What you earn should be about how good you are at what you do. It was for me. Sort of tired of Liberal explanations of paychecks.
I was listening to Yanis Varoufakis this afternoon and he was talking about how important wars are for fueling capitalism. He also made an interesting point that as 'capitalism' allows/encourages the corporations to eliminate the workers ability to get raises and achieve an improving standard of living, they're inevitably shooting themselves in the foot because 'poor' people, quit purchasing from those corporations. I suppose that's where the wars come in, because at least some corporations will continue to rake in the big bucks and a few workers (the guys building the bombs - at least until AI puts them out of work too) will continue to earn enough money to buy crap from the other corporations.
But some people do work extremely hard and for a host of reasons, will never be able to 'move up' and without a regulation minimum wage, will be left behind as costs continue to rise.
The term "beliefs" is used in a condescending and demeaning manner to differentiate from the supposedly correct set of "facts" which aren't articulated, nor referenced.
Well, I think the method used in the old Mincome experiment that happened in Manitoba many years ago, is a good way to start. The fact that UP TO 50% of any extra dollars earned could be clawed back from the guaranteed pay check, encourages people to continue working because it would still give workers an increased wage but not encourage them to just quit working altogether and allow the country to support them because the amount wasn't so substantial that they'd be better off.
IMO we should all be given the opportunity for a fair start in life and be able to work for the things that are important to us.
I agree with you. There's no reason that the seasonal worker program couldn't be expanded and better monitored. I've quite often said that if the U.S. government actually wanted, or felt they needed to close the border they would do so. There's a reason it's left the way it is.
Let's not forget, the framers of the US Constitution were wealthy landowners.
We don't need equality as much as we need or have privilege. What is privilege?
If the Supreme Court has never decided whether you have the same rights as others, you have privilege.
I think that is a reality overlooked, but should include what a job entails. This thread is about minimum wage for fast food workers an entry level job. I think what surprises me most about the minimum wage hike in Cal. Why in Cal. isn't there a demand for higher wages by those employed in jobs that require a lot of skill & training.
I started working in the 1970s when the minimum wage was about $2.15 per hour. That's about 16.22 today, adjusted for inflation. There was never any expectation that a single person would be able to live on that amount of money.
There were also other factors such as reliably showing up, showing up on time, being awake on the job, not dragging down co-workers trying to get them to do your work, showing loyalty and achieving longevity at the job which improves productivity (by working faster, more accurately, and more flexibly).
That's what "equal opportunity" is about.
Ford had a hard time keeping workers and the company had a 380 percent turnover rate. The leap to $5 per day attracted workers and stabilized the workforce.
I disagree.
I also started working in the '70s. There was no construction going on and not much of anything going on, other than working in a factory or at a convenience store — both of which I did and both of which paid just over minimum wage. It was either that or become homeless, which I also experienced for a few months.
