100 years ago (1914) Henry Ford took the extraordinary step of increasing his workers' pay to $5 a day while reducing their hours from 9 to 8 hours a day! Ford's average worker had his pay nearly double while working a shorter day!

Ford was no dummy. By increasing his workers' pay he helped increase wages around the country. Ford famously asked who would be able to buy his cars if we didn't pay good wages to the average worker. He was correct. You can't build an economy if workers cannot afford to buy anything other than rent and food.

Let's put in another way: You can't build an economy with minimum wage jobs.

But Ford had another reason for his $5 a day rate: To cut down on his turnover rate. Working an assembly line is a difficult and monotonous job. He had a bad attrition rate until he increased wages and cut down on the hours. Increase your employees satisfaction and you cut down on turnover. Simple enough. This is a lesson many in corporate America could stand to learn today: Sometimes if you pay a bit more up front you save money in the long run. By paying more you actually end up paying less.