Consider what might happen if Amazon paid their workforce 5% more than their competitors instead of paying bottom dollar. Competition for that higher wage would improve the quality of their workforce (and then produce a higher quality product). Other employers would them also compete to get quality workers.
I'm sure Amazon would be willing to pay more to well-qualified workers than to less-qualified workers. But that's not the type of argument I was responding to. The parent comment suggested that Bezos should pay his employees more simply because he can afford to.
I don't see how it's reasonable to base employee wages on the wealth of the company owner -- if Amazon stock tanked and Bezos lost a lot of money, should he cut employee wages? If not, then why should he increase wages when his personal wealth increases? It would be better for employee wages to be based on the employee's skills, not the employer's personal financial circumstances.
The equilibrium may still not end up with A and B paying the same, but personally I care more about everyone having enough than everyone having the same, so even unequal wage increases are a positive in my book.
The justification for the wages being the wages is that that IS what the open market decided.
I was not aware Kindles were poorly assembled and subject to low yields in terms of quality currently.
Are you going to respond to the actual argument, or are you just going to be insulting?
Any argument about fair wages is going to hinge on notions of fairness.
I suspect many of those people would be angry if self-righteous people in first-world countries made it more difficult to get those jobs, which is the effect that higher wages would have.
And, I challenge you - find an interview with a Foxconn factory worker from a reputable news source, and let’s what they say. I am genuinely curious.
Are people entitled to wages higher than the prevailing market rate simply because their employer is capable of paying such wages? Do you really want to live in a world where employees of rich people get paid more than employees of more average people? The vast majority of workers would not be lucky enough to work for a really rich guy and would be paid less for the same work than the few who do. That seems less fair than everyone being paid the market rate.