Weirdly, Jamie Dimon was in the new just hours after I posted a story about his “visit” with Representative Katie Porter from California.
He selling shares that likely cost him little to nothing. It’s also highly likely he received the shares as part of his compensation package as CEO.
I don’t care.
I really don’t care how much he makes, or how much he has. It’s not as important as the surrounding questions every one of us should have.
That is, did he know his employees make so little while he makes so much his salary could support a great number of them.
Some would ask why I’m so worked up about this. I will tell you.
It is my opinion that every job in America should pay a living wage as described by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as he signed the first minimum wage law in 1937.
But that’s not why I’m mad. Here’s why I’m mad.
When a business chooses to pay an employee less than a living wage, they are not helping the economy., the country, or the employee. They are not benefiting the customer either.
They are only benefiting a handful of people that work directly with the CEO. By suppressing wages, they’ve created a citizen living in poverty. By extension, it’s likely the entire family is not living in poverty.
IF the family is “fortunate” enough to qualify for government assistance, they’re still living in poverty. Our system is very good at giving a minimal amount of assistance. Only enough to make sure you don’t die.
What our system is not good at, at any level, is lifting people out of poverty.
So you know who will be assisting them today?
Why, it’s YOU! The wealthy have had their taxes cut so much they are a very tiny sliver of the total tax income the government receives from us.
So the people who get the honor of providing the low wage workers with the income their employers won’t, is US.
We are providing welfare to corporations so they can reap massive profits, give bonuses to all the executive staff, and pay a huge dividend to the shareholders.
Leaving the entire working class, the people who actually created the wealth, in poverty, outside in the cold, and hungry.
It’s sickening and disgusting.