Government Throwing The Hammer

[Coleman]

My buddy told me about her the only issue I've seen with her is she is raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour now I think that's great for people but what they don't realize is that the cost of living is about to skyrocket when the minimum wage is raised an don't get me wrong I understand it's damn near impossible to be self sufficient in most places on a minimum wage job without going off the grid (I tried and failed miserably) but is the heightened cost of living really worth it when even with that raise you still can't support yourself on your own? Sent from my iPhone using [URL=http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1]Tapatalk[/URL]

[CarePolice]

Technically the minimum wage in our country should be $22.78 an hour, as of last year, if the wages had continued to rise with production from the 70s.  The cost of living in relation to the minimum wage has never shown to be enough that it should cause concern, particularly among european countries. The COL in Norway is the highest in the world, if I recall correctly, but combined with universal healthcare, education, etc, the actual buying power of people in Norway (whose minimum wage is substantially higher than ours) is at a scale we can't even fathom here. The nordic countries have issues, I won't deny, but at this point I can't see any valid arguement for not establishing a system like that in preparation for abolishing the whole capitalist system.

In her case, though, raising the minimum wage is not necessarily the just improve the lives of those living in capitalism because we have to deal with it. It's a step to empower and organize them. She's essentially coming at this from the opinion that money itself is obsolete and a broken system, which is the majority opinion among socialists. We just have to make due while we're here, and raising living standards has historically shown (contradictory to common thought) to actually make a population more revolutionary, instead of placating them.

 

She's also pushing unions; agree or disagree with unions, there is no entity like them for organizing the working class. I will not call early game yet, but Kshama Sawant may be the first nail in the coffin for this system, especially considering Vermont just passed their own universal healthcare bill. Will be difficult for the populations of other states not to push for this soon.

 

P.S./edit: It should be noted for those curious, that Kshama Sawant is not a democratic candidate running with a "socialist" title. She is not just lady Obama. She has openly declared herself to be an actual socialist; this is the reason she is rattling so many cages, and why the bourgeoisie in Seattle are shitting themselves right now. Even if she doesn't have a ton of power in politics as a city council member, her being there shows unrest among the masses. They voted her in for a reason. The important thing to take from this is that her goal is not reform through government beuracracy; it is rebellion and revolution from the working class. You know, the mass of people that do not need to wait for bills and amendments to demand and execute change.

Reference for Vermont healthcare topic: http://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2013/11/health-insurance-problems-keep-arising-vermont-offers-ray-hope