Why should Amazon be punished that they can offer more than a local store can?

Yeah, I do.

If minimum wage goes to $15, I raise my prices as a landlord.

I like you. You economics :)

In my state you cannot raise it overnight. Its like 100 a year. Probably for this exact reason

What??? So I can actually make a semi-decent wage to pay rent and bills for some money to be left over?

What should "mom and pop" do instead once they're out of business?

Hundreds of businesses go out of business each day and no one cares. That's business. It's a gamble that has big rewards and big consequences.

I thought people here cared about coroperations using the government to eliminate their competition, but it would seem principles go out of the window when it came to benefiting people's bottom line.

I blame the government for allowing itself to be corrupted and for doing nothing about the obvious corruption. If every corrupt corporation was forced to close tomorrow, there'd be a whole new set of corrupt corporations to take its place within record time. If I don't pay my taxes, I go to jail. If Apple moves to Ireland to get out of paying its taxes, nothing happens. That's a government problem.

I bet you like the idea of walmart building a surplus of stores that would bleed cash from day one to eliminate local small business because in the short run it meant cheaper prices for you.

I'm a consumer. I'm going to places that have free parking, are the most convenient, offer the best prices and offer things I want. I think Walmart is great for candy and small household stuff. Amazon is great for its wide selection and quick delivery, but I could never buy shoes or clothes there.

If everyone was earning $15 an hour the price of everything would go up. Meaning you would have the exact same standard of living as before.

Supply and demand. Everyone has more money, businesses charge more for their products.

I'm guessing you're a liberal? Because you don't have the 1st clue how it works.

If everyone was earning $15 an hour the price of everything would go up

Yep. I rent out a house and I would raise rent as soon as this would go into affect.

People can hardly afford to live now as it is, even if people get 15 an hour that doesn't mean they'll be flushed with cash. They could finally afford to live and save a very very small amount, but no fuck the people, if they get more money let's milk them! People don't deserve to save money.

I can't believe you are being downvoted for stating basic economic truths.

Well, for a few months. Then the cost of liv8ng adjusts to the new minimum and you're back at the same place, relatively.

If you want a meaningful "liveable wage" it needs to be tied to inflation and increase periodically and automatically.

Then the cost of liv8ng adjusts to the new minimum and you're back at the same place, relatively.

Yep. If minimum wage goes to $15, the house I rent to people goes up in price, because I know people can afford it.

God forbid you let them spend it on food and bills they've been barely affording.

I've got food and bills to pay too.

Yea but you're a property owner who chooses to live at the edge of what you can afford. These are people who are stuck being milked and exploited by everyone below and above them. They can't afford things and it's not due to any luxury they're giving themselves. It's because every time they get a slight leg up people like you immediately figure out how to get anything else you can from them.

Yea but you're a property owner who chooses to live at the edge of what you can afford.

So do some of these people. There's people who make minimum wage who think they can afford 3 kids plus the latest iphone.

There are TONS of people with no kids that still can hardly afford to live. Justify it however you like but it's really shitty of you as a person. Your attitude is why society is how it is.

There are TONS of people with no kids that still can hardly afford to live.

I'll bet they got the newest phone though, and I'll bet they hit up Starbucks all the time. I'll bet they got some new ink done and I'll bet they took out a ton of money for some bullshit liberal arts degree.

As one of these people, i wish my life was as great as you assume it is. I have the cheapeat prepaid phone. My heat is off right now and solid third of my meals is ramen. Thanks dude. Whatever makes you ok with veing exploitative.

Please tell me more of your situation. Do you work? Do you have kids? Any crippling diseases or a family member with one? Where do you live?

I don't really want to give that much personal info on reddit, but it shouldn't even matter... You're basically saying that it's cool to exploit people in bad positions as long as they got there through their own choices. Is it ok to make money selling crack to a homeless drug addict who dropped out of highschool because they made the choices that got them there? Why do you NEED to be so greedy? If you are getting by and have good tenants, why do you feel its ok to take more from them? Why don't you make better choices and invest, or further your OWN education if you are well off enough to do so.... Is their apartment getting any better, what other service will you provide for the increase in rent? Probably nothing substantial. You are basically taking advantage of the fact that their work is finally paying a living wage, and you know they STILL aren't doing well enough to leave your apartment due to an increase. If you thought they were doing fine, you wouldn't raise rent substantially because you'd be worried that they would just leave. You know you have the advantage.

You just made 4 huge giant assumptions that generalizes all poor people, you don't sound smart. How much you want to bet?

The minimum wage hasent increased in ages, but in that amount of time everything else has been inflated. Why can't we have a raised minimum wage WITHOUT increasing everything else? Let the minimum wage catch up to everything else that has already been inflated.

Just rent through section 8. Government pays you a monthly stipend. Normally 70% of the rent for that area. Neighbor of ours has 5 homes on there. They vet the people and do background checks plus you get the final say

Just rent through section 8.

My grandfather did this for years. What happened is that they would usually destroy the place and the repairs would cost more than the rent we got in return. Screen doors were frequently broken and copper piping in the walls was frequently stolen.

Holy shit. Copper pipes stolen? Happened to our neighbors in mexico before we moved to the US. Our family had section 8 years back before we started paying for a house. We do manual labor in remodeling tho, so we honestly left the house in a better state. When the house looked dirty the landlord would leave us paint if we wanted to do touch ups outside and once let us use their pressure washer. If you ever want the home to end up in a good condition rent to Mexicans that do that type of work like us lol

In my state there are laws about how fast you can raise someones rent. SOmething like 100 a year

What people aren't considering is that the price to produce various things HAS to go up. Now that's no problem for McDonalds who has billions, but thats a problem for smaller businesses like the local coffee shop. Now all of their employees have to make $15 and if they are on shoestring budgets, they will have to charge more to be able to afford the labor. But, the problem becomes that its not customers jobs to care or be educated about that stuff and they are just going to see "this coffee shop is being greedy and raising prices, I'm just going to make coffee at home instead".

Maybe we don't need so many local coffee shops. Only the ones with wuality to afford the minimum wage increase should stick around. I mean if a mall nearby can charge a crazy $70 for a haircut and be book for two months, then a coffee can attempt to make coffee good enough to support the wage increase

I pay $2.50 for rice at the local chinese restaurant. If wages basically double to $15, they will have to raise prices or lose. But I'm not going to pay $5 for rice because it's simply not worth it.

You act as though the food industry ever plans to have livable wages. They will always underpay and leave the rest to tips.

I wasn't talking about waiter stuff, this is a take out place.

But we know the wages for waiters aren't minimum wage now so even if minimum wage doubles, it won't make a difference because they aren't doing something that seems legal anyway.

So then they should receive smaller wages so you don't spend too much on your rice?

If my rice doubles in price, I may not be going there anymore. And if people like me stop going, it doesn't matter what their wages are, because the store will close and their wage will be $0.

It's almost like not every risk investment of creating a business works out.

But we need to punish the ones that do!

• This thread

We need to ensure everyone equally makes money from starting a business and can afford wage raises no matter the quality!

You.

I'm a liberal, but even I realise that businesses shouldn't be all propped up by some communist economy where all must make money

A doubling of wages wont equal a doubling of prices in a restaurant though. Labor is not the only cost of running a restaurant. Assuming wages are $50,000 (40%) of the restaurants costs, and that they profit $25,000, doubling it would mean that costs of running the business are now $175,000 (140%), compared to the $125,000 (100%) that they were, and the restaurant has now gone from profiting $25,000 to losing $25,000 per period (all hypothetical numbers). If that restaurant wishes to profit the same amount of money that they previously did, they would only need to increase the price of rice from $2.50 to $3.34 per order. (60,000×2.5=150,000. 60,000x3.33=200,000. both of which are a $25,000 profit compared to their expenses) Obviously they'll increase it as high as they can get away with so that they make as much money as possible, but doubling their prices would likely alienate so much of their customer base that the increase in price wouldn't make up for the loss in sales. They'll only increase price to the optimal amount that gives them the greatest revenue.

Except productivity isn’t rising so you’ll need more money to buy goods and services. You’ll be banging on congress’s door for $25 an hour in a few short years.

productivity is higher than ever (obviously) but wages arent much more then they were in the 70s or something. Wages have remained stagnant in the face of rising cost of living and rising productivity. Something is broken. The incentives are screwed up for business

Why should society tolerate monopolies that drive countless other businesses out because they can't compete with multi-billion multinationals?

They aren't driving them out of business. They are beating them at business.

Think, then write.

It seems you think Amazon should intentionally offer shittier services and products so that lesser places can compete.

No, I think Amazon should be dismantled for being a monopoly. Big business is the enemy of the people.

So why wouldn't another company pop up and offer the same exact service since its clear theres a demand for it?

Because we have laws to protect us from monopolies?

I mean, obviously they get ignored most of the time, but nonetheless...

Amazon is not a monopoly by any means. Their whole product is selling other people's stuff. It's no different than any retail place that has an online store. They are just better at it.

Yes, they are. They have an effective monopoly because they're so big it's impossible for another company to compete with them.

Sears was doing Amazon stuff before Amazon was, they just never went online while Amazon did. Other chain stores have distribution centers all over the country and would be able to provide a similar product.

No, they can't, because they simply don't have the capital to compete with Amazon's margins or infrastructure.

Sure they can. Google Shopping Express is basically competing with it, by offering fresh produce and offering same day delivery.

In a clear market with no serious competitors. That's a lot different than trying to build up under the aegis of an established monopoly which you can in no way hope to compete with.

Alibaba is China is even faster than Amazon. They deliver same day. Google Shopping Express offers same day and next day service. Walmart, Amazon and others also offer various similar services.

No, but you can break monopolies like Amazon into 4 dozen pieces to stop them.

And then Walmart or Target or Google Shopping Express will take over. Then if you close all of those people like myself will be back to having to go to 10 different places every weekend to buy stuff and sometimes end up not even buying some things at all because they are out of stock or because I can't make the trip to various stores. If you want to go back to the days where you have to go to a different store for everything, that's your choice, but most people don't.

And no one wants to break the monopoly that is the government and in fact many people on here want it to have even more power through socialism.

Not if you break them down too as soon as they break a set market threshold. Make hard limits on total market share / value, and break up any company which exceeds them. Personally I think any company that exceeds 10% market share in an industry should be dispersed.

And what is being gained by doing all of this exactly?

The ability to form competing businesses.

Why bother when the government can just come and split it up for no real reason?

There's no reason to split up a business that isn't too big. It's only when they get so large that they have undue influence / are a detriment to competition that they need to go.

I find it interesting that you have no problem with the most corrupted company, the government, doing a corrupt thing like splitting up various businesses at the expense of itself and the general public for no real reason that I can find.

Corruption in government is certainly a massive problem in America. But it pales in comparison to the problem of overly large / powerful business.

The government allows it. The corporations only play by the rules they are given.

You got that backwards. The tail wags the dog. I don't think it's a stretch to say that almost every problem with the American government is due to large businesses.

The government can throw the hammer down on any business it wants tomorrow. The businesses can't do the same to the government.

Well, in theory maybe. In fact big business owns the government.

Maybe if you're strictly speaking of the US, but Alibaba is absolutely a competitor on a global scale

monopolies can also be defined by how much market share they hold. Amazon is so large and ahead of the game that its near impossible for anyone to step in and compete with them. Prime examples of this are Google, Walmart, and Targets attempts. All three are horrible in comparison

The biggest monopoly in the world is the government, yet the same people who complain about the powers of supposed monopolies are pushing for the government to get more power. Very strange.

I buy things from Walmart that I don't buy from Amazon and I buy things from Amazon that I don't buy at Walmart.

Here's the thing about Monopolies - They rarely last on their own for a long period of time. Remember when Yahoo was considered the only good search engine? I do. I remember when AOL instant messenger was considered the only instant messenger worth using - EVERYONE used it. ToysRUS was considered the only good toy store for decades before online shopping.

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The fact of the matter is eventually there will be another company that comes along and innovates or provides goods and services in a way that Amazon can't. We don't know where technology will take us, which is why companies like Google and Amazon dump so much money into technology development - They want to stay relevant.

​

For all we know a couple of guys in their garage will invent a replicator a la Star Trek that could materialize goods on a whim, and put Amazon out of business overnight.

​

That's the thing about huge companies - None of them stay at the top forever.

does Google Express ring a bell? Target and Walmart also offer an Amazon-like service now too

Yep.

Big business is the enemy of the people.

Capitalism is the enemy of the people. Big Business is a product of it.

Nah, capitalism is fine as long as it's regulated so that monopolies don't occur. It's when businesses become so powerful that they can manipulate the government and markets that it becomes a problem.

it is the very nature of capitalism that causes the corruption and manipulation.

Nah, socialist systems are historically just as corrupt.

why would you think that the lack of capitalism is immediately socialism.

Because I'm using socialism in the economic sense, not the SJW sense.

You dont sound like a Republican when it comes to Amazon

I am not. Neither am I a disgusting filthy Democrat. Neither am I American.

Weird considering you seem to be on the republicans side on nearly every issue, until Bezos (wapo dontyaknow) is on the other side

No.

It seems you think Amazon should intentionally offer less services and shittier or more expensive products so that lesser places can compete.

They took govt subsidies on shipping services & used investor money to slit mom & pops just like walmart did. It's sick.

I work for a very small privately owned company, a "mom and pop" shop if you will, and since I moved us onto Amazon a few years ago our business has literally more than doubled. Amazon is just a market place. Maybe traditional mom and pop retailers have died/are dying, but there is still plenty of room for growth for small businesses on the internet (via Amazon or elsewhere) if you have a good product , good supply chain, good marketing, and good customer service. All of which you would need anyways to succeed with smaller retail outlets. I'm not denying Amazon warrants some criticism, but while Amazon has helped destroy small, privately owned, traditional brick and mortar retailers, it has opened the flood gates for other privately owned, small "mom and pop" importers and manufacturers with an avenue for seemingly limitless sales growth.

​

Full Disclosure: I'm a full blown conspiracy theorist and highly critical of Bezos and his deep state connections. I own no Amazon stock, but am a prime member lol.

Cameras have been on mobiles since the early 2000s, well before Apple even made their first phone.

Are you afraid your multimillionaire company will be next?

Any person with a brain understands how valuable “benefits” are. It is NOT all about wage.

But muh 15!

Yeah, but the benefits don't count against government assistance or alleviate the attacks on the company.

Better to have the extra $ per hour for the day they cut your hours randomly. Companies love to hold benefits over people's heads.

imo wage is more important than benefits but it really depends

ive worked for places that offer stocks but they're essentially worthless. Stocks in amazon would be a different story though

Any person with a brain

There's the problem right there.

Has your employer asked you to pay $400 a month for health insurance you'll never use? When your net income is $1600? I have. Many times.

That was the Government who mandated your insurance purchase.

So the richest guy on earth likes to win.

Shocking

Duh, people are praising this but forgetting amazon bought whole foods and is fighting the union.

Like lots of places with unions, those not in the union make more per hour than those in the union but lose the benefits.

Also note that amazon can increase per employee costs because it reduces the maximum employees needed by half with all its automation and demands on employee performance.

It has enough to pay their staff 50% more and hold out until the union dies off, where it'll reduce the workforce to work ratio and recoup in 1-2 years.

those not in the union make more per hour than those in the union

since when?

i make 3x what people in a competing company make thanks to my union. The other guys who are not union work for a fortune 500 company that everyone has heard about

Are you comparing yourself to an industry competitor or within the same company? I'm talking about companies large enough to have unions than hourly employees, where the company is still competing to replace the union.

im comparing myself to an industry competitor, but i now see what your point was

Yes and no minimum, or perhaps I should say no maximum wage level set for him or any of the other corporate big-wigs who make 800 times or more than what they begrudgingly pay any of their average workers.

Anybody think this could be aimed at Trump?

Trump's gone after Bezos and Amazon before .

​

Could this be an attempt to fuck with the economy?

Raising minimum wage does nothing except hyper-inflate the economy. Companies raise their prices so in the end, you're right back in the same spot except stuff costs more.

The real problem is that there should be a maximum wage. Bezos doesn't need that much money but he has is. Because there's such a wealth gap, there's a massive disparity between the lower class, the executive class, and the billionaire class.

The billionaire class has spent the last like 40 years using the executive class to squeeze every penny out of the lower class.

They outsourced all the middle class manufacturing jobs, talked shit about unions to the point that people in the US think the word socialism is comparable to Hitler, and stagnated working class wages while giving themselves massive raises.

Inflation is good, it makes those billionaire's money less valuable and makes the debt every american holds in high amounts worth less than it was.

These days I long for the kind of economic collapse that could actually hurt the top 1% for once, instead of them falling on the cushy mattresses the government has laid out for them using our money.

Inflation is good

No it's not. It's not going to affect Amazon and McDonalds much, but it's going to kill smaller businesses who are operating on smaller budgets. Their $8.50/hour worker is now worth $15, so they are going to have to raise prices to pay them or go out of business. And people like myself aren't going to pay double for things like food when I can make it at home.

Inflation doesn't affect smaller budget, it raises the price of everything equally. What it does is decrease the value of static wealth, I just explained in my comment as well. It's economics 101.

it raises the price of everything equally.

So in other words it makes no progress.

Look, I'm not going to pay $6 for rice at the Chinese restaurant. I'm just going to make my own at that price or go less. But I don't mind paying $2.50 every so often.

You think multi millionaires are sitting on piles of cash?

Rich people have investments, not money. Inflation causes the value of money to go down, and the price of assets to go up.

That could’ve have happened in 2008.....but ya know. Bailouts.

You think multi millionaires are sitting on piles of cash?

Rich people have investments, not money. Inflation causes the value of money to go down, and the price of assets to go up.

These days I long for the kind of economic collapse that could actually hurt the top 1% for once (like hyperinflation), instead of them falling on the cushy mattresses the government has laid out for them using our money.

Oh my, this has to be the dumbest comment in the thread, or close to it... and that's saying a lot. This would absolutely destroy wage earners and the assets of this arbitrary "1%" that you're talking about would be just fine.

Ha you actually think the top 1% would be fine if the debt that 80+% of the country owes them is suddenly not worth the paper it's printed on? What a fucking laugh.

Bonuses based on performance are racist anyway.

What is this outdated notion of “merit”? Even more abhorrent is the idea of “talent”. How can they exist, if everyone ought to be equal?

If you disagree with me you’re a holocaust denier.

Generally speaking, it was KMart and then mostly Walmart that killed the Mom and Pop shops, essentially gutting every small town's downtown area. Bezos is no saint, but Amazon has been smashing the crap out of Walmart and other big box stores that killed the little guys.... Which has resulted in numerous closed Walmarts and Sams stores for the first time in history. So now we have Amazon paying $15 hour while Walmart's pay is so low that half it's employees are on public assistance of some sort. Buy Amazon stock, sell Walmart.

if you think a little beyond the surface level about why he’s doing this now and what his real motives are,

It's because Amazon was getting some bad publicity because low wages, long hours and bad working conditions. At some point, that bad corporate image becomes enough to turn people off... to decide they'd rather not be a customer for Amazon.

So Bezos has done a little shuck and jive. Give up a bit more wages, while taking back something else (bonuses). By doing so, his company avoids lost business (or reduced growth) and I guarantee that some team of accountants and market researchers figured all of this out before making a move on the $15/hr wage.

Bezos' math:

$15/hr - old wage < retained business growth + bonuses + stock purchase plan

Can't be so surprised that dudes who get that rich, get that rich by watching every penny they earn/spend, I'm not shocked by this, it's disappointing cuz when I seen Bezos made the move to give their (AMAZON) employees $15 a hour, I was thinking he was headed in the right direction for his employees finally, until I sat down and read the perks, can't b mad that BEZOS chose to giveth and taketh away at the same damn time

Gets the government off his back. Puts wage pressure on competition.

That article doesn't mention the word 'stock' or 'bonus'/'bonuses', or anything similar to that. Did you get that from some other article or just make those details up?

Do people really think small businesses will lose if the minimum wage gets raised to 15$/hr? If anyone believes this, you're either stupid or brainwashed.

If you were to pay your employees a LIVING WAGE, they'd have money to spend on the things that your business offers, whether it be a product or a service. Therefore, you can actually charge a little bit more for your product/service to make up for the loss in wages. It's not like a burger will go from 8$ to 16$ just because they pay their employees double. The costs can be recovered.

How do I know this? Why am I so confident? I own my own fucking business. I've only been in business for 3.5 years and I've attempted to hire three people already. I paid two of them 15$/hr after a couple weeks of work, and my best friend came to help me with my business - I paid him 18$/hr simply because he was my friend and did a good job. I can actually afford to do this because I'm NOT FUCKING GREEDY. I don't need to make millions of dollars. Yes, it would be nice. And maybe I'll reach that point some day.

But coming from where I was the first 7 years after (barely) graduating high school and dropping out of three different colleges, making anywhere between 25$/hr - 50$/hr is a HUGE step up from minimum wage bullshit jobs I was working my entire adult life until I started the business. I could, potentially, hire a Hispanic man or woamn and pay them 8-10$/hr. Would they do a good job? Probably. But I'd rather pay someone a living wage 12.50-15$/hr to ensure they enjoy working for me and maintain doing a quality job. Which I actually think is very important in order to grow a business.

I clean houses/offices, by the way, if anyone's curious. If I can pay people 15$/hr then I'm 100% positive any other small business can. They're just being fucking greedy. And we all know Amazon is greedy as fuck so that's not my point.

The resistance to a 15$/hr mandated minimum wage always come from the argument that small businesses can't afford it. My fucking ass they can't. Their profits will be hit for sure. But in turn, it will boost the economy by boosting the spending power of the lower/middle class. Fucking disgusts me to think how greedy people are in this country and actually fight to prevent people from having a living wage.

If I can pay people 15$/hr then I'm 100% positive any other small business can. They're just being fucking greedy.

How you've managed to run a business for multiple years while being this dumb is kind of baffling.

I could, potentially, hire a Hispanic man or woamn and pay them 8-10$/hr. Would they do a good job? Probably. But I'd rather pay someone a living wage 12.50-15$/hr

So you wouldn't pay a Hispanic $15 an hour?

Well shit, if you're so benevolent and generous pay these people more. Pay them $30 an hour. I 100% know that any small business can afford it because I own a business and pay a few of my employees that much. BECAUSE IM NOT GREEDY.

Oh wait, you mean different businesses have different profit margins and available positions vary widely on the revenue they generate for the company thus dictating how much a business owner can realistically offer as compensation for that position? Nahhh, it must be greed.

Idiot.

It's definitely greed. Idiot.

And no, I would pay a Hispanic person the same as anyone else because I value their work. It's other companies, small and large, that don't pay Hispanic people as much because they think they can get away with it.

Do you call your employeed and/or customers idiots?

Because that's not something that will continue here.

Lol did you warn the other guy I was responding to too? Or are you just selectively moderating me because you disagree?

Removed. Your comment is just fine without the personal attacks.

I responded in the same tone he used, why are his personal attacks ok but mine are not?

This is what people are asking for. If it is worse for the workers than the previous system then make that argument to all the people still calling for a $15 min wage.

They literally gave people exactly what they wanted and it's still not good enough.

They also took away bonuses and stocks.

You have some very basic, surface level type thinking there.

Great so instead of getting 10-12$ an hour to pee in a bottle and run around like a robot, you get 15$. And it took the snap of a finger.... wonder what else they could give their workers at the snap of a finger if they wanted to...

Amazon hiking its minimum wage to $15 per hour - a "feel good" story that was praised by everybody - appears to be nothing more than another self-serving ploy by the world's largest online retailer to not only bolster its staff for the holiday season, but to prevent potential part-time holiday laborers from going to the competition.

Amazon's new wages will take effect on November 1 - just in time for the holiday season - as Target and Walmart have failed to keep up with Amazon's pay floor. Target offers its employees $12 per hour, while Walmart recently bumped its minimum wage up to $11 per hour. For those looking to take on additional work this season, that makes the decision to work in Amazon's warehouse a very simple one.

So while the world stops to praise Amazon for its altruism, its important to remember that this is simply yet another masterful PR trick by Jeff Bezos: garnering tons of free publicity and praise for doing the "right thing", while at the same time preparing his company for a record-breaking holiday season and doing what Amazon does best: hurting the competition.

what really sucks is if you have been at amazon for a few years and made it to $13.50 after all those years of hard work, you are just moved to $15. You don't get all those raises added.

It’s still an overall victory, but a bitter one. That does suck though.

yeah they did the same thing to me at office depot back in the day. I worked my ass off to get from $7.70/hr to $11.25 in four years. Then they just bumped everyone to $12.00. Sucked

Yeah that sucks. I was going to ask for a raise not long ago... then they gave everybody a raise, and I look like an asshole if I ask for a raise right after they give everybody a raise even if I'm senior to most people.

You worked your ass off at office depot? The one here might see 20 customers a day at the most.

it was back in the '90's.

That sucks? A raise sucks? Why is that? Because you don't get paid more than the people around you anymore? Crab mentality, much?

The author of that article is Tyler Durden.

also worth noting, the raise will be enough to disqualify a bunch of people from food stamps, but not enough to actually save anything or build a more stable life on.

Gosh maybe we should encourage government to butt out because they keep making things worse. No? Ok more regulation then

one thing I noticed as I've been looking for work, they are opening a new Amazon fulfillment center here.

before this announcement full time jobs from Amazon where all over the postings, day after everything was changed to part time only. thought that was odd.

part time = no benefits

Bezos just moved to the Walmart strategy

After seeing two posts on the front page. My BS meter went off the charts.

I know a bunch of Republican "capitalists" hate Bezos but he's doing nothing wrong.

Amazon is a place where "mom and pops" can sell their store online. Have you ever bought anything from there? It usually says it's sold by "blank" and guaranteed by Amazon.

It's almost like this is propaganda.

This has unfortunately happened at my workplace too. Waves to up, benefits trickle down, no one complains

I see this completely different. This move shows me amazon has figured out how to automate another human task or two dozen.

Looking at the bright side, $15 an hour without benefits is great for someone who needs some extra cash for a couple of months. I'm Mexican, the minimum wage here is less than $5 per day.

I POSTED THIS YESTERDAY AND WAS DOWNVOTED INTO ONLIVION

Honestly fuck reddit

Yeah, I do.

If minimum wage goes to $15, I raise my prices as a landlord.

What??? So I can actually make a semi-decent wage to pay rent and bills for some money to be left over?

What should "mom and pop" do instead once they're out of business?

Hundreds of businesses go out of business each day and no one cares. That's business. It's a gamble that has big rewards and big consequences.

I've got food and bills to pay too.

The minimum wage hasent increased in ages, but in that amount of time everything else has been inflated. Why can't we have a raised minimum wage WITHOUT increasing everything else? Let the minimum wage catch up to everything else that has already been inflated.

yeah they did the same thing to me at office depot back in the day. I worked my ass off to get from $7.70/hr to $11.25 in four years. Then they just bumped everyone to $12.00. Sucked

No, but you can break monopolies like Amazon into 4 dozen pieces to stop them.

Please tell me more of your situation. Do you work? Do you have kids? Any crippling diseases or a family member with one? Where do you live?

That was the Government who mandated your insurance purchase.