For the next largest corporations, Yum! Foods (which lost its greatest asset with the passing of Gidget the Dog) and McDonald's, those figures were 45 percent and 130 percent respectively -- a rapid bloating which human beings can only achieve by consuming their products.
The rich get richer, chapter gazillion.
Some more useful figures from the NELP report:
Seriously? $20 million per year for managing KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut? There's nothing to say after that. (Except "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" And that for all that money you'd think they'd figure out how to make pizzas that don't taste like cardboard.)
The minimum wage isn't automatically adjusted.
Some people are surprised to learn that, unlike some other government rates, the minimum wage isn't automatically adjusted for inflation. Bills which raise it have to be submitted by courageous politicians, and then other politicians must resist big-business interests to vote for it.
Guess how often that happens?
That's why the proposal by Sen. Harkin and Rep. Miller deserves, and needs, a lot of support.
A 35 percent wage increase doesn't mean it costs 35 percent more to hire or keep an employee.
The Harkin/Miller proposal would gradually increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.80 per hour, and would then index it to inflation. An increase of approximately 35 percent may strike some people as hefty, but it's a modest number which basically makes up for the ground lost between 1968 and the time it takes effect.
Those who are afraid it could corporate "sticker shock" should understand that increasing somebody's wages by 35 percent doesn't mean you're increasing the cost of employing them by 35 percent. While there are different cost structures in the corporate world, wages can be as low as one-third of an employee's total cost and are rarely more than half.
Why? Big corporations tack on a lot of overhead for their total employee costs -- costs which includes those overpaid CEOs, along with their jets, and other perks, as well as more legitimate expenses for centralized corporate functions like purchasing, administration, and IT. There are also other fixed costs attached to employing someone, including insurance, physical housing, and utilities.
The less employees make, the lower their wages are likely to be as a percentage of the total employment cost. Raising the minimum wage by 35 percent won't increase Wal-Mart's or Yum!'s cost of employing someone by nearly that much. And, as we were saying: They've got the money.
Raising the minimum wage can create jobs -- here's how.
Think of a minimum wage increase as an instant economic stimulus funded by the runaway profits of the major corporations.
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