"There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an
adequate wage to every American citizen... There is nothing except shortsightedness
to prevent us from guaranteeing an annual minimum- and livable- income for
every American family."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
<Hope costs nothing, give liberally!!!!!!>
Howdy Bader
I know, maybe they can give it away at the sound of Pavlov's bell!
//"I see humanism leaning....even abandoning anachism when it doesnt meet the needs of the people."//
<sounds about right.
Democracy is of the people by the people and for the the people.
Democracy is not of the "ism", by the people for the "ism"
elite.>
I've seen more than once an elite running the country "democratically"... In a writing of mine I have a dictator gather the people--represented by a general--to conduct a hand vote--and the general had lost both arms! Go and figure...
<Living wage:
Unfortunately there is no clearly defined statement up front as
to what it is but I think I found what it is about-
correct me if I'm wrong.
Where companies (private) and I would expect public bodies since they are receiving public money would auto. be included, the living wage campaigners seek to get local authority to determine that recipients of wages do get a fair bottemline wage rate consistent with the cost of living.>
That's exactly what it is: a wage consistent with the cost of living. Look at this one...
'The concept is simple. It is based on the premise that if a person works 40 hours a week, then he/she should be able to access basic housing. We use two existing Federal guidelines to determine what the Universal Living Wage should be. The first guideline (a HUD standard also used by banking institutions across America) dictates that no more than 30% of a person's gross monthly income should be spent on housing. The second guideline, the Fair Market Rents (FMRs) are established by HUD throughout the country for each municipality and all other areas. Therefore, the Universal Living Wage will vary per area in accordance with the FMR. FMRs are based on gross rent estimates which include shelter, rent and the cost of utilities except telephone service.
We believe that this format, using already established government guidelines, enables us to utilize existing government formulas to easily justify specific Universal Living Wage figures that are based on the need for housing and are appropriate to each municipality and outlying areas.'
There's an ULW formula...
http://www.universallivingwage.org/And also (remember we spoke about this book before?)...
'We want to draw your attention to a new book that just hit the stands. NICKEL AND DIMED: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich is the story of how this writer tested her hypothesis that low-wage workers simply can't make ends meet, even in a booming economy where their services are in demand.
Ehrenreich traveled from Key West, FL to Portland, ME to Minneapolis, MN, working as an aide in a nursing home, a waitress, a maid, and a stocker for a major discount chain. She found cost of living equally high, and wages for unskilled labor depressingly low.
This woman may be a crusader, but she knows how to tell her story with wit, able to use her sense of the absurd to tell a surreal and often grimly humorous tale of her travels on the low end of the pay scale. And she freely admits she had only a taste of it--she had a car, a savings account, and her health, things most low-end workers rarely possess. She could walk away from these situations, unlike hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Most of the crusading comes in her last chapter, a summation of her thoughts and impressions after experiencing the humiliations and trials so many live with their entire lives.'
<When I see all those campaigns and people all over the place
and think of what Pliny said about ignorance and the need for
publicwide education on such a vital aspect of democratic society
it is so sad they can't use their numbers for educating the public
and effecting the vote.>
Education is key. You can't know what you need, if you don't even know it exists!
<There are other people in the U.K. and Europe who are campaigning for a Universal Income. This is similar but broader to
take in everyone. It consists of everyone being given a basic wage from the national tax pool which would mean all the benefits and pensions would cease to exist being replaced by a universal payout to all and the bureaucracy of those govnt
depts that handled the various benefits eg unemployments etc
would disappear along with their expensive overheads.
But this like the living wage is based on taxes and the most influential sector of the society always get the rules to apply more heavily to those below, so people have to pay more to get more back, while public debt grows further into the red making govnt more exposed to international banker policy- making democracy impossible.
Its the same as unions leveraging higher wages. It goes back into prices which hits the union members in the back of the head down the road.
We have to lance the boils and stop putting bandages over them.>
All the above options include dealing with the lion though he's tamed. Otherwise we got the coops, where there's no lion...
I see the living wage as a better option because higher prices would be tied to higher wages
Perhaps a combination of coops and living wages can put an end to the jungle.
http://webspawner.com/users/donquijote