Skip to main content

No Jobs, Pay For the Commons

There are just not enough jobs that pay a living wage in the world, which helps perpetuate the wage inequality and the opportunity inequality. If the world is to stay with the present capitalist system it will have to change to a hybrid system of capitalism and wages will have to be supplemented by non-labor cash or the equivalent of such. The non-labor cash is out there just not collected yet. It is could be called co-owned wealth, one could be rent from financial infrastructure, which financial firms pay nothing at this time, and another is air, which gets into carbon that causes the most harm in the atmosphere for carbon absorption. Then there is the intellectual property protection within the U.S and the worldwide, which corporations pay nothing. These are our Commons. There is also the electromagnetic spectrum used for radio, television and mobile phones. A 20 percent value added fee on those spectrum intensive industries would generate $84 billion for dividends to pay rent to the people. Other assets that might be rented for dividends are minerals and timber on public lands. These are our Commons. In Europe, there is a growing interest in a universal guaranteed income high enough to ensure a person could maintain an existence in dignity; such income would be in addition to not in lieu of existing social programs. Switzerland is trying for a 2,800 monthly stipend for its citizens. All of this is driven by the sense of social solidarity and a belief in individual dignity as a human right.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Now is the Time to Prepare

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

They'll Be Coming For All Of Us

Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
Post a Comment
Read more

We Are the Power

Looks like there is hope for the union workers and our country for the union people who believed Trump’s lies, who now know that he was just full of bullshitting all of you. He said the he would bring more work to this country, but took away money from job projects, and the ones that were too late to stop, Trump put his name on it and is taking credit for the work done. Trump is not a union supporter and the people who work for him do not support unions either because they all get their money from big corporations, who are notoriously anti-union. The entire GOP is bought and paid for by large corporations, such as Home Depot, Walmart, Chamber of Commerce and many other nonunion selfish companies. We all have a chance to change things and take it all back if we dare by voting blue in the mid-term elections. If we vote for things that are what we really need like healthcare, good pensions, living wages, voting rights, more affordable housing, and rent control. In other words, let’s get a...
Post a Comment
Read more