Op-Ed A Modern Christmas Carol for Corporate America

By David Waldron Anderson

Every December, we dust off A Christmas Carol and remind ourselves that Ebenezer Scrooge was redeemed not by becoming poor, but by remembering the people who made his wealth possible.

That detail matters.

Scrooge did not lose his business. He did not give away his fortune. He did not suffer. He simply chose to share a small portion of abundance with those who labored for it, and discovered that generosity costs far less than we fear.

Two centuries later, we live in an economy Dickens could never have imagined. A handful of companies Amazon, Apple, Walmart, Tesla, and others like them, move goods, money, and information at a scale larger than many governments. Their founders and shareholders have accumulated wealth measured not in millions, but in hundreds of billions.

At the same time, millions of their hourly workers are struggling.

Many work two jobs.
Many rely on food assistance.
Many live one unexpected bill away from crisis, even while helping deliver unprecedented corporate profits.

This is not a moral accusation. It is a fact.

So here is a simple Christmas thought experiment.

What if, just once, these companies acted like Scrooge after the ghosts?

What if every hourly employee received a $25,000 one-time bonus this Christmas?

What if the minimum full-time wage were reset to $25 an hour, paired with a 401(k) match and cost-effective, reliable healthcare — not extravagant benefits, just humane ones.

For workers, this would be life changing.
For companies, it would be… manageable.

No executive would lose a home.
No founder would forgo security.
No billionaire would be unable to buy a yacht, perhaps only one a few feet shorter than originally planned.

In other words, lifestyles at the top would remain essentially unchanged.

But at the bottom, where the real work happens,families would breathe again. Credit card balances would disappear. Second jobs would vanish. Parents would see their children before bedtime.

This is not socialism. It is stewardship.

It is not charity. It is recognition.

Many of these companies began with founders sleeping under desks, working impossible hours, fueled by belief, loyalty, and risk shared with early employees. Somewhere along the way, growth created distance, and distance dulled gratitude.

Markets reward efficiency. But economies are not merely systems of optimization; they are systems of people. When the people packing boxes, stocking shelves, and driving deliveries cannot afford the goods they move, something is broken, even if the stock price is rising.

Christmas is not about punishment or redistribution. It is about remembering who we are, and who we owe.

The miracle in A Christmas Carol was not Scrooge’s generosity.

It was how little it actually cost him.