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Isn't "constantly moving the goal posts" the name of the game in capitalism? Good on Amazon for increasing their minimum wage, but why shouldn't it also be met
by garettmd 8y ago
Isn't "constantly moving the goal posts" the name of the game in capitalism? Good on Amazon for increasing their minimum wage, but why shouldn't it also be met with a healthy amount of skepticism. Companies definitely do things for the common good (I don't see much competitive advantage gained from going 100% renewable energy - a common move for many tech companies - apart from maybe attracting better/more employees) but it would be naïve to think that most decisions a company makes don’t intend to better their market position in some way or another.
Amazon (and all companies) spend most of their time/resources figuring out how to make more money and gain more power; I think it's appropriate that we as consumers, in turn, spend our time demanding more of them in terms of both value delivered and net benefit to society.
I don’t think Amazon deserves much sympathy. They're one of the most powerful companies in the world, have made a small group of people very rich while continuing to treat employees poorly. It's great that they're making this move but I don’t think we as consumers/citizens should be merely satisfied with it.
- stale2002 8y agoI mean, do you want good behavior to be rewarded or not? If good behavior isn't rewarded, how do you think companies might act in the future. People, as well as companies, respond to incentives.
- garettmd 8y agoI agree with you. And I think it's good that Amazon is given credit for doing this. But I also question whether the incentive that pushed Amazon to do this has as much to do with magnanimity as it does with generating goodwill and preventing tougher legislation. Bernie Sanders and his group have been calling on Amazon to improve worker conditions and pay, and while they have praised Amazon for doing so, I think they would be naïve to think there's not more to expect or demand of Amazon in this realm. That is in effect "rewarding" them for good behavior, but there should also be some negative incentives in place (IMHO) to further encourage more of this good behavior