This has nothing to do with whether Walmart can raise their minimum wage...obviously they could.
But they aren't going to do it in a vacuum, by themselves...they are a low cost, high volume, low margin retailer and by raising their paid wages on their own they would be shooting themselves in the foot.
But no matter how many employees Walmart has, theres a much larger pool of Walmart shoppers. Raising the minimum wage by government decree makes ALL employers pay their employees more not just Walmart...it maintains their margins, and give Walmart shoppersf more to spend in the store.
Hey, thanks for explaining economics so lucidly. You have obviously given this a lot of thought. Could you help me out with one more thing that has been troubling me, I would like your help in understanding this. Why is the earth flat?
Seriously, please read up on the Bell-shaped curve and how it affects economics, in this case the minumum wage. You remember this from school, right? You can alter this curve but you never get the results you expect, even with the best will in the world. All you do when you raise the minimum wage is chop off the first rung in the ladder of success, making it harder or impossible for those without family or connections or education to get their first job and start working on their resume. Why do you think making it hard for people to get their first job is good public policy?