It helps when you state things like this, if you actually base them on what matters and what is factual rather than incommensurate measures. By the way I support a $15 minimum wage and I believe Amazon should be penalized for taking away stock and bonuses (somehow) because doing this does make this kind of a fake raise, though it will in fact help some people. But it bothers me when people on my side base their analyses on factually incorrect or completely misunderstood information. It makes it all that much easier to dismiss you and your valid concerns.

First, the graphic.

Market capitalization or stock wealth is not what pays wages! Nor should it, if you want the company to keep operating. That’s not how companies work, or really can (or even should) work.

What pays wages — and I’m simplifying a bit — is cash flow. What is cash flow? Cash flow (and there are several different types, but as I said, I am simplifying) is a measure of the amount of money coming into and out of the business. Simple, right? Well, it’s not really in the case of a business as large and varied as Amazon, but luckily since Amazon is a public company we can examine their cash flow in detail. Here is their cash flow statement, for the curious.

It turns out that Amazon had $6.48 billion in free cash flow in 2017. That is a lot, for any company. That does mean that Amazon could raise wages significantly without harming its core business or investment or anything else. Even though the liberal/leftist analysis of Amazon is factually incorrect, they are correct in the conclusion and their basic philosophy.

Amazon could and should raise wages without killing bonuses or stock options (the latter of which does not affect cash flow but does affect profits).

Note that cash flow is different than profits — profits are more philosophical in nature. Cash flow, for the most part, is not. Bet you didn’t know that you had to consider philosophy when calculating profits, did you? Well you do, especially with a company as large and distributed as Amazon.

Businesses live or die, however, by cash flow and Amazon has plenty enough to raise wages. And that’s a real analysis rather than a fantasy-based one.