Neither is anyone living off MW.
Whole Foods' Co-Founder John Mackey: "Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism"
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This is precisely why the working class needs to move from constituting, as Marx noted, a class "in itself" (i.e., just people who share common grievances against capitalists), to understanding itself as a class "for itself" (i.e., a distinct social class with interests diametrically opposed to those of the bourgeoisie - this also implies a different set of values for how people relate to each other, I would argue).
It is 2015. No one has to go hungry, be homeless, etc. As a class, the working class can determine that given our level of material development, there's no need to be working 40+ hours a week for 50+ years of your life.
Yet what we observe is that the more productive the working class is, the more that is produced, the longer and harder people have to work...
Seems you just seem to view all work as equally valuable, and I don't.
What was minimum wage ever for, if not a minimum standard of living? How is tying it to inflation not in the vein of its intent?
Literally the opposite of empiricism
Do you feel the need to quote everything I post for a particular reason or is this just coincidence?
JahFocus CS
Get It How You Get It
Good for you. The decision doesn't rest with you... it rests with the working class and whether or not it is content to suffer exploitation.
As I already said, see you on the other side of the class struggle in the real world.
This shyt ain't all about talking, especially not with people who aren't even working class (or form the upper echelons of the working class and betray the class for some extra crumbs for the bourgeoisie or to inflate their own egos about being better than other people)
The MW is merely an absolute wage floor to prevent against absolute exploitation
Thats it.
Its the government saying, hey you did this work...here is the absolute least you need to walk away with.
Thats it.
The "standard of living" is clearly reinforced in our system by additional welfare and SNAP and all the other forms of aid...especially in the sense you have to apply for it to even get it.
And tying it to inflation implies that theres a calculation...which implies that theres variables to weigh...and since none of those are present, then it also insinuates it has to keep pace with a certain rise or fall in "inflation"
I fundamentally do not see the MW as ever being intended to make a stable way of living.
...and lets be honest...you CAN live on MW...but you're going to give up a lot of the CONVENIENCES of the life you're used to or expect to live.
Who did I betray to garner higher wages or draw additional value to my way of life?
JahFocus CS
Get It How You Get It
The working class FOUGHT for the minimum wage. It wasn't simply handed by the government to "prevent against absolute exploitation," whatever that means 
So why didn't they fight for "living wages" or whatever nebulous phrase you're using?The working class FOUGHT for the minimum wage. It wasn't simply handed by the government to "prevent against absolute exploitation," whatever that means
OK, now Im gonna have to ask you for some math.
You say the economy has hurt pretty much everybody except the 1%. So what are you suggesting? We raise everyone's wages up to 1%er levels? Because based on your logic that seems to be the only way forward. $15/hr, $20/hr, $25/hr, thats still not enough. And that doesnt even get into where all that money is supposed to come from or what that will do to employment.
Not to mention a lot of that wealth is for normal people too, in their retirement funds and pensions. A lot of the wealth in this country is institutionally held and managed.
So yea I change my mind, I would love to see some math on how much you would want to raise wages and what problems those would solve. Because even a 1%er can get bankrupted by a chronic illness or job loss. Even 1%ers can struggle with student loan debt and housing. I know 1%ers facing those kinds of issues
JahFocus CS
Get It How You Get It
So why didn't they fight for "living wages" or whatever nebulous phrase you're using?
Class consciousness ebbs and flows, as does the class struggle. When the working class doesn't fight, its gains get reversed.
We see people fighting now with the Fight for 15 movement.
You're big on rhetoric, light on solutions.
You can't infinitely raise the MW without a fundamental understanding of what its meant to accomplish.
JahFocus CS
Get It How You Get It
I've laid out the solution for 20+ pages
The only solution is revolution.The minimum wage and other such things are simply reforms. They aren't solutions. They are Band-Aids.
Well then you are fundamentally wrong-
Minimum Wage | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia | LII / Legal Information Institute
How is the value of the dollar not a variable to wages? If a dollar is worth less today than in 1980, and minimum wage exists because it mandates a minimum standard of living for a full time employee(which it does), why would the minimum wage not be higher?
I'd love to see you test your theory of living on minimum wage with a dependent and no government programs to assist.
Revolution? In which theres no incentive to invent since you won't be rewarded for it?I've laid out the solution for 20+ pages
The minimum wage and other such things are simply reforms. They aren't solutions. They are Band-Aids.
Wait hold up...see, this is why Republicans get so pissed.
Why is it my job to account for the fact that not only do you qualify only for MW, but that we have to also account for you having dependents and need additional government assistance?
How much more help do you need?
Theres NO sense of responsibility here.
And I even support shyt like universal child care support...but c'mon fam...