Employees I saw out shopping today:
bus drivers: American born (mostly), decently paid, unionized;
drug chain employees: American born, $400-500/wk;
Supermarket employees: American born, a little bit better;
fast food employees: (all) foreign born, $300/wk (can’t get 40 hours);
taxi drivers (my 3 decade job): foreign born, don’t know how they make minimum wage in Chicago (50 cents/mile below 1981 when I came here — after 1991 built subways to both airports, opened up unlimited limos, put on free trolleys between all the hot spots downtown AND added 40% more taxis.
UPS drivers: American born, well compensated, Jimmy Hoffa’s union.
* * * * * * * * * *
IMAGINE we magically (without unions) mark wages to market (what the consumer will pay) — could we hold on to the money?
The landlord reaps what he does not sow. Familiar is the plight of the business that grows and grows as the landlord raises and raises the storefront rent. Ever more apartment renters in this country are gouged for everything they earn over subsistence. The Lord made the Earth and He’s not making anymore. Also more and more rentals are going condo. If retail workers go from $500/wk to $800/wk, how much will the landlords milk?
Education cost grow by leaps as more instruction is done by non-tenure bound, as administrations join the ranks of CEO rakers. The more other students pay they more they are forced to pay to keep up with other students (Germany has 16% college).
The list of potential rent collectors keeps growing too.
* * * * * * * * * *
Simple answer: legislation from a concerned Congress and state legislatures.
Simple way to get there from here: organize labor Western European style to grow popular political sinews.
Simple way to get there: actually the laws are already on the books. Just make union busting a felony — NOT FOR DEPRIVING THE PERSON OF A JOB (the big cultural misunderstanding here); BUT FOR DEPRIVING THEM OF THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE THEIR ECONOMIC LIVES — for conspiracy in restraint of trade. Once any state makes union busting a felony it becomes subject to federal (or applicable state) RICO prosecution.
Wisconsin — thanks to Governor Walker — has created a curious mirror image of this: in Wisconsin it is a misdemeanor punishable by nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine to collect union dues from an employee who opts out of membership. Any state (WA, OR, CA, NV, IL, NY?) anywhere can start the criminalizing ball rolling — hopefully to spread like a grass fire across the whole country.
I forgot to add a group of employees I did not see today — but in a big chunk of Chicago’s neighborhoods I would have bumped into many, at every turn. I am of course taking about Chicago’s 100,000 street gang members — something like half of minority, gang age males …
… who refuse to work for a minimum wage that is one-third below its 1968 peak — after average income has doubled.
Pretty much the same as I understand it except they now have to go to court to bug your house.
– The first is the technical process — essentially flipping the switches back and coordinating the databases of information stored by the government — which takes a full day.
– The second is a legal process that could take longer. The government would need to make a filing with the special secretive court — which has authorized the bulk metadata collection program since 2006 — would in turn need to verify that the metadata programs are legal under the new law.
[cross-posted from Economist’s View]
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2015/06/to-overcome-rising-inequality-workers-need-more-bargaining-power.html#comment-6a00d83451b33869e201b7c797838b970b
Employees I saw out shopping today:
bus drivers: American born (mostly), decently paid, unionized;
drug chain employees: American born, $400-500/wk;
Supermarket employees: American born, a little bit better;
fast food employees: (all) foreign born, $300/wk (can’t get 40 hours);
taxi drivers (my 3 decade job): foreign born, don’t know how they make minimum wage in Chicago (50 cents/mile below 1981 when I came here — after 1991 built subways to both airports, opened up unlimited limos, put on free trolleys between all the hot spots downtown AND added 40% more taxis.
UPS drivers: American born, well compensated, Jimmy Hoffa’s union.
* * * * * * * * * *
IMAGINE we magically (without unions) mark wages to market (what the consumer will pay) — could we hold on to the money?
The landlord reaps what he does not sow. Familiar is the plight of the business that grows and grows as the landlord raises and raises the storefront rent. Ever more apartment renters in this country are gouged for everything they earn over subsistence. The Lord made the Earth and He’s not making anymore. Also more and more rentals are going condo. If retail workers go from $500/wk to $800/wk, how much will the landlords milk?
Education cost grow by leaps as more instruction is done by non-tenure bound, as administrations join the ranks of CEO rakers. The more other students pay they more they are forced to pay to keep up with other students (Germany has 16% college).
Sovaldi: Hepatitis C can be wiped out for $300 billion (that’s a “b”) — the same amount we now pay for all other prescriptions. Cost to manufacture: half a billion dollars.
Now comes: “Amgen scores a victory for PCSK9, halving cardio risks after one year”
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/amgen-scores-victory-pcsk9-halving-cardio-risks-after-one-year/2015-03-15
” … new [cholesterol] drugs could eventually add as much as $150 billion to the national health-care bill.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-type-of-cholesterol-drug-could-prove-costly-1426817085
The list of new breakthroughs keeps getting longer — we’ll all be mortgaging our homes to live.
The list of potential rent collectors keeps growing too.
* * * * * * * * * *
Simple answer: legislation from a concerned Congress and state legislatures.
Simple way to get there from here: organize labor Western European style to grow popular political sinews.
Simple way to get there: actually the laws are already on the books. Just make union busting a felony — NOT FOR DEPRIVING THE PERSON OF A JOB (the big cultural misunderstanding here); BUT FOR DEPRIVING THEM OF THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE THEIR ECONOMIC LIVES — for conspiracy in restraint of trade. Once any state makes union busting a felony it becomes subject to federal (or applicable state) RICO prosecution.
Wisconsin — thanks to Governor Walker — has created a curious mirror image of this: in Wisconsin it is a misdemeanor punishable by nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine to collect union dues from an employee who opts out of membership. Any state (WA, OR, CA, NV, IL, NY?) anywhere can start the criminalizing ball rolling — hopefully to spread like a grass fire across the whole country.
I forgot to add a group of employees I did not see today — but in a big chunk of Chicago’s neighborhoods I would have bumped into many, at every turn. I am of course taking about Chicago’s 100,000 street gang members — something like half of minority, gang age males …
… who refuse to work for a minimum wage that is one-third below its 1968 peak — after average income has doubled.
Does anyone know what’s in the USA Freedom Act?
LJ:
Pretty much the same as I understand it except they now have to go to court to bug your house.
– The first is the technical process — essentially flipping the switches back and coordinating the databases of information stored by the government — which takes a full day.
– The second is a legal process that could take longer. The government would need to make a filing with the special secretive court — which has authorized the bulk metadata collection program since 2006 — would in turn need to verify that the metadata programs are legal under the new law.
Seems like they have to check legality which is not going to stop much anyway in snooping on bedroom talk. McConnell calls it a victory for Snowden. Hardly .. .
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/senate-usa-freedom-act-vote-patriot-act-nsa/index.html
Thanks run.
LJ:
You are welcome. I try.