tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9311998.post116783354320959943..comments2024-03-27T07:47:11.168-07:00Comments on LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Minmum Wage Blog DebateEUGENE PLAWIUKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11736971647879996375noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9311998.post-1168069803273413002007-01-05T23:50:00.000-08:002007-01-05T23:50:00.000-08:00You completely miss the point of capitalism, which...You completely miss the point of capitalism, which is to reduce the worker/comsumer, they are the same person, which is what makes capitalism revolutionary, to someone who sells not their labour but their 'time'. That is why every worker is a wage-slave, they do not sell a product as they did in pre-capitalist argrarian artisan America, they sell themeselves. <BR/><BR/>The de-skilling, multi-tasking and dumbing down of work in the social factories, whether Ford or U of T, is clear from the nature of the modern capitalism. Anyone is interchangable with anyone else in the production of surplus value.<BR/><BR/>That value is the labour time to proudce a product which is then sold.<BR/>Whether a car or a university class. The worker is not a tradesperson or artisan, they are a cog in the machine of capitalism.<BR/><BR/>Thus Toyota factories want their machinists to be able to also be electricians and carpenters, etc.<BR/>multi-taksing.<BR/><BR/>At university Tenure is gone, the academy now relies upon apprenctices to teach classes (Grad students, TA's, tempr teaching contracts) , not specialists (Professors).<BR/><BR/>Just in time production is the latest aspect of captialism, what is called Post Fordism. And that reality began on the shop floor and now permeates capitalist society even in the halls of academia.<BR/><BR/>The proletariat are not selling their skills but their time.EUGENE PLAWIUKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11736971647879996375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9311998.post-1167839761150988672007-01-03T07:56:00.000-08:002007-01-03T07:56:00.000-08:00Gee I missed ya Reg. Glad to have you back. Great ...Gee I missed ya Reg. Glad to have you back. Great comments especially the last sentence. Investors period don't buy things they invest. The whole Income Trust scam, while claiming to be providing income for retirees, in fact provides more income for the fund managers, and those can afford to invest in such schemes are already wealthy, so they in fact are not spending their earnings in the marketplace but reinvesting them. Thus cuopon clipping.<BR/><BR/>Walmart in the United States promotes increasing the minimum wage. Why? Then state sanctioned wages can be used as a write off as costs of doing business. Which our small business friends keep missing the point on. It also allows them to increase wages because it is 'the law' rather than paying increased wages as part of general policy. Of course they pay bonuses etc. on a selective basis.<BR/><BR/>But of course they are like the landlord who complains about having to improve his properties as being a cost when in fact they are a tax write off on his profits from rent.EUGENE PLAWIUKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11736971647879996375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9311998.post-1167838688172849692007-01-03T07:38:00.000-08:002007-01-03T07:38:00.000-08:00Good points on all fronts Eugene. I personally don...Good points on all fronts Eugene. I personally don't pay anything less than $12 in my business because a) it's cheaper to pay the wage and retain good employees than to pay the minimum and have to retrain every two months when they jump for a $1/hour raise and b) I'd simply feel too guilty paying someone $15,600 per year knowing he/she has kids at home.<BR/><BR/>One thing that jumped out at me in the comments of your previous posts was the idea that by paying a higher minimum wage, we put more money into the economy. One commenter said that only happens when the money supply is increased. Technically that is true, but obviously we're not talking about the money supply as a whole, we're talking about the multiplier effect of spending, which you correctly indicate is much higher for the low wage earner since they are going to be spending that money locally (hopefully not at Walmart but that's another story) rather than a company paying it out as dividends out of country or some similar action that doesn't benefit the local/regional economy. As with any economic argument, for every theory there are countless ways to debunk it, but common sense tells us that a dollar spent in a town in Canada is better for the economy than a dollar paid to an investor overseas.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com