tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903235483068862940.post2549889620931451861..comments2024-03-19T15:24:48.864-07:00Comments on Green Eagle: Austerity- The Nation KillerGreen Eaglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13477132834757467690noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903235483068862940.post-62116767260183375362013-02-24T08:40:57.943-08:002013-02-24T08:40:57.943-08:00Well... It's not a Disaster if you're very...Well... It's not a Disaster if you're very Rich and you want to bring a Nation and it's Peoples to their knees so that you can impose Wage Slavery and Corporate Dominance.Grung_e_Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903235483068862940.post-53689953450020137222013-02-24T03:33:05.296-08:002013-02-24T03:33:05.296-08:00My heart goes out to those people Anon. It makes m...My heart goes out to those people Anon. It makes me so angry. The dreams of a generation being snuffed out. The bitterness that will carry into the next generation.<br /><br />The current minimum wage in Australia is nearly 16 dollars an hour, our dollars being roughly on parity with the US dollar. A 3.30 AM start could mean half again or twice that rate. <br />Imagine how $8.50 sounds to me. <br />Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423673258718941141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903235483068862940.post-4380786653526498312013-02-23T07:21:49.635-08:002013-02-23T07:21:49.635-08:00Magpie,
Your point is very well taken.
I know a...Magpie, <br />Your point is very well taken. <br />I know a number of people here in Michigan who are entering the work force. Those who have high school diplomas consider themselves lucky to have jobs that pay little more than minimum wage. <br />Having a factory job here now gives one little more prestige or money than working in a fast food restaurant (in a neighboring town there is a McDonald's that has no teenagers working in it because they can now hire adults for the same wages that they once paid to kids).<br />If a person is twice late for work in these factories he/she is usually fired on the spot. These jobs are scarce and each worker can be easily replaced. <br /><br />I know a young mother who drives fifty miles each way to her job. Her shift starts at 3:30 AM. She works ten hour each day for $8.50 an hour. If she is ill she goes to work anyway for fear of being fired. <br /><br />A fellow I know is 22. He works in a foundry and earns little more than I did nearly forty years ago when I was working in one.<br /><br />The age peers of these people, at least here, are often wedged into similarly lackluster jobs for poverty wages. <br /><br />These are people who are abiding by the social contract...and yet <br />it is not enough. Their "aspirations" do not seem to extend beyond having enough money by the end of the week to pay for the gas to get them to their jobs in this right to work state.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903235483068862940.post-72048576432461659782013-02-23T01:04:08.434-08:002013-02-23T01:04:08.434-08:00Of all of those things a reasonable minimum wage i...Of all of those things a reasonable minimum wage is probably the most important bit.<br /><br />Once you can make enough money to feed and house yourself… then you’re in the game. Then you can get work experience and learn job skills. Then you can have aspirations. <br />Crime goes down. Social stability grows, because people suddenly have a stake in their community and just the act of working forges community bonds and creates the personal network by which people can deal with their issues.<br /><br />It’s fine for conservatives to say you start at the bottom and work your way up – but there has to be an actual bottom instead of a yawning abyss of less-than-subsistence level 'living'.<br /><br />Contrary to what they believe, capitalism does not live off the rich. It lives off the man or the woman on the factory floor.<br /><br />Preaching to the choir here, I know, but it can’t be said often enough. <br />Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423673258718941141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1903235483068862940.post-92056597093976351642013-02-22T13:17:06.449-08:002013-02-22T13:17:06.449-08:00These figures are in keeping with most republican ...These figures are in keeping with most republican economics. Do what the republicans want and disaster will follow.Jerry Critterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01870618647449723147noreply@blogger.com