We always strive to be the best in the wage package.

You just can't get too focused on worrying about what's going to happen in the next quarter. You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.

You destroy the initiative of the working people if they don't feel they have a fighting chance to be a part of the American Dream.

One of the strengths of our nation has always been a strong middle class who could afford their own homes and send their children to school.

We would rather have our employees running our business.

We are a company that promotes 100% within the company.

You don't have a very motivated working class, it starts to affect the dynamics of the economy. If workers are disenchanted and disenfranchised, productivity losses will go along with that.

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

If we take care of the business and keep our eye on the goal line, the stock price will take care of itself.

We want to turn our inventory faster than our people.

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

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.

When employees are happy, they are your very best ambassadors.

We always strive to be the best in the wage package.

Everybody is watching you every minute anyways. If they think the message you're sending out is phony, they're going to say, 'Who does he think he is?' It's again good business. But it is also an obligation.

I say at our management conferences that the amount Wal-Mart grows in just one year is the equivalent of Costco's size.

I think that most of the people running companies today are motivated and pay is a small portion of the motivation.

If somehow a proclamation were made that C.E.O.'s could only make a maximum of $300,000 a year, you would not have any shortage of very qualified men and women seeking the jobs.

If you're going to say to all the people that you're working with, 'We want you to treat the customers honestly; don't lie and don't cheat,' it is somewhat hypocritical if you're not following the same rules.

If you've got to work for the rest of your life, you'd better do something you'll enjoy.

It doesn't do much good to have a quality image, whether it's with the facility or whether it's with the merchandise, if you don't have real quality people taking care of your customers.

Obscene salaries send the wrong message through a company.

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.

The message is that all brilliance emanates from the top; that the worker on the floor of the store or the factory is insignificant.

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

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

When employees are happy they are your very best ambassadors.

Its like heroin You do a little and you want a little bit more. Raising prices is the easy way.

Our attitude is that if you hire good people and pay them a fair wage, then good things will happen for the company.

Paying good wages is not in opposition to good productivity.

Working-class Americans have waited too long, close to a decade in fact, for an increase in the minimum wage. This has been the second longest period without a pay raise since the Federal minimum wage law was first enacted in 1938.

The last three decades have seen the collapse of the family wage system.

Women of the working class, especially wage workers, should not have more than two children at most. The average working man can support no more and and the average working woman can take care of no more in decent fashion.

In the Muslim world, there are many people who have been vocal and we have been very vocal against extremists. But how to win this battle is an ongoing battle. And we must continue to wage the battle for peace.

The rapid growth in many of our suburbs has spawned a booming construction industry eager to hire low wage immigrants who gladly fill these jobs, many of them happy to be paid in cash, free of federal and state taxes.

The current minimum wage simply is not supporting Ohio's working families.

6.6 million people will benefit from a rise in the minimum wage.

The influx of women into paid work and her increased power raise a woman's aspirations and hopes for equal treatment at home. Her lower wage and status at work and the threat of divorce reduce what she presses for and actually expects.

I thought in this country, the best social program was a job. Yet minimum wage jobs aren't paying enough to keep families out of poverty.

One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda.

Certainly other things we can do, we gotta promote after-school employment, give kids an opportunity, raising the minimum wage was part of that, we can't expect that young people are going to feel they can make a living out there for such low wages.

The real minimum wage is zero.

The bottom line is that five million low-income Americans working full time for minimum wage, deserve a raise.

Today a minimum wage earner has to work a day and a half just to pay for a full tank of gas. That is simply shameful.

Anyone who's tried to pay a heating bill, fill a prescription, or simply buy groceries knows all too well that the current minimum wage does not cut the mustard.

The war we are fighting today against terrorism is a multifaceted fight. We have to use every tool in our toolkit to wage this war - diplomacy, finance, intelligence, law enforcement, and of course, military power - and we are developing new tools as we go along.

Congress has not raised the minimum wage since 1997. The minimum wage is now at its lowest level in 50 years adjusted for inflation.

The tax laws are written by men with considerable net worth, and with little understanding of what wage-earners must do to make ends meet.