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Why should Wall Street bonuses grow this much and minimum wage not?


They represent different things.

They article picked 1985 as the start date. The 80's and 90's saw a hedge fund boom, so it's not surprising that pay followed, and there was a shortage of people able to do that specialized work.

Minimum wage is a price floor that mostly applies to unskilled labor.

It does point out disparities, but minimum wage not tracking CPI and whether minimum wage is and appropriate and effective policy tool are more interesting discussions. Or on the Wall Street side, does the incentive structure serve shareholders' best interests and the best interest of the financial system. The comparison makes for good rhetoric, but they actual causes are very different, so it just makes intelligent debate harder.


Minimum wage increase fuel underemployment and under the table work and wall street bonuses don't?


Both readily addressable issues with legislation that have long ago been addressed in many places.


There is a psychological component to minimum wages though. A small increase every year would cause companies to renegotiate salaries frequently. A sudden increase will definitively cause underemployment.


Shouldn't c-suite compensation tend toward the minimum it takes to keep c-suite folk alive?


This is a nice ideal, but it only works if every single business is onboard - otherwise they'll just jump ship to somewhere which pays them more.


The self checkouts counters are nice answer. If computers get cheaper than people, people will be replaced.

There is serious push in eliminating low skilled labor in a lot of places.




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