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KeepItReal

(7,769 posts)

26. Walmart can go to $15/hour simply by cutting the size of its stock buyback.

Sat Jul 9, 2016, 10:00 AM

Jul 2016

They wouldn't have to raise prices one cent.

Can Walmart really afford a $15 wage increase? It can if company executives dip into the substantial pool of money Walmart has allocated to repurchase shares of its own stock. Share buybacks, as they are called, reduce the number of shares traded on the market so that the same level of earnings are distributed over fewer owners, making each remaining share worth more. To bolster its stock price, Walmart recently authorized $20 billion for share repurchases in 2016 and 2017. But share buybacks do nothing to strengthen the company’s productivity or bottom line.

If Walmart redirected the $10 billion per year it has authorized for buybacks toward investment in human capital, it could provide its 825,000 lowest-paid U.S. employees a raise of as much as an additional $7.67 per hour without raising consumer prices by a penny. On top of the $10 an hour Walmart has already committed to, this would more than pay for the $15 an hour Walmart workers are calling for.

http://prospect.org/article/how-walmart-could-afford-pay-15-hour

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Democrats back $15 minimum wage, but stalemate on Social Security [View all] DonViejo Jul 2016 OP

"the current minimum wage is a starvation wage " As opposed to Social Security. n/t jtuck004 Jul 2016 #1

This Social Security -only income person says Amen to that. nt silvershadow Jul 2016 #49

"The typical American couple has only $5,000 saved for retirement." RKP5637 Jul 2016 #2

Everyone has ideas bucolic_frolic Jul 2016 #3

Considering how crooked our sulphurdunn Jul 2016 #8

Yes Freddie Jul 2016 #33

That is partially true, St. Ronnie started taxing at 50% Bill Clinton raised it doc03 Jul 2016 #58

Remove the wage cap dynamo99 Jul 2016 #35

This is IMO the best option trc Jul 2016 #40

Those who receive "dividends" or stock in lieu of pay won't pay anything cpamomfromtexas Jul 2016 #44

That would help immensely Yupster Jul 2016 #45

Right on. Cass Jul 2016 #64

SSI is $740 a month. happyslug Jul 2016 #37

"other income" bucolic_frolic Jul 2016 #46

For SSI all is income. happyslug Jul 2016 #51

Social Security disagrees with you. former9thward Jul 2016 #47

"After midnight, during a session that began nearly two hours after it was scheduled, two amendments merrily Jul 2016 #4

Puzzling? Not to progressives 4dsc Jul 2016 #10

Hillary Rodham Clinton (on google) on Medicare and Social Security merrily Jul 2016 #13

Somehow it doesn't puzzle me at all. pangaia Jul 2016 #27

Me either. Silver_Witch Jul 2016 #52

"...both amendments failed by about the margin that Clinton enjoyed over Sanders..." George II Jul 2016 #20

You know I didn't write the article, right? merrily Jul 2016 #63

It was a pretty long article, but for some reason you chose to isolate that one short passage. George II Jul 2016 #65

Some reason? That passage describes the vote cited in the title of the article. merrily Jul 2016 #66

Actually, it really doesn't. The title of the article mentions $15 miminum wage and "stalemate".... George II Jul 2016 #67

Actually, it does. Also, it's still Sunday morning where I am and I usually enjoy my Sundays, but merrily Jul 2016 #68

Isn't Social Security a Republican program? Octafish Jul 2016 #5

If we don't expand Social Security we will just spend more on the disability and SSI part anyway hollowdweller Jul 2016 #6

this mopinko Jul 2016 #30

Yes -- and also we will ramp up fear if we don't expand Social Security. Great points you made! Akamai Jul 2016 #38

Republicans will have fun with this one Arizona Roadrunner Jul 2016 #7

An answer to that question sulphurdunn Jul 2016 #11

The way DU is now, you can have a post scrubbed for just quoting the words of NorthCarolina Jul 2016 #39

But as I was told here somewhere, it's just a piece of paper. pangaia Jul 2016 #28

Eliminate the cap on social security tax - problem solved groundloop Jul 2016 #9

To do that would require sulphurdunn Jul 2016 #12

That is the thing that needs to be done first, before other things can be addressed. still_one Jul 2016 #14

Apparently, scrapping the cap is what was rejected suffragette Jul 2016 #32

That is the direct solution to the Social Security short fall. Of course money should have never still_one Jul 2016 #41

Completely agree with you on scrapping the cap and that SS funds should not be used suffragette Jul 2016 #42

Sure it should. still_one Jul 2016 #43

Wouldn't that increase employer costs? seabeckind Jul 2016 #16

Those same employers enjoying record profits while stagnating wages? KeepItReal Jul 2016 #23

Yep. They didn't get record profits by increasing their labor costs. n/t seabeckind Jul 2016 #24

Walmart can go to $15/hour simply by cutting the size of its stock buyback. KeepItReal Jul 2016 #26

So then no 'cap' on the guaranteed ss check *everyone*(who paid in) including billionares get? Sunlei Jul 2016 #34

This is so sad... This is why I was a Bernie Sanders fan..oh well, we must carry on. I will secondwind Jul 2016 #15

Why do they not want to expand social security? RoccoR5955 Jul 2016 #17

deficit hawkery is still the order of the day. . .n/t annabanana Jul 2016 #19

So is expanding military spending. RoccoR5955 Jul 2016 #50

Increase in minimum wage helps fund social security also lostnfound Jul 2016 #18

Nina Turner is a smart women… Good work... midnight Jul 2016 #21

Great, now 70-year-olds who need to work can get paid better. L. Coyote Jul 2016 #22

Scrap the cap - No says HRC supporters daa Jul 2016 #25

Stalemate? Democrats?!!!???? ananda Jul 2016 #29

As someone who survives only on SS disability arithia Jul 2016 #31

I'm a payroll admin Freddie Jul 2016 #36

"I would feel terribly sorry for them" awoke_in_2003 Jul 2016 #53

Forgot the sarcasm thingy! Freddie Jul 2016 #54

Sorry awoke_in_2003 Jul 2016 #55

I am blown away how the Democrats shaping the platform are making it such a conservative one. avaistheone1 Jul 2016 #48

I am surprised they gave in on $15 and not SS. Ash_F Jul 2016 #56

sold their souls to wall street. pansypoo53219 Jul 2016 #57

$15 per hour minimum wage may be meaningless if TPP passes Arizona Roadrunner Jul 2016 #59

To be honest I would have preferred a platform that would take the setting of the minimum wage cstanleytech Jul 2016 #60

"The platform as it existed promised that Democrats would "expand" Social Security" Tactical Peek Jul 2016 #61

Stalemating on Social Security. chapdrum Jul 2016 #62

And the TPP? forest444 Jul 2016 #69

Those who oppose expanding social security are not really democrats Doctor_J Jul 2016 #70