Actually a
Marxist euphemism, but many
socialist and
anarchist punks see it as a trait of
capitalism and proof of its "failure" as an economic system. They would blab on about the unfairness of the current system, how the
workers are being oppressed by
the man, and all that.
Usual quote: "The person at McDonald's gets minimum wage, some corporate CEO gets millions a year, owns the whole company, and does nothing all day while the drones labor." It gets old really fast.
Turns out most of these people haven't even taken Economics 101 and don't know what supply and demand is. "Fair" is a very subjective term, and that fair wages is actually a thing thought up in the head of Karl Marx in the form of the Labor Theory of Value and has nothing to do with capitalism. Or as I quote,
The relative values of commodities are determined by the respective quantities or amounts of labor worked up, realized, fixed in them.
Fixed pricing cannot be too smart. Play the markets! Suppy and demand decides prices. Marx unleashes a storm of animal feces with his "theories" on "exploitation and the evils of profit". Anyways, the same goes to the labor market.
Case A
Employer - You are completely unskilled, slow and incapable of managing yourself. I only hire you because we need more people.
Dumbo - Uh huh.
Employer - I will pay you $4 an hour. Take it or leave it. Thousands like yourself are willing to take this job if you don't.
Case B
Chairman - You have great skills, you work hard, and have a great track record. Hence, I will offer you $5000000 a year. I don't want other companies to headhunt you.
Potential CEO - $6000000.
Chairman - Done deal.
Get the idea? The dumbo works 35 hours a week at his wage. The CEO works 100. Heck, my dad doesn't make anything close to that, and he works 70 hour weeks. The anti-capitalists then deadpan the rich dude for having no life but making money. But that's another story.....
Fair wages doesn't exist. It's all supply and demand. McDonald's would be paying $3 an hour instead of $6 if people accepted it. But nobody accepts that kind of wage, so they don't offer jobs at that rate. If you're jealous of the big CEO salary and call it unfair, maybe you should have that kind of skills before complaining. Nobody works for peanuts, so fair is fair.
Tell me flamingweasal, are you proud to be a member of the ignorati? Just how much do you know of the corporate world? My dad's last boss was fired after two years for maintaining the status quo and failing to make a profit. I doubt ineffective CEO's keep their jobs for very long. Maybe in the company you work for, but not other corporations.