Penn and Teller on Walmart

[SNOWBALL]

I resent that they claim that raising wages and benefits raises prices. That's like saying that when my bonii at absolute poker went down, my WR had to go up. wtf? The prices at walmart are set by market forces, and market forces are a lot more complex than maintaining a certain ROI for walmart.

I realize in a lot of cases, prices do go up to cover higher costs, but this wouldn't necesarrily be on of those cases. A number of things could happen. Walmart could pay more, but end up laying off some of the least useful jobs. They could pay more, make less profit, but still do fine at the end of the day.

People who say that higher wages are always passed on to the consumers should ask themselves why employers don't just imagine wages are higher and raise prices anyway. Walmart charges what they charge to be competitive and profitable. It's not like if employees suddenly started making less, then walmart would lower prices even further.