THE STATE OF THE UNION... On Government Role, on living wage...

Last year I spend some time on Huffington post, the so called liberal Internet Media...
I enter the publication reading about the new Arianna Huffington book: The third world America...
Well done research, good analyze of the current issues...totally miss the topic!
This was my response:

       - To have a "good" life, one need first and foremost not to worry about bare necessity: food and shelter!
       - To have a meaningful "good" life, one need more time to spend with family and friends!
       - To have a really "good" life, one need to sustainable­ combine the two premises!

The answer to all of the tree questions is summarized in two word:
   - Living wage...
In a time when the American political divides between Red States and Blue States are extremely polarized mainly on the role and the size of the Government, the tables are somewhat turn upside down:
   - The very people who are so loud against the Unions, as well as they are in favor of the "Free Market Economy", less taxes, less Government spending; its these same people are also fiercely against the one and only solutions that will solve almost all of their concerns!

They say: Ignorance is bliss for a reason!

GOP wide spread  idea that seams plausible to many less taxes & amaller Governement, leave so many completely ignorant of the meaning of the philosophy they subscribe too!
   - Aah, the spending is out of control...
Government spending: the holy grail of the GOP...
The tune continue as a broken record:
Cut the spending...Cut...cut...cut...
If they can get Governement spending out of the equation, taxes will be lower, market will be less regulated, business will be less restricted to invest, and grow, grow and flourish, flourish and grow even more...
Fairy tale for the small business  libertarians wanna be multinationals, but not quite there yet!
Fairy tale indeed...

There is only one common denominator, aside from their "Free Market Economy" Utopia, one common denominator for all of the GOP collors of the Political Rainbow: Rebublicans and their Conservatives ofspring;  Libertarians and their newest Tea Party offspring, and all their schools of thought up and down the specter, from Vienna, to Chicago and  Texas Alex Jones New World Order Headquarters:

They never talk about the wages...

Free market...yeah, let the market freely set the stage for the players, he will be the ground where the forces of capital and labour can meet in the perfect equilibrium...
So ...so...18 Century...
Skip two hundred years or more, and why not...no one will notice, right...
Over two hundred years since the fierce class battle began on the streets of London, Paris, then it spread in our backyard, but hey...
If no one is talking about it, its like never happen....
Wait...The  New Generation?
Well...not to worry,  the new generation is so busy downloading the latest apps for the I-phone, and yes...the I- Pod 3 will hit the stores any days now, instant gratifications is the new buzz, who care what happen years, and years a go...
Or so the GOP mantra goes...
They dont care about tomorrow, they dont wanna invest today in our future generations, cause their generations is well provided anyways...
Why would they care for the public educations or the teachers pays, their kids go to private schools anyways!
Why would they care about the vouchers in Medicare, when their golden years come with a golden parachutes!
Why would they care about the Social Security benefits when the whole check is a Sunday brunch bill on the golf course tournament...
My question is not why they dont care, my question is:
Where are the Democrats in Washington to stand and get lost like those 14 brave souls in Wisconsin!
Where are the Democrats?
All of them...
The People Party should stand up to the Busness Party and say, loud and clear:
Taxation is not the solutions to the budget Deficit: the living wage is, and here is why:
The more the workers receive in pay, more goes into payroll deductions, directly on the side of the budget revenues... more budget revenues means less deficit...
The Government social spending can be reduce and control only if the population become independent of Government help, and that can be accomplish if workers receive a living wage for the day work...
People who earn  living wage dont need food stamps, subsidize housing or welfare checks...
People who earn living wage dont need medicaid...
People who earn living wage dont work two jobs...down will go unemployment numbers...
People who earn living wage have full time jobs and benefits...
Social Security and Medicare solvency is in tight correlation with the percentage of the populations who earn living wage also, just look at the stats from the 60's and 70's...
The case for the Living wage should be the corner stone of Democrats Agenda, but the million dollar Questions is not how much the living wage should be, but how do we get there!
We have two, and only two options:
 a ) Union bargaining with the Corporate America!
 b ) Government making a New deal with Corporate America!

Notice the key word in both cases is Corporate America...

   - Are we ready to shake the boat called Corporate America?
I ask this question again...
   - Are we ready to stand tall to Corporate America? - Do we understand that some of us, many of us will fall in the dark blues sea to swim with the sharks named layoff and fired, cause to assume that Corporate America will accept the change in payroll cost without a vicious fight is naive... so yes, Corporate will fight back with everything they have...and more...
How can we the people fight?
Letter of the Laws...
GOP cleverly wanna get Federal Government power down to State level cause they know very well that their masters Corporations, are individually stronger then any of the small state of the Union, and they can get what ever tax break, sweet land or utility deal, and labour tax credit they wish in order to land a business, living for greener pasture if they dont...
But  Laws are just the start, cause without massive people support they can be neglected in State courts under power pressure of individual Corporate interest, just look at the latest Health Care Bill...what a joke on State level that become...

That being said, the rest of us can ask the hard core Question:

    - What is a living wage?

If You, my dear Readers think that the discussion about the pros and cons of Unions is a painful,  divisive issue in the way of coming to a compromise, try the living wage, just to see a fierce debate turning bloody nasty one!
   - Let just clear the air right from this common misunderstanding:
Living wage is not an hourly or daily amount of money in exchange for a day work...no its not!
The minimum wage set the way it is set today should be, but it is not living wage...sorry, its not...
So...cry the impatient readers...what is it then?

     Living wage its how much its needed to support a healthy survival of the individual houshold, set as family of four: two adult and two children, as needed for maintaining healthy  Society...

The difference between the minimum wage set like maintaining survival of the sole individual, the way it is today, and the individual houshold set as a family in order to maintain a healthy Society is no less dramatic!
The basic cell of a Society is not an individual person, but a Family!

On the other hand, the living wage should be calculated by a broader standardized cost of living index, COLI, which normally differ from state to state in the Union but the common denominator­ should be:
1. The consumer basket* ( food and utility, among others goods and services);
2. Average housing expenses;
3. Cost of Energy, Educations, Insurance Premiums, Health Insurance Payments;

*The basket of consumer goods or consumer basket is the market basket intended for tracking the prices of consumer goods and services, i.e., it is a sample of goods and services, offered at the consumer market. The consumer basket is the base for the definition of the Consumer Price Index(CPI).
wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Consumer basket

The list used for such an analysis would contain a number of the most commonly bought food and household items. The variations in the prices of the items on the list from month to month give an indication of the overall development of price trends.
The market basket may be further classified into Household Items, Personal Goods and Services, Leisure Goods, Households Services, Housing, Alcoholic Drinks and other categories, depending on the country's people preferance survey.

   "In Belgium, for example, wages, pensions, house rent, insurance premiums, unemployment benefits, health insurance payments, etc. are by law tied to a consumer price index."
source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The name commonly used in America to correspond to the consumer basket is Consumer price index or CPI, ironically used to track inflation...
Those of You who never belong to the Unions, who have no idea whats the fuzz with the collective bargaining is, a word on the agenda of Scott Walker, the GOP wannabe next Reagan; just to let You know:

As a means for indexation (i.e. adjusting income payments). Over 2 million workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements which tie wages to the CPI. In the United States, the index affects the income of almost 80 million people as a result of statutory action: 47.8 million Social Security beneficiaries, about 4.1 million military and Federal Civil Service retirees and survivors, and about 22.4 million food stamp recipients. Changes in the CPI also affect the cost of lunches for the 26.7 million children who eat lunch at school. Some private firms and individuals use the CPI to keep rents, royalties, alimony payments and child support payments in line with changing prices. Since 1985, the CPI has been used to adjust the Federal income tax structure to prevent inflation-induced increases in taxes.

United States Consumer Price Index

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They say the picture is worth a thousand word, so here it is:




The "item" that are taken in consideration will give better or worse picture about the rise of the cost of living expenses, no wonder now why GOP representatives in the Congress always fight to limit or totally take many items out...

Those of You who are still buying the GOP fallacy of the "Free Market Economy" and believe that the Corporate America will take care of You, will give you the benefits out of the goodness of the business profitable quarter, well believe, and next time when the energy market react on a problem in Libya and go on a price surge, take your plain gas bill to your CIO, and ask him for a raise...ask him to level the playing field...ask him to maintain the market equilibrium...and good luck with that!

The rest of us need to wise up, wake up, and smell the coffee:
   -The battle that We the People need to ask Washington to win in our behalf is to include more "items" into the measurement of the CPI, and serve that like a Law that Corporate America need to respect next time they seat on the table to negotiate any Union Contract...
We need Washington to stand for Us, We are all middle, going poor lately class, We are all WI...
Economy dont need a Stimulus package, Economy need every one of the participant to receive a starting living wage, and climb from there according to the qualification, complicity and utilization of the labour force!
Whats is happening in Wisconsin is a lesson, We Progressive should never forget!
   - Never again we should stay home and let Midget of a Mans take the powerful position the way some of them did in the last elections...
Governor like Scott Walker are nothing but a bell boys in the hand of the Corporate that will come running eager to please the Masters, and Unions are the last levy that hold the flood of our livelihood above the gutter of poverty that seams to plague the Third World Countries...
The rise of the middle class, the height We the people can climb above is the scale that separate us from the Third World Countries...its not the kitchen gadget that are standing on our disposal, or the high tech goggles that can make us socially well connected, but our ability to lift every one of our People up the scale of prosperity...
Cause the Cake of Wealth is there...
Corporate America is riping the benefits of the rise in productivity due to a tech advances and the international trade, while they have GOP home to make sure that the lion share of the Wealth stay on their plates...and that's nothing new...
History remember a ruthless Emperors, reckless Kings and terrible Congress, but also history show us that the wheels of the Societies are always moved forward by the People alone, never backwards, no matter how much send are thrown in it to slow it down, stopped altogether, derailed, or blow out of proportions...
Somehow, each and every time, People manage to pick up the broken bones, heel stronger, and pursuit the dreams of a better tomorrow...
History teach us that...
History never fail...
GOP fear mongers are not able to embrace the winds of change, cause it is much better and certainly much more comfortable for them to dwell in the past or in the dark corridors of conspiracy, its much easier to try to prevent the real New World Order from happening, World where the cake of our People Accomplishment is shared among all, not just few...
If GOP cant see that simple yet profound fact, then they are destine for a oblivion, like many Party of the old World, cause if the new tech can be used to liberate the Middle East from a vicious dictators, surly we, here in America, can talk and connect and spread the forgotten knowledge:

- You negotiate with Corporate America with the Letters of the Laws, and with the Straight of the Unions body Numbers!