$100 mil x 365 days = $36.5 billion
215,000 employees x 2080 hrs/yr (fulltime, 40hrs per week) = 447,200,000 work hours to be compensated for.

All of these employees are currently being paid a wage. The article I read said something along the lines of $11/$11.50 an hour.

So 447,200,000 work hours x $11/hr = $4,919,200,000 in payroll
So their payroll for these employees is almost $5 bil dollars as it stands.

To increase that $11/hr to $15 would be 446,200,000 work hours x $4 which is $1,784,800,000. So just under $2 bil dollars.

If the Walmart family makes $36.5 billion a year, sacrificing just under $2 billion shouldn't adversely affect the shopping public. One of the primary arguments against raising wages is that it would raise consumer cost. Well, not if corporate greed was held in check.

>Why would Walmart "want" to pay more? Do you pay more for a
>pair of shoes than you have to?
>No. You pay whatever the price is. No more.

Well, if the economy has pushed out indicators that says less people in America are able to make a living wage and my company's workforce falls within that line, I'd want to make sure my workforce was taken care of as without them the billions suffer. Let alone, that there will be a breaking point if this excessive separation continues (revolts, violence, increased crime, etc). It's a socioeconomic issue.

Now you're right, no billionaire has the mandate to do something about it, but I find it irresponsible to be in that position and relish in immobility around it.

>If the price of labor is "x", why would Walmart (or any
>business) want to pay "x+5"? They should only want to do that
>if they get something worthwhile out of it (see: chick fil a,
>Costco, Trader Joe's).
>
>Any company with a positive profit is able to increase
>payrolls. But there is no reason to.

Until people can't really afford to live and they start storming the gates of the Walmart mansions.

Think about it this way. The NBA players association actively negotiates that owners must pay players a fair share of revenue. That's why salary caps continually increase, fairly based on the performance of the company. No one ever says, 'Why should an NBA player get more of the profit when they don't own the team?' That's because the NBA has to value their talent as the employees make the business run. Fortunately for them, they have collective bargaining to keep billionaires in check. The guy making $11/hr has no advocate so CEO/Shareholder comp has increased to 234 times what avg wages are (up from 20 times avg wages in the 1960's) and wages have stagnated behind inflation so a dollar today doesn't go as far as it did 30-40 yrs ago.

In essence, Americans are working harder, for longer hours (2nd most overworked labor force in the world behind Japan) to make and afford less.

That sort of wealth gap isn't good for the US (or any country for that matter) and it's the type of environment that has facilitated 45's election and a crushing decrease of the middle class.