In an Independence Day missive to
Starbucks staff, the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, wrote the
following to his staff, “Across the
country, millions of Americans are out of work. Many more are working
tirelessly yet still unable to adequately care for their families.” This from a guy who pays his experienced,
adult staff who have been there many years $7.50 per hour. Starting wage at
Starbucks is $7.40.
Mr. Schultz’s letter also states, “I am a product of that American
Dream. As a kid who grew up in public housing, went on to get an education at a
state university and build a business, I am grateful for what this country has
made possible for me. In turn, at Starbucks, we have always tried our best to
honor our responsibility to the communities we serve.”
The irony that, in the early 70s, when Mr. Schultz was earning, he was
paid a good deal more in real terms than
he is currently paying his staff, seems to completely escape him. That the type of
Capitalism that gave the Starbucks CEO the opportunity to fulfill his American
Dream no longer exists also seems to
escape him.
Starbucks Propaganda. In this video, it is claimed
that the Starbucks CEO wrote a 'powerful letter' to
convince Americans to get over their differences.
Yet Mr. Schultz's actions in underpaying his staff are in direct contradiction to his words.
When working as a general manager for a Swedish coffee maker in 1979,
the minimum wage in the USA was $6.27. Adjusted for
inflation by today’s standard, the $7.50 per hour that he is currently paying
his staff works out to $2.17 per hour for that time period.
The Starbucks CEO goes on to say, “I love
America, but we all know there is something wrong. The deficits this country
must reconcile are much more than financial, and our inability to solve our own
problems is sapping our national spirit.”
Yes, Mr. Schultz, there is, indeed,
something wrong. The ‘something wrong’ is not only the inability of this
country’s government to reconcile financial deficits because they don’t have
sufficient money to do so. It is also that the majority of people working in America
have a deficit because they aren’t earning enough to reconcile their financial
deficits. And the reason why neither the people nor the government can
reconcile their financial deficits are as follows:
- Too many companies are importing products instead of permitting
Americans to manufacture and grow. This includes you. Manufacturing and production are the life blood of any economy. - There are fewer and fewer
jobs for Americans to go to. The reason why Americans could pick and chose jobs
three generations ago was because there were more jobs available than people.
Now it’s the opposite. - The chronic underpayment of American workers that mean they cannot afford to pay for food, education, rent, medical care, and other products. The basic wage in the USA does NOT allow human beings to live beyond a bare subsistence level.
Starbucks Wage Slavery
American entrepreneurs are guilty of wage slavery.
They are paying their employees the kind of wage that makes it impossible for
people to pay their bills, so they must either starve, not pay their rent, or
seek additional benefits from the government, which, of course, sends the
government bill up. All of this because American big business will not pay a
living wage to their employees. The CEO and shareholders, of course, enjoy the
kind of munificence that not even emperors of ancient days indulged in. It’s
also interesting to note that it was the strength of the
unions in the 70s – when Mr. Schultz had his start – that kept
companies paying a living wage.
The tax bill for the rich is nowhere near what it used to be. In the
70s, the very rich paid 70% of their income to the government. Today they pay
something like 15% (check out Mitt Romney). And, of course, they want to tell
you that they’re paying too much. The point is that the government used to be
able to meet its bills because it had the money to do so. Today, because the
rich pay virtually nothing, the government cannot meet its bills. Incidentally,
the rich could not have achieved
this wealth if it wasn’t for the infrastructure that the American government
used to be able to provide (and no longer can). In the 40s, the top tax rate was 90%
and in the 80s it was 70%. That was why America could afford to
educate its people and provide them the means to fulfill the American Dream.
The Starbucks CEO Challenge
Howard Schultz goes on to challenge
Americans to
put citizenship over partisanship And there I applaud Mr. Schultz. He is
right in that.
My Challenge to the Starbucks CEO
But I want to go further and challenge Howard Schultz to
live up to his words - to start paying his staff a livable wage and start
investing in buying coffee beans from American start ups, thereby putting Americans
back to work. For my part, while I’ve been a virtually daily paying client to
Starbucks since somewhere around 2002 in London, I’m about to withdraw my
support from this coffee selling company. The truth is that I do not want to
support a company guilty of wage slavery. It’s time the Starbucks CEO realized
that part of his enormous fortune comes as much from underpaying staff as it
comes from fulfilling client needs. He also needs to realize that good
citizenship puts people before profits.
CEO Starbucks Howard Schultz Guilty of Things He Speaks Against
There are Two Sides to Good Capitalism
There are two sides to good capitalism - owners make good profits and workers make good wages. Right now, workers are earning the same as feudal workers in a feudal society...
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