
The $70,000 Minimum Wage Experiment Reveals a Dark Truth - evo_9
http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/the-70000-minimum-wage-experiment-reveals-a-dark-truth.html/?ref=YF
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ChuckMcM
I think this makes an interesting observation, but I don't agree with the
conclusion about "crab mentality".

Flip it into an experience that many people experience in their lives, they
buy product X and they pay $Y for it, then due to circumstances they don't
control, the seller decides to start selling that product at $Y-$Z dollars, a
big discount. The original buyers feel "ripped off" because the seller changed
how they valued the product, without changing the product.

There has to be a real name for it, but I call it value dissonance. Where the
value you assign to a good or service is suddenly different than the market
value. Everyone who bought a house in 2007 experienced it in 2009 :-(.

Work output is just as much a good or service. And you consciously or
unconsciously assign a value to it based on what other work around you "gets"
as salary. So if you change what you pay one set of people but not everyone,
you introduce this dissonance. And it can be hard to process.

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SteveLAnderson
How isn't that a zero sum mentality? Unlike in your housing example, nobody
lost any true value, just perceived value.

No doubt it can be hard to process, but that doesn't mean it's not a case of
zero sum mentality.

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kelukelugames
Please change to one pager.

[http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/the-70000-minimum-
wag...](http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/the-70000-minimum-wage-
experiment-reveals-a-dark-truth.html/?a=viewall)

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prostoalex
A lot of the events are specific to the business discussed (the ownership
structure with passive investors with preference for dividends, big-ticket
customers with strong opinions).

Paying above average to increase retention rate is not new. Henry Ford
pioneered it for automated assembly line, Costco pays above average compared
to others in retail, tech companies attempt to lock in four-year commitments
by issuing stock options.

The idea is that the company gets competitive advantage by minimizing employee
onboarding/training costs and maximizing said employee's productivity. For
some industries it's a good bet, for others not.

