Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

In a conversation about Amazon.com and Jeff Bezos’ newly reported personal wealth of $150 Billion, a controversey occurred. The issue is that Amazon has (according to Google) 563,100 employees, earning just about half of the average wage in this country—half!

The workers of Amazon create the value of the company. Amazon’s worth, its value, its business, is efficiently placing purchases in the hands of the purchasers, and anyone who does that creates value for the company.

Someone who produces lights and air conditioning or a building or parking lot is not adding value. Any of those things could disappear and the value of Amazon wouldn’t suffer.

But, if those workers walked out—or any substantial number of them walked out—the company would suffer and die.

If Amazon withholds, underpays, perhaps $26,000 from the earnings of each employee, and multiply that by 563,100, the descrepsency between the value these employees add and what they receive is $14,640,600,000 per year!

The other guy says "Why cannot people (Democrats) accept success"? Because Democrats are greedy SOB's that's why, they have this deranged thought process that it's greedy for wealthy people to keep most of their earnings yet it's not greedy for those that want to take the wealth from the wealthy to benefit themselves (Democrats) or the not so wealthy.”

And, I point out, it isn’t Democrats who are greedy. The Democratic Party isn’t involved in any sense in Amazon.

Furthermore, Jeff Bezos is the one who is greedy, keeping for his personal use half of the value created by each employee, some 14 Billion Dollars a year, an amount far beyond anything he could ever use himself. What you call “his earnings,” is, in fact, half of the employee’s earnings, half of the value they create for Amazon, and Jeff’s income as likely to come from taking these funds. from employees as from any business success he has at Amazon.

You say, “it's greedy for wealthy people to keep most of their earnings yet it's not greedy for those that want to take the wealth from the wealthy to benefit themselves.” BUT those aren’t Bezos’ earnings, they are the worker’s earnings that Bezos is keeping half of!

The employee earned those earnings, they created that value with their labor, and Jeff kept half of it, half of the value they brought to Amazon, half of what they created—THAT’S where the greed is, taking someone elses value to the company, and keeping it for himself!

So I ask, What Says Ugly Hedgehog? Is it kosher for Jeff Bezos to keep funds from those who create them, even though the funds exceed anything he can ever use or spend or even invest? Is it proper to keep funds others create even though you can’t possibly use them, to pay them less than a living wage, fifty per cent less, merely to run up a useless total for yourself?

Let me hear you.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

I've heard it's not that pleasant of a place to work either. They need to organize.

It isn't something that only Bezos does.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

No, it isn’t only Bezos. It’s a violence of capitalism to keep lower classes at subsistence level or slightly lower.

If they starve, they’re no use, but don’t let them get fat.

I’m a great supporter of capitalism, but we’re not finished with it yet.

However, under the Republicans, we’re going in the wrong direction, headed to a two tier society, the super wealthy and the rest of us, with perhaps a few educated ones in the middle.

It ain’t much to be proud of.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Face it. That's capitalism. If the workers don't like it, they can work somewhere else. If they were to leave en masse, Jeff would need to change his ways. If not, he gets wealthier. That's the way the system works.

Henry Ford did the same thing. Presidents and Vice Presidents for whom I've worked made quite a lot more than I. I was thrilled to be working for them.
--Bob

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

It appears that they are organized. They can ship packages, probably, quicker than most. One can't ship that many packages per hour without some sort of organization.
--Bob

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

Henry Ford famously paid his workers enough to afford one of his cars. Now we have the Walmart flip, pay low wages and make the goods cheap.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

To say nothing about the number of small businesses Walmart puts out of business in areas they open a store. Their low wages ensure a loyal customer base from their employees.
--Bob

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

Walmart's low wages also force their workers to go on food stamps to be able to feed their families. Thus, in effect, your tax dollars pay to make it possible for Walmart to make larger profits.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

You are right, that’s capitalism. It’s one of the violences of capitalism that management holds the laborers to subsistance wages, in spite of their contribution.

Notice, that the last 30 billion, for example, Bezos can’t spend, is actually of no value to him as he can already buy anything he might wish, has fortunes invested—actually it is more of a burden than anything else, strange to say, but true.

Henry Ford did not do the same thing. If you remember, he raised his worker‘s wages to (I think) five dollars a day—way higher than anyone else was paying (garnering him a lot of criticism from other employers); his problem was excessive turnover in the factory and he thought the additional money was worth it.

And of course, the laborers have a choice, don’t they? Work at Walmart, or McDonalds, or Amazon—freedom of poverty.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

Amazon’s, too.

TucsonCoyote Loc: Tucson AZ

The one percenters already own all the riches of the land and I don't think Republicans are the only greedy ones!

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

I'm not sure if that still happens. They used to build their stores in rural areas. They now build them in major population centers. Kind of hard to put everyone else out of business in Los Angeles. I don't know that it doesn't still happen, but it would seem rather difficult. They are still predatory.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

It will have to reverse sometime before there is no one left to buy their trinkets. The rich are unlikely to become their customers.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

When Ben and Gerry started their ice cream company they decided that a reasonable ratio of what the highest-paid person at the company (them) should be paid to the pay of the least-paid person should be no greater than 7:1. And they stuck to that for many years.

In the Southeast I think that many people shop at Publix Groceries because of their reputation of being so good to their employees. After a year you get health insurance, and they have an employee stick-purchase program. They are consistently v**ed as one of the best places to work in the region. I could get food cheaper at Walmart or other grocery stores like Aldi's, but I respect what Publix does for its' employees.