"Because the truth is our wages are really competitive and they're good"
About this Quote
“Because the truth is our wages are really competitive and they’re good” is corporate reassurance in its purest form: a sentence built to end an argument, not engage it. Lee Scott, as Walmart’s CEO during years of intense scrutiny over pay and labor practices, isn’t offering data or moral reasoning. He’s deploying a shield phrase - “the truth is” - to pre-empt skepticism and recast a contested claim as settled fact. It’s a subtle power move: if you disagree, you’re not just disputing him, you’re disputing reality.
The word “competitive” does the heavy lifting. It’s benchmark talk, not human talk. Competitive with what - other low-wage retail jobs, local cost of living, the company’s own profitability? The term quietly shifts the standard from “enough to live on” to “enough to keep turnover manageable.” “Good” is even more revealing: a moral adjective smuggled into an economic debate. It suggests adequacy without specifying thresholds, letting listeners fill in the blank with their preferred definition of fairness.
The context matters: Walmart’s scale makes it a proxy for the American labor market. When a firm that large insists wages are “good,” it’s not merely defending a pay rate; it’s normalizing a floor. Scott’s intent is reputational triage - to protect the brand, calm investors, and reassure middle America that the system is working. The subtext is less comforting: if wages feel bad, the problem is your perception, not the policy.
The word “competitive” does the heavy lifting. It’s benchmark talk, not human talk. Competitive with what - other low-wage retail jobs, local cost of living, the company’s own profitability? The term quietly shifts the standard from “enough to live on” to “enough to keep turnover manageable.” “Good” is even more revealing: a moral adjective smuggled into an economic debate. It suggests adequacy without specifying thresholds, letting listeners fill in the blank with their preferred definition of fairness.
The context matters: Walmart’s scale makes it a proxy for the American labor market. When a firm that large insists wages are “good,” it’s not merely defending a pay rate; it’s normalizing a floor. Scott’s intent is reputational triage - to protect the brand, calm investors, and reassure middle America that the system is working. The subtext is less comforting: if wages feel bad, the problem is your perception, not the policy.
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
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