Bernie just answer that simply Walmart, McDonalds and Burger King should pay their fair share when they simply can't afford to pay more. This is what happens when you elect a career politician that has zero experience outside of politics.
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Dagorian Stark Define "fair". When I am done with my graduate studies I would have spent 10 years in college (5 undergrad, 5 grad). I would be earning two masters. Now if I were to sit in front of my committee and claim that based on my GPA and 10 years of study it was only fair that I earn my masters they would deny me. You are paid based on your work, not your lifestyle. There is no such thing as a "living wage" in that it can't be define and it is subjective. Those people being talked about make he market rate for a retail store worker. If you are not earning enough you need to find a way to earn more by either developing skills to earn more or cut back on expenses. I guess they can always be like the government and just increase their debt limit.
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They are wealthy because they own half of walmart's stock. 61% of the average family's worth (wealth) is in their home. A homeowner has 30 times more wealth than that of a renter. How come people don't attack homeowners? I have negative wealth but I have a nice car and my own place. It is because I have debt, the same can be said about new small business owners. What Sanders said is deceptive.
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Rossboe1 Australia has a higher cost of living as well. You are talking about a business having small profit margins, then why don't you criticize individuals for not making enough? The simple fact is that businesses can't afford to pay more. The idea that businesses will pay little is false. 2/3 of min. wage workers receive a raise within a year, less than 5% of workers make at or below the min. wage. The average hourly earnings in the US is over $24/hr. Competition doesn't allow businesses to pay less.
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jmattbassplaya90 Those individuals are pay the amount they are paid because they are worth that much. You know who determines worth? Us, society does. That guy earning 13 million dollars a year brings in a lot more then that to the company. He is helping in the investment of money, the increase in stock prices and finding a way to bring in more jobs. You lower his salary less money is going to be invested and stocks will go down. The fact is that low wage workers, workers making less than $9.50/hr, are not poor. 95% of them are above the poverty line and their average household income is over $47,000/yr. They are second earners of a household. They work a job that isn't worth that much but they are also not using that job to survive. I admit, we need to do something better and that would mean attract more investors to our country to increase the wealth we have.
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***** Why do you have middle class small business owners? Or why don't you attack businesses like Costco or Google even for not hiring more people? The truth hurts, you know nothing about running a business and the economy.
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***** Walmart in the past 5 years just open two new Walmarts in my city. That is that many more jobs. That is what profits do, it promotes growth. Your small business probably had a model that allowed to pay a higher wage. What you said can be true about any business. Google pays their staff very well. That is because they have a model that allows them to pay a higher wage. How come no one complains when a company doesn't pay comparable to Google? Or how come no one complains when a business like Costco doesn't build more stores and hires more? Fact is that some jobs are low paying. Statistically those workers are not poor in that most of the poor are making over $10/hr to being with. That means the vast majority of the working force making less than $10/hr are not poor. That is because low wage workers are young and part time. They are working entry level jobs or are part time supplemental forms of income. You are not paid based on your personal situation but based on what you are worth. Define a living wage? The term doesn't exist because it is way too subjective. If the law stated living wage then I can get a part time job because I would work for $4/hr. I can work at the gas station down the street for that wage because I am already making a living off of my current job. So that gas station wouldn't be required to pay me a living wage since I am already earning enough in life. I would just work for a low wage to make some supplemental income during my weekends. So maybe they should pass a living wage law in that I will benefit from it.
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jmattbassplaya90 Your first mistake is talking about wealth and it being a problem where Walmart owns more wealth than the bottom 40%. So what. Look at what wealth is. I make $20,000/yr and live just fine with my own place and car and healthcare. I have negative wealth because I have a loan that I am paying off. A lot of people have negative wealth due to loans. For the average family 61% of their net worth, or wealth, is tied into their home. So beyond owning a home the average family has very little wealth. You can't argue for an increase in pay based on wealth because than you will have to start giving away walmarts to people. When you do that, an considering 50% of small businesses fail in the first 5 years, than there will be some wealth disparity. So the wealth figure you mentioned means nothing. You talk about CEO pay. You have to realize that money is worthless and something is only worth as much as the market determines. If you were to place a cap on CEO pay than a business will just give them something else. They will give them a house, or some land or something because now they will be restricted on the money they can pay someone. You also have to look at McDonald's are franchised. They are ran by small business owners, not CEOs. Thus they have very little say in how much something cost. Plus, once again, if you remove profits you remove growth. Competition promotes growth and business need to invest to do well against competitors. When that happens businesses grow, jobs are created, and goods and services become better and more affordable.
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TriniCrew GM is manufacturing where walmart is retail. They are completely different businesses. Both business cater to customers with different needs and both businesses have employees that produce different amount of capital. Walmart employees simply don't produce that much capital. GM employees did. In manufacturing businesses they have higher standards as in having a high school degree, stricter safety regulations, and stricter time schedule. I have worked both. At the warehouse I worked in I was audited at least twice a week for safety even though I never violated anything. I couldn't clock in early or late or I get pointed and fired. I needed a high school degree and couldn't be on the floor when it wasn't my shift. At walmart if you clock in late they didn't mind. You didn't have to make rate, you didn't need a high school degree. Safety wasn't that big of a deal there. In short the businesses were completely different and can't be compared.
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The top 5 states in unemployment have a min. wage above the federal. I, like Bernie Sanders, can pull up stats as well. Vermont is second in population behind WY which also has a low unemployment rate. I just love Sander's arguments. Decent wages, fair share, starvation wages. Really? This guy is suppose to be leading our country? I guess I should go to my professors and demand a decent grade. When they give me an F that would be decent to them. This guy is pathetic.
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David Adame Well one you have to understand what money is. Money isn't some finite resource. Money is just some arbitrary form of trade that only gains value when people agree to trade with it to develop capital. That CEO of Walmart is making as much as they do because they create that much capital. The workers of walmart make as much as they do because that is how much capital they create. There are several other factors involved in pay but the main one is the amount of capital they create. Next you have to realize that jobs come and go, yes some jobs are lost but there are a lot of high skilled/high wages jobs available that people are not filling because they don't have the training. So you met someone with a masters working at Walmart? A masters in what? History? With a pharmacy degree you are guaranteed a job that pays at least $60,000 starting off. Artificially paying low wages to people who produce little capital doesn't help the economy. We need to progress and push people to take on challenging jobs, that is how we grow as a society and have grown as a country. When the tractor replace the farm workers they developed another skill and worked in the factory. It is the evolution of the economy.
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David Adame A lot of jobs disappear because of better technology. An AC repair man is finding less work due to AC's being better. Same with plumbing and other trade jobs. You are talking about wanting to work a certain job, you can put yourself in a position to have a high paying job, work part time and work a low paying job that you enjoy part time. You don't always get what you want. You say America is the laughing stock of the world, I doubt that. We do lead the world in healthcare research and innovation and technology research and innovation. We are near the top in productivity. We are very successful. Walmart is successful due to the business model they run. They pay competitive wages for retail. The reason why they don't get paid more is because they simply can't afford it. Your utopia of where people can do what they want and live and do well at the same time just isn't possible. You have to create capital and if you don't create capital as a society than you don't have progress.
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David Adame Pay hasn't been going down through years. In the 1930s a record player was over $200. You had to leave it in your home. For $200 I bought a smart phone that I can play music on through the internet. You have to look beyond wages. Wages have been going up and prices are dropping. People are living better than in the past. It is great that you want things to be better, but you have to realize you spoiled.
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David Adame There are a lot more than CEO wages going up. There are some jobs that are being archaic and others are not being filled. We have high skilled jobs that are simply not being filled due to people not being qualified for them. Instead of subsidizing lower income individuals who produce little capital we should be pushing people to develop more skills. That is how society gets better. When the tractor replaced farmers we didn't just give money to those individuals losing jobs, they became trained in another skill and worked another job that earned them more. And once again, wages are not the full story, purchasing power is. Your goods and services are better now, and cheaper, than they were in the past. You are able to type on a computer now where in the 90s you probably couldn't.
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David Adame Jobs disappear, it is a fact. You mention cashiers, self check-outs replaced some of those. Due to technology and innovation warehouse jobs are disappearing. My dad worked at a battery factory, the place was booming in the 90s, it recently closed and when it did they downsized to 1/4 of what they use to have. A reason why is that now a lot of appliances have batteries on board that are rechargeable. Demand for batteries have dropped. It happens. The factory closed so he got another job. More people may be graduating with a college degree but a degree in what? History? Art? Business? Not really skillful degrees. Graduating more students with college degrees doesn't matter if they still don't have the skills. Your mindset on Reagan is wrong, the median income went up under him and continued to do so until the mid 2000s and when the recession hit the median income dropped and is still low. So saying that wages have dropped due to Reagan is a lie. What we do see is the evolution of the economy. Certain jobs will disappear, a problem is that actions by the federal government is increasing it. We have the highest corporate tax rate in the world driving out businesses, we have too many regulations driving out businesses and killing jobs. The federal government messing with the market is creating this problem as well. We have to let the market adjust itself, with the federal government playing a role it is making it worse.
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+Dave Sipsy The top 6 CEOs of Walmart earn a combine $77 million a year. If you were take that money and spread it to the 525,000 workers of Walmart who earn less than $25,000 a year they will earn an extra $148 a year. That is it. When you compare a CEO to one worker it does look outrageous, but when you compare it to their entire staff it shows how much a CEO is responsible for.
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+Dave Sipsy You have to realize that if those CEOs fail at their job then the company goes under resulting in several jobs being lost, or shareholders get mad and vote them out. If the typical worker at Walmart messes up a shelf does not get stocked, so what? Based off of responsibilities they are worth that much. Also I showed you how if you cut their salary down to $0 the workers still won't get that much money. So what are you accomplishing by cutting their pay? $77 million is not a large portion of the profit by the way. More goes to the workers. Around 1,500,000 Walmart workers earn at least $25,000/yr. (Walmart employes around 2 million workers). Say 1.5 million workers at $25,000 you get 37.5 billion dollars. Seems like the workers are getting more.
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+Dave Sipsy Not comparable. Walmart has over 2 million employees. They have less skills and responsibilities. In your scenario your workers have more skills and more responsibilities. Also your business does not move that much product compare to what Walmart does or deal with as many customers on a daily basis. Thus you earn less profits as a whole. So your comparison is very poor as in you are comparing different businesses and different workers all together.
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+Clifford Blackson Ever been to a walmart lately? They have long lines at checkouts. Shelves are not always stock. Carts are all over the place in the parking lot. The employees of Walmart are not doing their job well already. Walmart attracts consumers based off of their low prices and multiple locations 24 hours a day. People don't necessarily go there for great service. Now if the workers of Walmart were to do a very poor job then they will simply get replaced. There is someone out there that is looking for a job to earn extra income and hopefully move up.
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+Clifford Blackson "A company with hard working employees and a bad CEO can make a healthy profit," No, because there will be bad investment on top. A good CEO won't allowed bad employees to be hired. It all starts at the top.
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Bernie Sanders Actually Bernie Walmart has supported the minimum wage in the pass. But I guess facts don't mean anything to you.
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Thomas Burgin If the CEO of McDonalds were to take in $0, the employees would end up earning an extra $0.001 per hour.
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+Sandra Nonofyourbusiness The top 6 CEOs of Walmart earn $77 million a year combined. Spread that money to the 525,000 workers who earn $25,000 or less at Walmart they will earn an extra $148/yr. That is not much. So by placing a cap on CEO pay what do you accomplish?
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+Sandra Nonofyourbusiness Ok, then what? Those people eat for a week.....then what? Now we are at a standstill. You have just pointed out that pure fact that socialism workers until you run out of other people's money.
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+Sandra Nonofyourbusiness "Walmart's employees are subsidized by the taxpayers" That isn't Walmart's fault. "Since the wealthiest people pay the LEAST taxes, that burden is mostly on the average worker." The top 10% pay 70% of taxes. "Meanwhile, Walmart is making record profits. " With only 3-5% profit margins. The term "living wage" subjective and means nothing. "CEO pay continues to rise while the typical worker is paid less and less." Not true in that workers are not paid less. CEO pay is more because they are responsible for more employees, innovation and production. The middle class is still strong today.
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+moneymaker2dx It isn't.
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Taylor Rowekamp If the CEO of McDonalds and Walmart were to take $0 their employees would earn around an extra $0.001 per hour. I hope they don't spend it all on one place. Bernie Sanders has no clue what he is talking about.
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Ben Oliver "There is ZERO evidence that raising the minimum wage kills jobs," That isn't true. Teenage unemployment is at an all time high, so is the min. wage for example. And that is just scratching the surface. Walmart is a retail stores, and retail stores work on thin profit margins. That is how it works. Walmart doesn't pay more because they simply can't afford it.
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Ben Oliver A lot of min. wage workers are young, the BLS has numbers on that where half are under the age of 25. How can I link teenage unemployment to the min. wage? When you raise the min. wage you price certain forms of labor out of the market. Teenagers lack experience thus a business will avoid hiring them and instead hire someone with more experience. This is called labor to labor substitution. Those adults entering the workforce to work the min. wage job do so because with a higher min. wage they are more likely to take on the job where for supplemental income. Thus teenagers who need the job get screwed. Costco is a warehouse store, not retail. Let us compared Walmart to Costco. Costco sells in bulk and is open only during set hours, such as 9-6. That is designed to move more products per hour. Walmart is open 24/7 and has a wider selection of individualized items. They don't move as many products per hour but they are more convenient to shop at. Customers can shop there at 3 in the morning and get a gallon of milk and a half a pound of sugar where in Costco they have to wait until 9 AM and buy 5 pounds of sugar. Also Walmart hires far more employees than Costco. I hear praise for Costco paying more but never complaints about how little they hire compared to Walmart. In all they are two different business model. Saying Costco, a warehouse company, pays more than Walmart, retail store, thus Walmart can afford it is like saying Google pays well, so why doesn't Costco. You can't compare the companies.
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Ben Oliver There is a ton of evidence that raising the min. wage forces teenagers out of the market. There has been several studies on it. It is a buyers and sellers market. A business will hire a teenager because they are cheaper and will be more willing to work at nights and weekends. " If a 14 year old girl goes to a clothing retail store does she want to buy from a 50 year old woman or a girl her age who is wearing the outfit on the shelf?" What is your point? Walmart exists because it is convenient for customers. I have heard of several arguments against Walmart but none of them talks about the customers. Also, Costco is greedy for refusing to hire so few of workers.....or at least I never hear complaints about that.
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Taxes payers don't subsidize the wages of a corporation. Walmart pays the market rate, if they were to pay more they would go bankrupt.
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MelkorHimself Walmart actually pays above the min. wage. Cutting profits means less growth, less production and less jobs. In the 5 years I have been living in the city I do now Walmart open two new Walmarts in the area. I imagine them opening another one (in that there is a rather new part of the city that could have one). That creates jobs. When you create bad investments your company will fail, overpaying your workers is a bad investment. It isn't Walmart's fault that there are no higher paying jobs available, they are trying to run their business.
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***** The problem is that people like Sanders, or at least those that support him, feel that Walmart has all the money. They don't understand what money is, they claim it is a resource thus finite (as in what Noam Chomsky feels like). They don't understand that wealth and capital has to be created. Money is essentially worthless unless you give it value and the value of the walmart worker isn't much. Liberals don't understand, all they see is the profits walmart make and they feel they have all the money. They don't realize they take that money and invest it creating wealth. The other problem is that they are just lazy and love making excuses. It is Walmart's fault, not theirs according to them. They need to blame someone so that is the target.
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Rossboe1 I worked in a kitchen for $8/hr. It isn't hard or demanding work. Anyone can do it. That is why it is a low paying job. You are paid based on several reasons. For skills, demand, ability, dedication, etc. A worker in a kitchen has a low skill set, that isn't high in demand and isn't dedicated to their job as much and thus is paid low. Learn some basic economics.
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Yes because every business wants to pay small wages. That is why every business pays everyone a the minimum wage......oh, wait.......
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Yes, stockholders. People who invest money in stock do so to make money to live and have retirement.
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Small businesses simply lack the resources to pay more. Also, why do you want to attack small business owners? They are not super rich. They are doing well but they are not making millions, probably not even making six figures. Many work at their business many hours but yet people feel the need to make them bankrupt.
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A business can't pay more because they simply can't afford it. Also, you can live off of min. wage and many do. 89% of individuals who earn $9.50/hr or less are above the poverty level. The average household income of those earners is over $47,000/yr. They are not poor. If you make a low wage get a roommate, get a second job until you do make enough. And universal healthcare would never work in the US.
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The average walmart employee makes over $11/hr. Bernie Sanders is an amazing politician to keep get hiring for being wrong and bias all the time.
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The $9.50/hr or less comment is about a study done when Obama wanted to raise the min. wage to $9.50/hr and it showed that people making that much money or less were not poor thus raising the min. wage would have done nothing to help the poor. If walmart gave a $2/hr raise what would happen to it's stock? Stock holders are risking their money and walmart invests a lot of profits to improve. And ever thought that we have develop policies that hinder people from working at WM from living?
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CEOs get that much money because they are worth that much. Look at how much they control and the responsibility they have. And people don't always have to depend on stocks. Some people choose too, especially people with extra money. Just that there are people who invested their money in stock.
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What truth? 89% of individuals that earn $9.50/hr or less are above the poverty level. These low wage workers are not poor. It is also very funny how he attacks Walmart when raising the min. wage will hurt small businesses who simply can't afford the higher wages. And his Vermont example is frivolous. Name one big city in Vermont. It has a low population and thus low unemployment. Businesses would love to pay more which is why they do but there is a point when they don't have enough money.
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95% of parents who make less than $10,000/yr have a spouse who makes at least $20,000/yr. The 5% need to work harder. If you can't raise a kid then don't have one or give it up for adoption. Sorry the truth hurts.
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