Quote:
Originally Posted by SomethingWitty
Or another way we could look at it, is that we are subsidizing Walmarts profit margin with our tax dollars whether we like it or not.
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For the sake of argument I stipulate the your point is correct. That being the case, what do you think is an appropriate solution? Government regulation? Increase minimum wage? Unionize? So as not to offend the sensibilities of Walmart or Costco patrons, let's call them the ABC and XYZ companies, where ABC Co. treats labor as a commodity to squeeze the maximum profitability from the company. On the other hand XYZ Co. recognizes employee value and pays a higher wage and benefits, but has a smaller net profit margin to potentially distribute to shareholders. Let's also say that XYZ and ABC Cos are competitors in the same markets and are otherwise identical. The question is should government regulate or otherwise penalizing ABC Co. because as stipulated ABC Co. profitability is
de facto subsidized by taxpayers? What other possible scenarios might play out in the competition between these two companies? What effect would unionization of ABC Co. have as compared to non-union XYZ Co.? Would ABC Co. be more or less likely to be unionized?
This is an intriguing problem and I would like to hear everyone's opinion on this one. Should be fun
