That's right the average wages for most workers are at $15 an hour as minimum wage, a real living wage should be $20-$25 per hour based on a monthly basket of goods to keep you alive. Workers in meatpacking plants and hospital staff in US hospitals make $15 per hour, whereas in Canada the wages are closer to the later.
The right wing is correct to be concerned that with all the top ups and in fact in Canada the CERB being $2000 per month is a Universal Basic Income, which causes our ex paper boy leader of the Conservatives to worry someone might being getting more than they should. That of course would never cross his mind to say about a McCain or a Galen Weston or an Irving.
Suddenly with workers making more money with CERB or EI they might not want to go back to work cries the conservative. So lets look at that closer. Why would the workers not want to go back to a low paying job, and why is that job low waged, below even $15 per hour if that wage is not the provincial or state rate. So it seems to me the conservative should be wagging his finger in the direction of the bosses, and tell them that if they want to keep their workers they have to offer them more!! Not demand they take less than they are making now which is between $15 and $25 pr hour and in fact I would suggest that benefits be tossed in too and some flex time.
Our conservative views the employee as a thief, of course they do they represent their class the small shop keeper.
But the real thief is the employer, the boss who would pocket the difference between minimum wage and the days earnings.
The real kicker though is the fact that as workers earning a living we spend our paychecks as soon as we get them, we have barely $400 in our bank accounts between us and poverty, but we should save for that rainy pandemic day.
When we spend our earnings as wage slaves we suddenly Cinderella like change into the mighty Consumer the very soul and essence of late capitalism.
The conservative completely fails to understand that it is not shovels in the ground, not pipelines, or Wall St that keeps capitalism functioning, it is me and you with our credit cards, our car payments and our rent or mortgages, let alone our entertainment and food purchases. https://edmontonsocialplanning.ca/
What part of Capitalism collapsed because of the Coronavirus, the consumer capitalist market place. Wall St. and the other stock exchanges didn't even as they crashed and rose again like the Mary Ellen Carter. The bourse is divorced from reality and main street, moving money to make more money, M=C=M regardless if the actual political economy is crashing or not, they sell the market short in that case.
When the Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffet and his Berkshire Hathaway spend millions and billions investing that does not drive capitalism as much as his munching on a ice cream bar and drinking a coke, the later are the real capitalist exchange.
Late capitalism is the great equalizer, Bill Gates makes millions daily in the stock market, but that is not when he really makes capitalism function, its when he and Melinda go out for a Big Mac at the drive through. It is when they go to Starbucks or order something from Amazon, when they consume. In late capitalism with finance capital dominating the market the real marketplace is that of consumption not production or even wealth creation it is us consuming and getting into debt.
The minimum wage worker contributes more to capitalism functioning than a hundred Jeff Bezos. It is our consumption that drives the post modern market place, and the more money in our hands the better off capitalism will be as we have seen for the past two months of this pandemic panic.
SEE
THE RIGHT TO BE GREEDY
THE RIGHT TO BE LAZY
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