In reply to logdog :
Agreed 100%. The modern corporate shareholder model does reward short term profit to the exclusion of everything else .
Another thing that comes to mind, if you are looking to hire quality people and you are offering less than $15-20/hr (and really closer to the $20 end of that spectrum)....don't get your hopes up. I have heard a shocking number of people/companies/owners/news articles that all shout that thats outrageous, but for a full time 40hr position, its only $30-40k a year . Many of us are thinking "thats a perfectly reasonable wage, i dont know what these kids are complaining about!", but viewing it through rose colored glasses from even a few years ago, in the year 2000, you could:
-Buy a brand new LS1/6speed Z28 for an MSRP of $21,000.
-Buy a brand new home for the national median price of $154,000
-Rent a nice, midgrade apartment with all utilities for around $700/month .
By comparison, in 2018:
-The cheapest V8/manual Camaro is $38,000
-The median home price is $340,000
-Rent for a decent apartment (incl utilities) is $1500-2000.
To many, the year 2000 feels like yesterday, and not much should have changed since yesterday, right? But even $15-20/hr doesnt go as far as it used to. Most young people aren't complaining because they're entitled . They are upset because the jobs being offered, usually degree required, no longer pay a living wage . If you have to add a $300 car payment and a $500 student loan payment onto your $1200 apartment, you need $24k per year posttax just to cover those obligations, and you havent yet fed yourself or insured (car/health/renters) any of part of your life, to say nothing of occasional fun activites, because you know, life is supposed to have some joy in it.
I have another cost of living spreadsheet that I update occasionally, and it tells a similar story, but those were three easy metrics i could pull from the internet in 5-10min .