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Walmart compensation practices
Walmart compensation practices
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Finances have been a necessary element of the world ever since man has first come into existence. The role of commerce in the life of an average human is baffling. It appears that money in and of itself, could possibly make the earth continue on its steady journey around the sun, such is its importance. The vast amount of wealth that is currently occupying the homes of billions though, may not come so easily to some as it does to others. There are those who must learn to go without certain provisions due to a lack of funding. It can be seen fairly clearly that there is an invisible, sometimes unspoken, divide between individuals who have abundant wealth, and those who live by saving what they can. The rich and poor. The haves and the have-nots. …show more content…
Carl McMillion, the current CEO of Walmart, receives a compensation package that is comprised of his salary, bonus, stock, commission, and all other direct or indirect benefits. The entirety of this package comes to a sum of 9.56 million dollars a year. The basic employees of Walmart, such as stockers and cashiers, earn on average, 17,080 dollars per year. Some think that these low wages are set in order to pay those on the upper half of the Walmart hierarchy. Many also believe that wealthy earners should take some sort of pay cut and give a portion of their money to their employees, in order to close the gap in pay between the executives and their employees. Others argue, though, that since these individuals make up the top ten percent of earners, they must pay quite a large sum when it comes to taxes. The percentage of income tax for those with large salaries, such as CEOs, is typically higher than those in average jobs with an equally average amount of income. In the United States law though, there are certain exceptions and regulations which help to lower the amount of taxes a high earning person has to pay. Warren Buffet, the CEO of Walmart until 2014, stated at a presidential fund-raiser that the rich were not paying enough in taxes. Using himself as an example, Buffet asserted that his taxes in the previous year were only 17.7 percent of his …show more content…
Currently, there are over 46.5 million citizens of the United States that are considered to be poor (Poverty in the United States: A Snapshot). This is about 15 percent of the population; the highest it’s ever been. The working class (as most of the lower earning members of the work force are called) receive many grievances for their economic situation, which is mostly out of their control. False statements made mostly out of ignorance are often said throughout conversations in which the lower class is the subject. Such statements include that most individuals in the working class are lazy and need to just go out and look for work, or that they are unfit for work do to some sort of criminal record or past substance abuse. The truth is more complicated in nature. In a country and age in which divorce rates are rapidly growing, the predicament of the single parent is becoming more prevalent. It is not realistically feasible to expect one parental unit to be able to provide all the necessities needed to properly raise a child if they are part of the working class. Recalling the average minimum wage yearly income of $17,080, which equals to $1,484 monthly, it can be seen that this is a low amount of funds. After taking away $1,045,
In "Class in America", Gregory Mantsios says that "when politicians and social commentators draw attention to the plight of the poor, they do so in a manner that obscures the class structure and denies any sense of exploitation." Based off our readings, class discussion and films, income inequality is known to be erased or ignore. Our society frowns upon the expression of income in our daily conversations, as it could be seen braggy or a complaint depending on your status of income. Because it's frowned upon to talk about, the topic of income inequality becomes erased or ignored. In addition, income inequality in America's class structure can affect people's ability to reach their American Dream.
Sklar, Holly. “The Growing Gulf Between the Rich and the Rest of Us”. They Say I Say. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely
The book two dollars a day by Kathryn Edin is a book that highlights a spiraling poverty in America. One thing I feel contributed to the poverty talked about in the book is some types of American political culture. People in America who are in need of welfare often won’t take it until they have become so impoverished there is no other option due to the stigmas that come with welfare. American political culture also creates a persona for poor people it often paints them as lazy minorities that don’t want to work though they would be capable if they tried too. The pull yourself up by the boot straps mantra only creates more detestation for the poor and impoverished that already don’t seem to fit into the American dream.
The division of wealth is unevenly distributed throughout society’s so called social ladder. The “haves,” those who run corporations or have major influence on government decisions, control the majority of the wealth and resource available to achieve that wealth. Their major purpose it to build on that wealth no matter what the consequence may be. Those decisions sometimes negatively impact the lives of the “have nots,” people who, like us, have minimal if any influence on corporate spending and decisions.
Some people believe that poverty is beneficial. For example, Herbert J. Gans. is a big fan of poverty. In his essay, “The Uses of Poverty: The Poor Pay All,” he explains the benefits of having poor people in society. “The existence of poverty ensures that society’s “dirty work” will be done.” -Herbert J. Gans (Gans, 1971.) He believes that the poverty level needs to be relatively high to support the comfortable lives of middle and upper class people. The working poor support the other classes. However, it is very difficult for people in the lower class to make a move upwards. Generally in the “dirty jobs” pay very little and there is little to no opportunity for advancement. Often times, there is an ascribed status for those in the lower class. Since their parents were poor, they have little to no opportunities to have a life any different. It is very difficult for these individuals to attend college, due to rising tuition prices. In today’s society it is nearly impossible to attain a high paying job without a college degree. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs have been moved overseas to save money, but that means finding work in America is very difficult (Frontline Charts, 2013.) Even if they can find work, wages for such jobs have been dropping and are often not enough to support a family or even
The concept of the "working poor" has gained prominence in the post-welfare reform era. As welfare rolls shrunk, the focus shifted from the dependent poor to the working poor. It was obvious that without substantial outside support, even families with full-time low-wage workers were still earning less than the official poverty line. And while American society purports that anyone can prosper if they work hard enough, it became apparent that with inadequate opportunity or bad luck, a growing number of families could not attain the American dream, or even break the cycle of poverty. The new challenge for American social policy is to help the working poor lift themselves out of poverty. That's why progressives who supported ending welfare as we know it have set a new goal -- the government should "make work pay" so that no one who works full time is poor.
What is a single parent? Is it one who destroys their child’s life? Is it one who ultimately cannot raise a minor on their own? Or is it one who dedicates their lives to the well being of their kid? Imagine a parent, and for whatever reason they were left alone to raise a child. That parent you imagined has to work long hours just to put a meal on the table. That parent has to play the role of the mother and father. That parent has no financial support. Unfortunately, in our society, this image of a single parent is looked down upon. There are people that don’t realize how much a single parent goes through to give their child a better life.
Society today is split in many different ways: the smart and the dumb, the pretty and the ugly, the popular and the awkward, and of course the rich and the poor. This key difference has led to many areas of conflict among the population. The rich and the poor often have different views on issues, and have different problems within their lives. Moral decay and materialism are two issues prevalent among the wealthy, while things such as socio-economic class conflict and the American dream may be more important to those without money. Ethics and responsibilities are an area of thought for both classes, with noblesse oblige leaning more towards the wealthy.
Compared to other developed nations in America there is a large gap between the working poor and the wealthy and it has increased in the last 40 years (Mankiw, 2014). By gauging a better understanding, Shipler makes the reader want to fight for the working poor with the way he describes their struggles in detail. By interviewing workers from around the country with different circumstances, demographics, professions, and located in different regions Shipler was able to gain a realistic data of the working poor population. After interviewing individuals he was able to gain an insight into the struggles of those that are invisible like having to choose between the luxuries of the middle class like having a cable or a cell phone or paying their bills, the meager wages and hard hours single mothers like Caroline have to struggle through to provide for their family, and feeling like they don’t matter to their employers. Along with detailing the struggles of the working poor Shipler mentions possible solutions along the way that society could assist with like increasing minimum wage so the working poor could have the opportunity to survive, possible programs that would focus the children of the working poor so they could have a better future in high school and beyond, and if employers were able to reduce some of the requirements more opportunities could be provided to the working poor. With the creation of state and local communities that provide outreach like teaching job etiquette, proper hygiene, education, and transportation more individuals would be able to gain better self-esteem and have reliable transport to work. In order, to have a fighting chance the invisible American’s need society to fight for them, so those that make up the working poor know that they
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that though poverty is usually associated with unemployment, a significant portion of the poor are actually employed (see also DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2009). Due to their low wages, the working poor face countless obstacles that make it difficult to find and keep a job, cover basic expenses, and obtain a sense of security (Cross, 2010; Kalleberg, 2011; Lohmann, 2009). The official working poverty rate in the U.S. has been stable over the past four decades (Hoynes, 2005). However, some scholars disagree with this stability, and feel that the official definition is set too low as the share of workers facing financial hardship has increased over the years (Bordoff et al., 2007; Sandoval, 2009; Wicks-Lim, 2010). Others argue that changes in the economy (i.e., the shift from a manufacturing-based to service-based economy) have resulted in the polarization of the labor market (Autor, Katz, & Kearney, 2006; Satya, 2011). This means that while there are more jobs in both extremities of the income spectrum, there are fewer jobs in the middle (Kalleberg,
Divisions within the social stratum is a characteristic of societies in various cultures and has been present throughout history. During the middle ages, the medieval feudal system prevailed, characterized by kings and queens reigning over the peasantry. Similarly, in today’s society, corporate feudalism, otherwise known as Capitalism, consists of wealthy elites dominating over the working poor. Class divisions became most evident during America’s Gilded Age and Progressive era, a period in time in which the rich became richer via exploitation of the fruits of labor that the poor persistently toiled to earn. As a result, many Americans grew compelled to ask the question on everyone’s mind: what do the rich owe the poor? According to wealthy
This label also heavily targets the impoverished, and a presumed lack of effort from the less fortunate was the main reason why. The false notion that the poor just don’t want to put in the effort is exactly that, false. In his book “Inequality and Stratification”, Robert A. Rothman termed the conception of these notions “legitimation of inequality”. He debunked this particular notion as he wrote, “One such myth is that most of the poor are poor because they do not want to work. The fact is that about half are either too old or too young to work, and about one-third actually do work but fail to earn enough to lift themselves out of poverty” (pg. 70).
Gans (1971) explains that the "terms and labels" used to depict the poor as second class citizens may be contributing to their inability break away from poverty. He also provides an understanding of the perseverance of poverty in American. Without the poor underpaid members of society, there are many types of enterprises that would cease to successfully operate because they currently rely on the under paid workers for their profits and continued
All of us want money all of us need money but little of us have it. Single parents are no exception. They are the ones that struggle with money issues the most. They need money to help raise their child and to provide food for their family without money these things are not possible. Without money you are limited to the things you can do. You can’t provide clothes, food, shelter, gas, house bills. Money helps a lot for a single parent, but is really difficult. For one single adult to make enough money to provide, it is very difficult for a single parent to come up with the same amount of money that two parents get. This can cause a lot of stress for the parent and make the household a very fragile place to live. There could be a lot of tension in the house, it could cause fights, arguments, physical abuse. These are all scenarios of living in a single parent household. When sometimes it is not the characters of the family members that cause these problems but the stress and money that accumulate