Aalana Kane

Just finished another quarter - this time I was taking an english 102 class. I had to write a six page essay - well it became ten pages (13 with all my sources lol)

Here are a couple of my favorite pages from the essay....
[i](BTW - I Just copy and pasted so the paragraph format is off from the original and well... I just left it like that)[/i]

[b]
....Why have wages been stagnant for decades although American production is higher than
ever? What does that even mean? [/b]Most people believe that if a company does well then the
employees should do well too. But in the United States workers have not seen their wages
increase, although, CEO salaries and Shareholder profits are record-breaking highs; only because
Americans are more productive in the workplace. Adjusted for inflation American workers have
lost wages since the ‘70s. The federal minimum wage was $1.40 adjusted to 2015 rates would be
almost $11.00; although, today the federal minimum wage is only $7.25. GDP, Gross Domestic
Product, is a measure of how much value all the final goods and services produced in a country
in a given period of time; typically annually or quarterly ([url]www.ecnmy.org[/url]). In 1970 the US GDP
was $4.951 Trillion and today it is more than $18 Trillion. (Amadeo, Kimberly) Where has all
that money gone if not to American wages? Almost all of it has gone to the top 1% of
Americans. The Walton Family, Founder of Walmart, makes approximately $40 million a day in
profits (Grenecer, Tom), surely some of that can go toward the 6.2
billion dollars annually taxpayers have to subsidize for Walmart
workers (Americans for tax fairness). McDonalds Corporation made
22.82 billion in profits during 2017, while over half of their
employees needed public assistance (Allegretto, Sylvia A., et al)
costing taxpayers 1.2 billion that same year (nelp.org, compiler).
According to Forbes magazine, “Amazon CEO’s [Jeff Bezos] annual earnings…we determined
to be $78.5 billion,” is the wealthiest man in the world. (Forbes.com) Most Amazon employees
should be able to afford basic necessities such as housing, food, and healthcare. Low level
workers are encouraged to get on public assistance to supplement their low wages which then
can be used to buy food from their company (Brown, H. Claire). Essentially double benefitting.


If employers paid workers a living wage taxpayers would save billions yearly on federal
assistance. Large companies, not taxpayers, should be required to pay for social programs that
their employees are eligible to receive if their workers are not making a living wage. All of the
extra money the rich accumulate give them more political power, and in turn, take away power
from the average citizen. The rich and mega-corporations have use their buying power to even
buy our politicians. This can be very influential as government is more likely to pass laws in
favor of those corporations. Laws like keeping the federal minimum wage low and keeping
corporate taxes low. When the wealthiest people and corporations do not pay their fair share of
taxes it impacts governments ability to invest in
public interests. Such as public schools, roads,
and Fire and Police departments. Often services
are cut for those same people who work at these
companies to begin with. This also affects the
workers' ability to fight for pay inequality
because workers are afraid to lose what little
income they have. The working poor and middle
class again are the ones that end up paying for
the missed taxes. This is why some economists call The United States a “Corporatocracy”.
YouTube Video by ‘The Audiopedia’ says, “Corporatocracy is a recently coined term used to
refer to an economic and political system controlled by corporations or corporate interests.
Corporatocracy is a government form in which the large corporations hold power. Individuals do
not have political rights” (What is Corporatocracy). Economist Jeffrey Sachs suggested that,
“…the United States Corporatocracy arose from four trends: Weak national parties, large U.S. military establishment after World War II, big corporate money financing election campaigns,
and globalization tilting the balance away from workers.” (Sachs, Jeffrey D.) Edmund Phelps, a
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner, theorized income inequality as the result of
corporatization. He further characterized corporatization as power-sharing between government
and large corporations, an expansion of corporate lobbying and campaign support in exchange
for government reciprocity, and a lack of entrepreneurial and small business development
leading to lethargic and stagnant economic conditions to name a few (Mass Flourishing).


Shareholders are individuals (and sometimes other companies) who invest in a company
and receive partial ownership. These portions of the company can be sold or can be kept. If the
company does well the shareholders and stockholders are rewarded with dividends. Dividends
are sums of money paid by a company to its shareholders. The money comes from the
companies’ profits. But why aren’t more profits shared with the employees who helped create
that wealth to begin with. Shareholders do not partake in daily operations of the company like
workers do. CEOs want to keep their investors happy because those shareholders finance
company operations. Shareholders can also sue CEO’s for actions that negatively impact the
company. However, public corporations often stifle economies (not on purpose) in favor of
lower wages to maximize shareholder profits. In my opinion, this is also why raising the
minimum wage federally is so important; because when the
middle class and poor people have more money to spend, they
do just that. I know it becomes a chicken-and-egg situation, but
when people have money to spend businesses have incentive to
hire employees to meet that demand. Companies do not build
businesses and employ people when there is no financial incentive: meaning if there no great demand for products to be consumed companies do not have
incentive to create jobs. This is the same reason companies will not pay higher wages: They just
don’t have to. Companies can also legally bribe our government with large sums of money called
“campaign donations”. Average American donations cannot compete with the size of corporate
donations. So every year Americans are more productive, the profits stay within the top
management and shareholders. This is how decades of lower wages contribute to a weak middle
class. When the cost of living keeps rising people are forced to buy fewer necessities on a
smaller income. This is why we see more homeless people in every major city. When people lose
their purchasing power the economy loses momentum and continued unemployment cycles
happens. The only way to have a strong economy is to have a robust middle class who are
spending – that spending creates jobs. You can say the middle class are the job creators.


When the largest companies pay higher
wages similar companies often raise their wages
to compete. Amazon just raised its wages, in
2018, after getting the brunt of publicity when its
CEO Jeff Bezos had been reported as the richest
man in the history of the world, yet many of his
employee’s wages are so low they cannot income
qualify for rent many places and must rely on
social programs. In essence, governments are
subsidizing the large corporations who make
extravagant profits but keep the money to themselves instead of using the profits to pay
employees wages they can survive on without government intervention. While $15 is debatable as a “living wage” it is a step in the right direction; and Amazon has raised its lowest level workers’ wages to 15$ across the board. Companies that have followed suit are McDonald's,
Wells Fargo, and Target. With even more companies looking to follow as well. The companies
reported an improvement in employee morale, customer service, and above average candidates
are now seeking employment. (Zitter, Leah)