Yes, Rick, but EVERYONE should be making more than 350 dollars a week if they work 40 hours. A lot more.
Yes, the startup costs and risks of business are huge. No business owner should be obligated to pay their employees more. However, most businesses fail on account of the owner. Most people hate their job, if not at least dislike it. A large majority of that is due to the relationship they have with their boss. Most bosses are dicks.
Here's one of the most important tips to running a successful business:
Work harder than everyone else, but give everyone else the credit.
Appreciation builds motivation and work ethic and condemnation does not. It actually creates negative tension between the people. The person feels less motivated to be working for such an asshole.
You see, this is one of the largest differences between the Left and the Right. Your post demonstrates that although your heart is in the right place, you really don't understand the economic facts of business.
First, Crackerjax did an excellent job of explaining the financial reality of the situation - I find no need to elaborate except to say that each employee is worth a given amount to an employer. this is no different than investing in equipment or purchasing professional services. It wouldn't make sense for a 300K per year business to hire an in house lawyer at 150K per year to enforce $1,000 contracts. But is you are GM and involved in hundreds of million dollar law suits you might want to employ several. Hiring a truck driver is no different. Getting your stuff delivered is worth $9 per hour and no more. And given that many people would drive a truck around for this wage, it becomes an issue of supply and demand.
But, there is something else you are missing. Speaking from experience, most lower wage employees earn lower wages for a reason. They may have poor attendance, be unreliable, untrustworthy, have problems with authority, be lazy, be uncontentious or have other attitude problems.
We have tried paying such people a good wage thinking this might encourage them to improve - we were wrong. We learned that many lower wage employees simply do not change. We also learned that treating employees too good can be destructive to your business. Employees tend to be most productive when they earn a wage commensurate with what they do and work in a structured environment. Paying them too much will only encourage them to not show up for work when they don't need the money. And when that pay is undeserved, they develop a sense of entitlement and have no incentive to become better employees.
Also, employers need to consider what message this sends to the employees that do bust their ass for the raise. If Johnny on the spot and Joe hangover are paid the same wage for vastly different performance, what message does that send to the better producers?
The way employees market themselves is also a huge part of what determines their wage. If my business were to fold, do you think I would market myself as willing to drive a truck for $9 per hour or do you think I would demand a near six figure wage? How do you think a guy reading my resume is going to perceive me - as a guy who comes to work hung over and sleeps on the job or as someone they can depend on to run their business as if it were my own?
Providing incentive for your employees to do better is an art form and the ability to do it well is the sign of a great businessmen. But interviewing employees and knowing which dogs are going to hunt is also a sign of a great businessman, as is knowing what and how much value you can expect from each employee. Wages are an expense just like utilities, cost of goods sold or auto expenses.
Although it might sound inhumane to look at another persons labor in the same context as the maintenance cost of a piece of equipment, the fact is, numbers don't have feelings and in the end if the numbers are not there nobody has a job.
