Bernie Sanders insists that $11 an hour is too small a wage. This, the starting wage at Walmart, is not a living wage. Which, if we’re honest about it, is a hell of a piece of news for us out here in the real world. Because $11 an hour is pretty good money actually. Puts you in the top 3% of all incomes globally. And if top 3% really just isn’t enough then we’ve got to start wondering what would be.
Here’s the claim:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Following his speech at the shareholder meeting, Sanders moved to a rally with Walmart workers in the parking lot of the John Q. Hammons Center, where he continued to rail against Walmart’s paltry wages and applaud employees for fighting back. “One might think that a family worth $175 billion would be able to pay its employees a living wage,” Sanders said. “And yet, as you all know, the starting wage at Walmart now is $11 an hour. And people cannot make it on $11 an hour. You can’t pay rent, you can’t get health care, you can’t feed your kid, or put gas in the car on $11 an hour.” “So all we are saying to the Walton family and Walmart: Pay your workers a living wage,” Sanders added. [/perfectpullquote]$11 an hour is $22,000 a year or so for the standard American work year. Plug that into the global income calculator and we get:
And yes, this is after we’ve adjusted for prices across geography.
You know, some of us think that being in the top 3% of the income distribution is a pretty good deal actually. Especially for indoor work, no heavy lifting. Odd that Bernie Sanders doesn’t really.
Isn’t this the usual political practise of bribing your potential voters with other people’s money? Hey Walmart worker, vote for me and I’ll take money off the Walton family to give to you. Never mind they’ll sack some of you (or all perhaps depending on the cost of robots) to offset the increased cost to them.
Banking on the electorate being too thick to consider the consequences – which is, let’s face it, not something you’d get long odds on at the bookies.
G B Shaw said “Any system that robs Peter to pay Paul can count on the support of Paul”
That’s £17grand. That’s more than I’ve *ever* been paid. (Not sure how to translate for the “free” healthcare and stuff that I get on top of that, and the taxes taken off.)
(I’ve had jobs with, eg £25,000 on the label, but only for two- or three-month chunks or so.)
Given your average American’s famous insularity, I doubt if they compare themselves to the poor in, say, Africa. Being members of the top 3% will not amount to a row of beans.
“One might think that a family worth $175 billion would be able to pay its employees a living wage,” But you’d be wrong. They made all that money because they do things cheaper than anyone else. The moment they stop being cheaper, they won’t be worth $175 billion. Walmart have 2,300,000 employees. If they start paying all the ones on $11 at a rate of $12, that’ll cost about $5 billion just there per year. And Bernie won’t be happy with $12, or $13. The $175 Billion won’t last long at that rate. Before you know it, they will go… Read more »