In the latest installment of the National Football League-to-Los Angeles saga, Pasadena City Council members voted 7 to 1 in favor of increasing the annual limit of big-time events at the Rose Bowl from 12 to 25. The motive for adding dates lies primarily in temporarily bringing an NFL team (sic: the Jacksonville Jaguars) to the area while a new stadium in Los Angeles is finalized. While the league, media, and NFL fans across the country would love for the entertainment capital of the world to have a team call Hollywood home the vote’s largest opponent may be its sternest competition: Pasadena residents.
Despite the current upswing in revenue, large American corporations have decided to keep employee wages uncomfortably low while corporate profits increase. Of the 12 companies that are paying their American employees the least, 7 are in the restaurant industry. These include, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Starbucks, Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster), Dine Equity (Applebee’s, IHOP), and Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC). These companies are within the confides of the law with the nation’s minimum wage regulations, but these employees are getting less bang for their buck than they should. The current minimum wage is worth 30% less in terms of purchasing power than it was in 1968. The other offenders of this immoral salary situation are national retail giants like Walmart, Target, and Sears. Being compared to Walmart is rarely a good thing. In this scenario Walmart is an especially bad company, since it is pretty well known that the Walmart CEO, Mike Duke, makes more in one hour than one of his employees makes in an entire year.
