Mueller report. OP/ED

[Drich]

"Minimum wage does not mean a living wage. "

Umm, well actually, it does in Oz. (at least technically)

As of today,30 march 2019, minimum wage in Oz  $18.93 an hour or $719.32 per 38 hour week. That is enough for a single person to survive.

HOWEVER, over the last  30 odd years we have seen the gradual casualisation of labour, including that current model of fairness, the zero hour contract.

In the service and hospitality industries especially, working a full week at a given job has become increasingly rare.

In my opinion the issue of wages and conditions of ordinary workers is   one of ideology, not economics.  Plus of course the old fashioned avarice of 'the owners of the means of production".

It is my position that natural resources  such as oil, gas ,minerals, belong to the people, and may not be sold, only licensed and taxed. That a government has no money; it's all ours.  One of the main responsibilities of government is  the redistribution of wealth, in the form of social justice. This includes ,but is not limited too, health, education and welfare. Of course I will immediately saddle Trevor, my dragon, and fly around parliament house as soon as this all happens.

When I was growing up, Australian Industrial  Relations revolved around "The conciliation And Arbitration Commission " a non partisan, non political body which controlled wages and conditions.  Trade unions also had a a lot of clout.

Today we have The Fair Work Act "of 2009. Unions are a shell of their former selves.

In the 1950's Oz had "The means basic wage" . This was an  amount upon which it was reckoned that a man with a wife and 2 children could live "in modest comfort".

Next came a basic wage  based on"the capacity of industry to pay". Instituted by a socialist Labor government.  This was based on the quaint notion
that a worker has the right to  a reasonable amount of the profit from his labour. That wasn't around for very long.

Today, most manufacturing industry has left my state for overseas. There is a shift away from unskilled labour.

It  confuses the hell out of me. I've  also been told the Keynesian economics I just about understood is wrong.

I reject conspiracy theories as a category. However, I DO accept the collusion of common interests, such as say oil and mining, pharmaceuticals and the tobacco industry.(still happening)  I don't think they actively set out to fuck the workers. They set out to maximise profits and are without ethics or morality in the means they use. Cost of labour is simply another cost to be minimised.

Of peripheral interest; I think it was the US who first  legally recognised the public company as a person. In the US, and I suspect elsewhere, a public company is legally obliged to benefit its stockholders, above all others.  They are not expected to act in the common good, at all. They are expected to obey the law, in so far as this is convenient for them.

Guess all we need is a proper lollipop guild to negotiate labor and wages and we'd be all set as well.

Just quick question does the magical land of OZ also spend 668 billion to 1.1 trillion a year on welfare?

So If we jack upour labor rates to 15 an hour does this mean we can drop the 1 trillion dollar well fare componet to our taxes meaning we get a 40 to 60% tax reduction?

If we can get a 60% taxe reduction I promise to give everyone 20 dollars an hour.. just so long as there is no welfare!

---

Say the guy loyally blinded to a giant circus called the Republican Party.

In the rest of the world the republican party is considered to be evil, robbing the poor to give to the rich, reverse robin hoods if you will. I suppose if you are immersed in their bullshit you are too close see it.

what is the rest of the world?

illegal immigrants who have no skills or even a grasp of the language? those not looking to assimilate into the american culture but to bring their culture into the us?

I'm ok with that.