Charleston Gazette-Mail | Rick Wilson: Is kicking poor people a WV priority? (Gazette)

Posted on By John

Below is an article by Rick Wilson of the Charleston-Gazette-Mail. I wanted to briefly add a few annotations.

First,  quite frankly, it’s nauseating when people use the financially downtrodden to blame for what ails our country. The United States would be a scary place if we lived under a true free market, laissez faire economy, I don’t purport to be a big government person.. but unfortunately, if left unchecked, many cooperations would exploit their workers more than they do now…. all along while stuffing their own pockets full of cash. These same businesses force their employees to depend on government assitance because they won’t pay them enough to live. See where I’m going with this?
 
I can think of numerous examples where greed is rampant throughout the country. Personally, I couldn’t be at peace if I owned a successful business while the people I employed struggled to survive; simply because I didn’t pay them enough to live. Business is complex and cash flow is paramount.. however, there are always creative ways to justly compensate people.
Amazon, for example, does not offer large base salaries like other tech companies do. They do, however, provide generous stock options. You can see below the total compensation for a ” Senior Content Aquisition Manager”. These numbers are nothing to sneeze about.
amazon_stock
Here are some more amazon salaries.  You can click on the image for the source of the information.
amazonpay2 amazonpay32 amazon500kpay

I know first hand that when you own a business cash flow is very important,  especially in the beginning.  Many companies don’t have the resources to pay their employees a true livable wage.  So how can they overcome this?   One way is by offering stock options,  which is exactly what Amazon does.  Why not share the success with the people who helped make you successful?  It’s impossible to do it alone,  it takes a team.  I think it’s not only the socially responsible thing to do but it’s also good business,  using and abusing people is not.

Of course,  you don’t have to be Amazon in order to justly compensate those who help make your company successful.  Again,  get creative,  don’t churn and burn through people, it’s just bad business and you may very well suffer the consquences sooner than later.

Below is the original article, you can see the full Story  at Charleston-Gazette-Mail | Rick Wilson: Is kicking poor people a WV priority?

In the 1870s, the nation was slammed by one of those periodic depressions that punctuate our economic history. Although largely forgotten today, it was known as “the Long Depression” for its lingering effects. It lasted for 65 consecutive months — longer than the 43-month contraction of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Around 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875. Unemployment rose above 8 percent. Millions of Americans were jobless, hungry and homeless. In those days, there was no such thing as unemployment insurance, food assistance programs like SNAP or supports for the elderly like Social Security.

– See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/gazette-op-ed-commentaries/20161222/rick-wilson-is-kicking-poor-people-a-wv-priority-gazette##sthash.M6gI5D46.dpuf

That sounds like a grim existence, but there were those at the time — who had full bellies, money in their wallets and a roof over their heads — who condemned “the over-generous charity of the city” on the grounds that it “might sap the foundation of that independence of character, and that reliance on one’s own resources.” – See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/gazette-op-ed-commentaries/20161222/rick-wilson-is-kicking-poor-people-a-wv-priority-gazettesthash.M6gI5D46.dpuf