Wal-Mart's CEO talks about hiking minimum wage -- what's the status?

Back in October of 2005, Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott strongly suggested that the U.S. Congress review and enhance the current federal minimum wage -- currently at $5.15/hour -- so that Wal-Mart customers don't have to struggle from paycheck to paycheck to meet the basic needs of life. Many of these necessities are available to Wal-Mart customers, but even so, these same customers have a hard time both shopping at Wal-Mart and providing a roof over their families' heads, said Scott.

Wal-Mart Watch, a group that watches most of the moves the retailer makes, had this to say about Scott's comments: ""I find it disingenuous and laughable that Lee Scott makes these remarks while the company hires lobbyist such as Lee Culpepper who oppose raising the minimum wage," Sefl said. Sefl is a spokeswoman for the group.

So, the question is this: Was Scott really interested in ensuring its customers had more money to spend at his stores, or did he have genuine sympathy for the minimum-wage customer? Hard to say, and I'll leave it to you to make your own conclusion.

Today, eight months later, the federal minimum wage is being hotly debated by Washington, with Democrats pushing hard for the first minimum-wage increase in nearly a decade. Senate leaders threatened to block a congressional pay raise unless Republicans acquiesced to the hike.