Minimum Wage

Lately, certain business owners have been complaining that they are unable to fill open jobs at their businesses because unemployed workers get more money from unemployment compensation than what these would-be employers can pay. What the hell is wrong with these so-called business owners? Not only do they seem to have no business sense at all, they lack any sense of morality and empathy for their fellow Americans. If they really can’t pay more money and offer better benefits to employees than unemployment compensation they should immediately look into the cause. Consider the following, Business Owners:

1. The main problem may be the wages the business owner expects to pay themselves. How much more is the boss’s pay than the lowest paid employee? Is that a reasonable figure or is it excessive, considering the fact that your business is such a lost cause it cannot even compete with unemployment compensation?

2. If business owners reduce their personal expectations, can they afford to pay employees not just a “minimum wage,” but a Thriving Wage? If so, then do it, and the problem is solved. If not, let’s move to the next step:

3. What actual labor does the business owner do? Is the business owner really essential to the actual operation of the business? Are the employees so dumb they need a boss whose sole purpose is to tell them what to do and when to do it? Is there no way the employer can afford to get better employees because they demand better wages? If so, it is time for the business owner to consider if there is a market for the business or if the business is ineptly run. If there is a market, the business owner must find a way to increase the business’s share if paying decent wages is to be realized. If not, the business owner needs to decide if it is necessary to reorganize his business as a one-person operation. If the business owner/employer won't do that because a strong market demand for the business’s products or services exists, this additional option should be considered: the failure of the business’s ability to gain a sufficient market share and to pay decent employee wages may be due to inept, incompetent, and/or excessively greedy ownership of the business. In that case:

4. The business owner should be fired by the employees and full ownership of the business and all its property and assets should be seized by the workers who can then vote for ways to build the business to a level where all the workers can share a thriving wage. By democratic vote, the workers will determine all business policies, practices, and functions and base all decisions on science rather than personal greed or other emotion-driven feelings.

Of course, most of us realize it is unrealistic to think that many (if any) American business owners would accept these conditions. That is the reason why the United States should change its backward, outdated, unsustainable, obsolete, inhuman, and failed capitalist system. The seizure of the means of production by the workers must be enforced by law. And if such a law cannot be passed by corrupt politicians, then the workers must force such a change in the U.S. economic and political system. This can be done via the existing political structure by removing incompetent and corrupt politicians and replacing them with patriotic Americans elected to support this promising new effort. It is possible, but it will require great dedication, organization and hard work to suffer through election after election--especially in light of the fact that democracy and honest elections simply do not exist in the United States.

If it proves too costly and time-consuming to effect such a change, there are measures than can be employed to speed up the process. One way is for the workers to unite nationwide and call a general strike to shut down the U.S. economy entirely if the electoral process is proving to be too corrupted. The ruling class will then be required to make a choice: comply with the workers’ demands or respond with violent suppression. Should the enemies of the people choose the later, the people have a right to respond to violence with violence in the interest of self-defense.

How likely is a peaceful change of America's political and economic systems given our current inept and corrupt political system? The United States is where members of Congress, public officials, and even presidents are bought and sold like slaves in a Libyan slave market by wealthy power brokers. The political structure, as weak as it is, might still permit the required massive changes if American workers unite and pursue it to the end and truly “drain the swamp” instead of just mouthing meaningless lies and words. It is possible to peacefully save the United States from its rapidly approaching collapse, but not likely.

Some of the more recognized people who believed massive peaceful change was possible within the existing political system were John F. Kennedy, Paul Wellstone, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King,Jr., Malcom X, James A. Garfield, Abraham Lincoln, Huey Long, William McKinley, Harvey Milk, George Miscone, Medgar Evers, and Fred Hampton. The actual list is too lengthy for this article, but it shows that political assassination is as American as apple pie. When the American people try to assert themselves politically, the ruling class resorts to violence. Taking on the ruling class can be quite risky for individuals as our bloody history proves. But workers in the United States number in the tens of millions and, as has been demonstrated in revolutions throughout the world (including in our own country when we broke free of King George), with proper organization, the masses can overwhelm any system politically and militarily.