Minimum Wage

In a recent change in the world, the minimum wage has been raised nation wide to the grand total of 6.55. This doesn't affect all states, as some have already had their minimum wage far above that, but where I live that is the full increase of .70 cents. The plan is to raise the minimum wage again within 1 year to the total of 7.25. Of course as with anything aimed at abolishing social slavery, it has been met with a great deal of hatred and contempt by those who claim to know how it is that big business works. Big business than happily agrees with those who say that they are trying to defend themselves by helping big business.

They go so far as to suggest that the whole concept of minimum wage should simply be disbanded. This concept would than be replaced by a completely free market in which a business could pay their employees anything they wished even .20 an hour. Really when you think about that concept it sends pre civil war shivers up your spine. The fact of the matter is that minimum wage needs to go further than it is now, much further. Because the big problem isn't that business won't hire more for fear of loosing money, the CEO's and Board of Directors make far to much for that ever to be a concern, the big fear is that of inflation, of course this is just born out of stupidity regarding the market.

You see children inflation doesn't come from giving more money to poor people, money that was already in the system that is. Rather it comes from printing new money because those who are intelligent enough to be rich, took the step to horde and invest their money, so that it never actually hits the system. What this causes is the federal government to send more money forcefully into the system in order to keep it a float, all the while the money they printed previously has never seen the outside of a bank.

So that fear really isn't warranted. The next fear is that businesses won't hire as many people. Given that most businesses already pay over the minimum wage to begin with, I don't really think it will phase them. But the fact of the matter is that this has to stop. Paying even close to minimum wage is still social slavery. I mean when you think about it you are only given enough money for food, shelter, and clothing. What about that doesn't scream wrong in someone's eye?

It's disturbing to me, as well as many others, that we see that style of living, that kind of poverty as acceptable in the eyes of any society. The problem of course is that those with money and influence have no problems with that kind of mentality, and simply chuck it up to the ideas of a capitalist market. But you can't blame an open market for the concept of slavery, there becomes a point when it becomes the social responsibility of a business or cooperation to take care of its employees and make sure they are not only above the poverty line, but also don't live simply off of their necessities.

The first place to start within a society to attempt to correct this is within the education system. To fund far larger amounts of money into a school system, to pay Teachers more, shrink classroom sizes, and improve facilities and technology. In addition to that a change in curriculum must take place. A focus on thinking critically rather than on memorization. If this includes extending school hours to year long than all the better.

This of course touches on a getting into a brand new economic theory that doesn't use a capitalistic core, but more on that later. Until than...