Sunday, June 9, 2019

Why is Walmart Calling on Congress to Boost the Minimum Wage?


This is pretty ugly crony corporatism.

Walmart Inc. is urging Congress to boost the federal minimum wage, reports Bloomberg.

Calling the current $7.25 minimum wage “too low,” Walmart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said this past Wednesday that it’s “time for Congress to put a thoughtful plan in place” to boost it.

But here is the kicker. The minimum Walmart already pays its employees is $11 an hour. So this sudden desire to hike the minimum is simply to use the government to impose greater costs on its competitors and to appear as a concerned citizen.

To be sure, Walmart is also feeling pressure from Bernie Sanders but calling for government action against competitors to toss a speed bump in the way of socialists such as Sanders is not the way to go.

Specifically, Sanders and others have pressured large employers like Walmart to raise their hourly minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Sanders called the retailer out specifically by co-introducing a bill in 2018 titled the Stop Welfare for Any Large Monopoly Amassing Revenue from Taxpayers (Stop WALMART) Act. The bill would prohibit large employers from buying back shares of their stock unless they make concessions, including paying workers the $15 hourly minimum and increasing paid time off.

Sanders also recently spoke at Walmart's annual shareholder meeting calling for a higher minimum wage.

But it is a mistake for Walmart to even pretend there is some "just" minimum wage. Wages are set by the markets. Walmart surely knows this. They are playing a very dangerous game by simply calling for a minimum wage below the entry-level wage they pay. The entire idea of a minimum wage should be attacked for the destructive and evil intervention it is (See: How to Smash Slick Lefties Who Advocate the Minimum Wage).

-RW




1 comment:

  1. ---"Why is Walmart Calling on Congress to Boost the Minimum Wage?"---

    So that they can get 'democratic socialist' Bernie Sa ders off their backs.

    ReplyDelete