It's not fifteen, but the Democratic Party is angling to hang its hat on a $12 minimum wage as they attempt to harness the energy and enthusiasm created by the national low-wage workers movement that has been steadily building in recent years.
As The Hill reports on Tuesday:
"No one who works 40 hours a week should live in poverty. "
Hey Bernie--NO ONE PERIOD should live in poverty.
More shuck and jive. Monetary policy inflation will eat that up quick. The same people rigging the system will enjoy great profit. Labor will lose more ground. Labor vs. the 1% is like a bantam weight in the ring with a heavy weight. We are gladiator sport for the 1%
No. The only thing the workers movement will do is force the Democrats to tell even bigger and better lies during the upcoming election cycle. Once elected, nothing will happen, as per usual. But the proletariat will eat it up, also as per usual, come out in droves to elect Democrats. Then it will be"screw you again" time and on to the next round.
So-called progressives never learn. This cycle has been going on forever and will continue until the masses of asses finally embark on a true social revolution.
All this energy wasted on "movements" is part of the game. It prevents real change. But we keep trying the same "work within the system" failed strategy over and over again.
"Anyone who works 40 hours in a week in America should not be in poverty," Sanders said. "That’s the simple reality."
In fact that was the original intent of establishing a minimum wage, when the FDR administration pushed for it.
The wage was to be enough to allow families to have the essentials on a 40 hour work week. Food, housing, clothes and a car so that at that time dad could go off to work to support the family.
What it as become is a bad joke on those that are “forced” to work for it.
Here Here! Why punish people who refuse to lock themselves in windowless buildings at the command of strangers, is there only one single way to live?
Amazingly, the current federal poverty guideline for a single person is $11,770 per year! With 2,080 hours a year being the standard for a 'full-time equivalent' position, if you make $5.65/hour full-time, you are not in poverty, sez the government.
Considering that this will not pass during this Congress, the Dems completely whiffed on an opportunity to educate and expand the debate. While far better than last year's $10.10, the cowardice of this effort is truly astounding. It is cowardly on three levels.
$12 is absurdly low. The number should be somewhere between $18 and $22. Why so high? Had the minimum wage kept up with BOTH inflation and national productivity as it had been, that is where the 1968 minimum would be today.
Why consider productivity growth? These are working people we are talking about, not retirees. These folks contribute to the profitability of their employers. Until after the 1968 increase, the minimum wage had been adjusted to take productivity into account, as it should be today.
The adjustment mechanism does not kick in for five years and it is based on a suppressed measurement. Suppressed? It is based on median wage growth. Median wage has been divorced from productivity growth for 40 years. Using average or median wage growth as an index in today's environment is dishonest, since real wage levels today are below their 1970s levels.
