It doesn't do Costco any good if nobody can afford to buy anything.

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.

You take an educated gamble. If you don't occasionally make a mistake, you're not doing your job.

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.

When you hire good people, and you provide good jobs and good wages and a career, good things are going to happen.

It is improper for one person to take credit when it takes so many people to build a successful organization. When you try to be top dong, you don't create loyalty. It you can't give credit (and take blame), you will drown in you inability to inspire.