Parasite Economy

Why do the workers of the world suffer such a high wage inequality? One reason is that about a trillion dollars a year that used to go to wages now goes to profit. The economy is split into the real economy and the parasite economy, according to billionaire entrepreneur Nick Hanauer. The workers who live and work in the real economy solve problems, build things that earn good wages and provide benefits, such as pensions and healthcare. These jobs provide taxes to support the federal government, local and state. The difference between these two economies is very real. The real economy pays the wage earner, which, in turn, drives the consumer demand and the parasite economy erodes. The real economy generates about $5 trillion a year in local, state and federal tax revenues; while the parasite economy is subsidized by taxes. The real economy delivers on the promise of capitalism. The parasite economy relentlessly undermines it. It is not the poor who are the deadbeats, it is the parasite companies with a business model predicated on a cheap supply of taxpayer subsidized labor and leaving workers with little if any discretionary income of their own. Some of the leading parasite companies are Walmart, McDonald’s and the like, but the leading advocate of the parasite economy is the National Restaurant Association—the other NRA, which has worked audaciously to keep wages low. The federal minimum wage for tipped workers has gone unchanged since 1991 and remains at $2.13 an hour. There is no reason for this, and it amounts to a form of wage theft. Some corporations do pay well and are very successful, like Costco and In-Out-Burgers. Minimum wage is meant to be minimum, not maximum. At this time, all minimum-wage workers should not be making less than $15 an hour, and the $15 an hour should not be slow walked. If we, in this world, want to start to get some stability in our world, a good start would be raising the wages, jobs, less debt, healthcare, and rebooting the labor unions. At this time, here in the U.S. and in other countries, the workers must make some elections decisions about who will lead us and they better be right this time. Here in the U.S., Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that has our back. What Sanders stands for now and throughout his long career is good for the world over, not just the U.S.