The notion that a low-wage workers contribution to the economic system is reflected in his or her earnings is an exploitative & short-sighted system of logic that ultimately fails to acknowledge the fact that a nations workers are its very consumers. You cant have a domestic economic recovery, specifically one speeding towards full employment, without increased demand and implicitly, purchasing power. Workers that earn less, spend less, and when the majority of a nations workforce are earning less relative to the rising costs of living, then one of two things must ensue: a debt bubble and/or a decrease in demand by economically disenfranchised workers/consumers. Unless you make your living from profits or rent, you are a worker. Its not just those at the bottom who are earning less, its the middle class too, which is why as a demographic their numbers are shrinking & the gap between rich and poor is growing ever wider and the political narrative, more polarized. You cant have a functioning democracy & drastic inequality at the same time. One or the other must give, either shared prosperity & democratic representation, or prosperity for some and democracy for those who can afford it to influence it. As the article stated so succinctly: The “paid-what-your-worth” argument is fundamentally misleading because it ignores power, overlooks institutions, and disregards politics. As such, it lures the unsuspecting into thinking nothing whatever should be done to change what people are paid, because nothing can be done. Don’t buy it.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 06:54:59 +0000