You could raise the price of, say, a bottle of ketchup to $1.03 instead of $1, and no one would know. Raising prices just 3% per product would add 50% to your pretax income. Why not do it? It's like heroin: You do a little and you want a little bit more. Raising prices is the easy way.

We've always been in favor of improved wages for workers. When you have a strong middle class, they want to buy more stuff at Costco.

Paying good wages is not in opposition to good productivity.

You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.

In the final analysis, you get what you pay for.

Obscene salaries send the wrong message through a company. The message is that all brilliance emanates from the top; that the worker on the floor of the store or the factory is insignificant.

Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do but it makes for good business.