Reacting pointedly to Tim O’Reilly’s assertion – found here – that Wal-Mart shareholders wouldn’t mind if a hike in the minimum wage shaved off 25 percent from the profits that Wal-Mart earns, Ron Muhlenkamp e-mails to me the following (shared here with his kind permission):
Does Mr. O”Reilly have a Retirement plan?
How is it invested?
Is he willing to take a 25% cut in it’s value?
Through retirement plans, workers are owners. Retirement plans total $ 9 Trillion, half the value of the S&P 500.
Ron’s point is germane. If you’re among those who find O’Reilly’s assertion about Wal-Mart shareholders credible, ask yourself how you would react to an economic change that, were you to do nothing but shrug at it, would reduce your annual income by 25 percent.
