Why it is so hard for the toilers to understand that capitalist system and that it is rigged against them? The system is rigged in favor of the 1 percent. Even small business owners don’t understand this. This is not to say that the toilers cannot win the war of wage and living standards inequality.
In order to do this, the toilers must understand the basic rules of the capitalist system. The governor of California, Jerry Brown, explained this is a speech the other day to some labor groups. He said if the consumers are up to their eyeballs in debt, aren’t making a decent wage, how the heck are they going to buy anything? If they don’t buy anything, the economy doesn’t go forward and doesn’t work.
This was well said, but he could have also said that the capitalist system is driven 67.5 percent by spending, which proves that when insufficient wages are not high enough for the toilers to have enough money left over after paying for their basic needs (rent, food, debts) to purchase some durable goods, like a new vehicle, that drives manufacturing and creates jobs the economy will not grow.
The key is higher wages. This will not hurt the economy, it will drive the economy and this works worldwide. The information on this comes from the PPP (purchasing, power and parity). This means that a unit of such imaginary currency can buy the same basket of goods in India as in China or as in France, Argentina or Zimbabwe. PPPs are used to compare the real income of nations.
Once we have a GDP (gross domestic product) per capital in PPP dollars fixed for a given year we can then use the county’s GDP growth rate to project backward their GDP per capital in PPP terms. GDP sums up the value of all goods and services produced in a given country or an area, and divide it by the number of people who live there.
This is why we cannot compare wages of other countries without using the countries' PPP system. Higher wages will drive up all countries’ living standards, such as proper shelter, water, food, healthcare, education and pensions. These things will give hope to the world’s toilers and take away the breeding grounds of terrorism. The toilers can win the war on inequality we just have to connect the dots and remember it is all connected.
I hope that I am wrong, but what I see at this time is our unions are going to be in the fight of their existence. This is the most perilous time of our life. The life we had is threatened like never before. Unions are the largest organized group of people who can save our country if things keep going the way they are heading at this time. We need to all stand together for power, but we each must prepare and plan to take care of ourselves and our families. We can fight the big fight and not be distracted by worry about things that can and should already be taken care of. For instance, stashing at least one month’s pay and at least a month or even a year’s worth of food, whether the food is staples (pasta, rice, canned goods) and meat or chicken in the freezer. Keep your vehicles' tanks full and if possible a gas can full. It’s in your best interest to also save money for house or rent payments plus extra. This is not new thinking for us old trade workers who had to prepare when...
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