Posted on 10/04/2018 8:26:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Amazon, the massive online retailer, announced with great fanfare that it will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, and will encourage others across the nation to do the same. Is it unselfish public-mindedness, or political and competitive pressures that's behind the move?
Sorry, Jeff Bezos, but we don't buy the social justice talk anymore. Anytime a multi-billion dollar corporation begins talking about social issues, check your wallet. And then look at who's pressuring them.
That's certainly the case with Amazon, which on Tuesday announced the minimum wage hike.
"We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead," founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement about the pay raise, which goes into effect next month.
"Leading" will be expensive, since a lot of workers will be affected. Some 250,000 people work for Amazon, which plans to hire another 100,000 for the Christmas holiday season.
But the truth is, it's a move not premised on doing "the right thing," as leftist minimum wage activists like to say, but on Amazon keeping its edge as the nation's leading retailing force.
Bezos' Minimum Wage Hike Activism Start with the fact that Jeff Bezos, a bazillionaire from his Amazon holdings (in fact, the richest human on Earth), won't be pulling out his checkbook to pay for this minimum wage hike. Whatever else you might feel about this, you'll pay for it. In fact, you probably already are, since Amazon just jacked up its Amazon Prime subscriptions by $20.
Nor did Amazon's move come from some deep cry of conscience over economic injustice. Rather, it came in response to a brutal political attack on the company by socialist millionaire Senator Bernie Sanders.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
I have no problem with that but they could have done this privately. Where I see red flags big time is when they first made a big public deal about it then they said they would be lobbying government for wage hikes across the board.
Amazon's competitors like Walmart can't afford to be forced into mandatory $15 and hour. They probably would not survive and walmart was previously the strongest retailer in country. Amazon is attempting to put tremendous pressure on their competitors with this move. It's predatory in nature and could be very harmful for all businesses in the long run. People need to recognize this tactic and the danger it represents.
——competitors like Walmart ——
Walmart might not be the target.
There are others who have set up online strores that offer more select lines. We now are subjected to TV ads for online retailers of furniture and of all things used cars. They even show a used car vending machine. In all instances the target is women, especially young women that live on their phones and are susceptable to an ad showing a young woman in bed eating bon bons while buying a used car.
These businesses are likely to have problems paying staff in competition with Amazon. Then when they are down, Amazon can kick them and buy them out.
“Amazon’s competitors like Walmart can’t afford to be forced into mandatory $15 and hour.”
That’s Walmart’s problem.
It’s not Amazon’s fault that they have smarter people and better ideas than Walmart.
Well then maybe Amazon should go all in and pay their workers $20 an hour, lobby congress to force all big retailers to pay $20 an hour minimum wage and Walmart will go out of business. Then when all their major competition is gone they can lower the wage back down to a more reasonable rate and also raise their prices for everything. In the interim Amazon can afford to sell tens of thousands of products at a loss which will quickly knock Walmart and other retailers out of the market. Then once the competition is gone raise prices back up above where they originally were and recover any losses and more. Why not? Amazon easily has the funds to do this so why not allow them to just use their competitive advantage to the fullest?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.