bankers.

I'd be more likely to ride an airline paying a living wage.

I love AA anyway.

invest in those shares!

I am not a tax policy guy -Federal Tax was the course I hated above all others in law school many, many years ago - and I am confident that there are those here that would say that this would NEVER work (rather than trying to take the concept for what it is: a concept).

Given that proviso, I wonder if there would be possible to add a surcharge to taxes on distributions and even capital gains to be indexed against wages paid by a corporation so that the lower the wages (judged according to some appropriate scale) the higher the tax surcharge.

the idea being that wage increases - particularly where the wages had been supressed - would not automatically take the bottom out of a stock.

Again, just a loose concept.

One factor in our exploding income inequality is that corporate executives are getting such a huge slice of the pie. The ratio between the CEO's pay and the average worker's pay is far higher than it was several decades ago.

Right now, all pay is completely deductible for the corporation, because of course it's a business expense. What if CEO pay were deductible only up to a specified multiple of the average pay of that company's employees? Then any additional money paid to the big bosses would come directly out of the shareholders' pockets, unless the ordinary workers (who make the revenues possible) were also included.

I'm also not enough of a tax policy guy to know how feasible this is.

Other service industries have shown time and time again that happier employees make for better service, which translates pretty quickly into a better bottom line when word gets out. Word in the airline industry travels fast, and if American, instead of remaining a torture to travel with (some kind of race to the bottom with United that United always manages to win), becomes a pleasure to travel with, their planes will be full, and they can add more flights to their schedule, which will also be full. The Airline analysts and execs will be the first to notice if and when this happens, and they can buy their own depressed stock at bargain basement levels knowing it has nowhere to go but up.

where the service can directly affect people's personal comfort level, but I'm not sure it would translate to other sectors like retail, fast food, etc.

I have to wonder how big a factor this give-and-take has been in perpetuating wage stagnation and the growing wealth gap over the past 35 years or so of financialization. The downward pressure on wages and benefits would seem to be a constant even when not out in the open like this; a sword of Damocles hanging over the boardroom.

It is one of those few service industries where the service itself is over half the product.

"Please stay in your seat, sir. Of course we will get you to your patients on time" will win out over "Vacate yer seat, bub, or we'll beat the shit outta you" every time, and as we have sen, word DOES get around.

Wall Street is pissed because the company didn't give *ALL* the profit to shareholders who did nothing more than sit on their asses while owning shares of AAL stock.

Simple greed.

..these are the same people who thought "liar loans" and "pulse loans" were a good idea. Got a pulse? Give 'em a mortgage.

it certainly helps. Sharing the company's success with those who made it happen is also the right thing to do. Happy employees are motivated employees. They stick around and make the operation even more successful. Good job, American Airlines.

And once again, the Wall street consensus will be proven short sighted and wrong.

Who deny the reality WAGE THEFT from those who do the work on behalf of shareholders who collect the value of that work, explain this to me.

This shouldn't be news, it is straightforward economics under capitalism. But I'm glad to see this headline because too many people deny that THIS IS HOW IT WORKS. It is not broken. It cannot be 'reformed'. This cannot be 'regulated' out of it.

This is how capitalism works, plain and simple.

I mean, you can still sit at home all day counting all the money you're making off somebody else's work. Or play golf. Or go shopping. Or yachting.