SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Hundreds of fast food workers are striking nationwide Tuesday, joining other workers in pressing for a more livable wage. But while some say $15 is a minimum needed to survive, some business owners say dishing out more pay would leave them struggling to keep their doors open.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fast-food-workers-strike-again-nationwide-for-15-an-hour
In New York City, rallies are being held in Harlem, the Financial District and Brooklyn in support of efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, reports CBS New York.
In Los Angeles, the local protests are organized by Service Employees International Union, and include fast-food, home-care and child-care workers, along with other "underpaid" employees, reports CBS Los Angeles.
"Is this the America we believe in? When someone works all day long and they still can't get by," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during an early-morning rally in Downtown Brooklyn. "Does anyone believe that it's easy to get by in New York City on less than $15 an hour?"
Critics say a $15 minimum wage would obliterate opportunity and usher in higher taxes, but de Blasio said the opposite is true -- with more money to spend, low wage workers contribute more to the economy.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bziman on Wednesday November 11 2015, @03:07AM
There are so many fast food workers in the United States, that thousands or tens of thousands of them probably call in sick every day. If "hundreds" are striking, chances are no one is actually going to notice. They'd need a hundred thousand to strike to inconvenience anyone enough to notice. And if they unionized, they could probably organize that. But the sorts of people capable of that level of organization and coordination probably aren't the ones that need a raise to $15 an hour.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Mr Big in the Pants on Wednesday November 11 2015, @04:06AM
You are of course 100% correct.
Unfortunately the PR war on Unions was so successful it has become second nature for almost all americans to consider them evil and have mumbling about mafioso as a reflexive response.
But this is not an issue restricted to fast food workers or even low wage workers. The neo-con dystopian dream has always been for a large supply of desperate, disposable workers willing to do anything just for the privilege of being employed for just enough to keep their bodily functions going while they are at work. Coupled of course with a "captured democracy" in which voting means little so this never changes.
They may not articulate it that way, but if you look into their policies that is exactly what they have been aiming for. Of the rich first world countries I am familiar with, america has progressed furthest towards this aim.
Just wait until robots start taking over jobs en masse, things will progress very quickly at that point.
(Score: 0, Troll) by frojack on Wednesday November 11 2015, @04:26AM
The neo-con dystopian dream has always been for a large supply of desperate, disposable workers willing to do anything just for the privilege of being employed for just enough to keep their bodily functions going while they are at work.
Such drivel. Even Marx never stooped to that level of hate mongering.
Nobody has ever wanted that, because such people are more troublesome than well paid loyal workers.
You just can't keep yourself from overstating your case to cartoonish levels, can you.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Wednesday November 11 2015, @04:50AM
Sounds like what is happening now in foreign made products. And kind of happening here.
Its not like the working poor want to start a class war that hadn't already been started by crony capitalists.
subicular junctures
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Thursday November 12 2015, @12:40AM
Outsourcing to 3rd world countries that are already part of this dystopia is part of the process, not separate.
Outsourcing is not as efficient as producing in your target market and there are many minefields. So it is better to subjugate your own.
What has not really been thought through until only just recently (e.g. recent WTO and OECD reports) is that as the portion of people living on incomes with no disposable cash increases, the economic activity companies and countries rely on shrinks rapidly.
The fact that this is some sort of recent revelation to modern economists betrays the deep bias and "head up ass" syndrome that has pervaded much the field. (NB: Not everyone of course)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2015, @04:52AM
Marx wasn't around anymore when neocons emerged... the behavior of these cut throat industrialists is indeed surreal and disgusting.
But it's also true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_bottom [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by buswolley on Wednesday November 11 2015, @05:01AM
Captains of Industry and the Poor
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/industrial-age-america-robber-barons-and-captains-industry [neh.gov]
This did not come to America with the rise of "neocons"
subicular junctures
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday November 11 2015, @07:01PM
This did not come to America with the rise of "neocons"
No, but it has been accelerating rapidly since then.
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Wednesday November 11 2015, @11:14AM
I thought that page was vandalised:
The incentive to deregulate comes from the consumer who wishes to pay a competitive rate for items or services, rather than one set by the government often at the behest of businesses or unions.
So consumers feel that prices are not competitive if everyone has to adhere to the same rules, and businesses are often the ones in favour of / profiting from regulation?
Yeah, right.
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Wednesday November 11 2015, @04:59AM
I would argue but it would serve zero purpose as it is obvious what you are.
Reality makes my argument for me.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2015, @06:23AM
A Neoconservative likes his country to spend a bunch on weapons and to have a giant military in order to project power.
The term "Chickenhawk" often has significant overlap.
"World policeman" is one of their favorite concepts.
The term you are looking for is Neoliberal:
Gov't regulation is bad; unregulated ("free") trade is good; privatize everything; race-to-the-bottom economics; things only happen because of the rich (ownership class).
It's not exactly an intuitive term.
-- gewg_
(Score: 3, Insightful) by compro01 on Wednesday November 11 2015, @06:53AM
The overlap between the politicians espousing neoconservative ideology and the ones espousing neoliberal ideology is so near complete in the USA, UK, and Canada that they're basically synonymous.
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Wednesday November 11 2015, @06:57AM
Nope:
neoconservative
adjective
1.relating to or denoting a return to a modified form of a traditional viewpoint, in particular a political ideology characterized by an emphasis on free-market capitalism and an interventionist foreign policy.
In this case the tradition being returned to us one of robber barons, lords and peasants in poverty with an almost non-existent middle class.
This is very much on the way there in a big way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2015, @12:01PM
You're absolutely right. However, those in government and the corporate interests don't seem to realize this - or they don't care. In the UK there's a policy to force those on unemployment benefits to do unpaid work or be denied their benefits. This is a classic example of those at the top not caring whether the workers resent their jobs. The ironic thing is someone who hates their job can do a lot of damage and likely end up costing the economy more than what their basic unemployment benefit would be.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday November 11 2015, @01:59PM
Unfortunately the PR war on Unions was so successful it has become second nature for almost all americans to consider them evil and have mumbling about mafioso as a reflexive response.
This sort of thing is easy to judge. If a union (or any other group) infringes anyone else's right to life, liberty, or property (with or without government sanction / assistance), then what they have done is evil. Otherwise, they are well within their rights.
Unfortunately there has been a very successful PR war to give unions government help to infringe the rights of others in some circumstances in some areas.
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Wednesday November 11 2015, @09:47PM
The entire ridiculous and quite obviously false premise here is that unions are one thing.
They are not.
They vary wildly and are very much dependant on their membership and leadership.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday November 11 2015, @10:02PM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Thursday November 12 2015, @12:35AM
Tell that to the anti-union crowd.
They do not see it that way. (although they are oblivious to the fact that is what they doing)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2015, @04:07AM
> They'd need a hundred thousand to strike to inconvenience anyone enough to notice.
And yet the strike was reported on all the major nightly news shows as well as all the 24-news channels and hundreds of newish websites.
Looks like they might actually know more about how this stuff works than you do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @12:23AM
I wish that The Center for American Progress had updated this concept this week.
The page contains a 647kB animated GIF that shows the number of cities where actions have occurred between Autumn 2012 and Spring 2014. [thinkprogress.org]
The final count then was 150 cities.
-- gewg_