Dan Price apparently had the best of intentions. He wanted his employees to stop worrying about petty problems like their mortgages and car payments, so Dan one day called a company meeting and announced that going forward, everyone would receive the same pay. Even his own salary would be slashed from seven figures all the way down to $70,000 -- the arbitrary "minimum" (and maximum) wage for every employee of Gravity Payments. Now everyone should be happy, right? What could possibly go wrong? Well...everything. First, Dan's two best employees quit. “He gave raises to people who have the least skills and are the least equipped to do the job, and the ones who were taking on the most didn’t get much of a bump,” said former Gravity financial manager Maisey McMaster. When she complained, Price called her selfish and naturally, she resigned. Web designer Grant Moran observed, "Now the people who were just clocking in and out were making the same as me,” and he also quit. Then Dan's big brother filed a lawsuit against him that may bankrupt the company. However, "We don't have the margin of error to pay those legal fees," Dan told the New York Times. Well, Shazam! Apparently it never occurred to Mr. Price that there might be some blowback to his plan to redistribute the wealth of the company's investors by ludicrously increasing their salary expenses. This story should become the classic case study that illustrates the value of capitalism and a free market system. It would be easier to feel sorry for Mr. Price -- he's renting out his house, no longer … [Read more...]