Minimum Wage and Social Progress

Minimum Wage 

I do some of my writing by
conducting a kind of discussion

Forum on my FaceBook page.

I have decided to use one of the

discussions on my FaceBook

Wall to share with my Blog readers

on my Pax Village Blog

This is one of those times

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

William Hodge

Louis: How are you on minimum wage?

Do you agree with it, do you think it is

too low and do you have a dollar figure

in mind?

William Hodge: If the minimum wage was sufficient for housing, food and clothing, healthcare and retirment income, we would at least eliminate poverty for those who could work

Anything less is would be exploitation by the 

wealthy.

Louis: And you propose what to get there?

Capping corporate profit margins? Limiting

personal wealth? What’s the missing link?

William Hodge: Either provide government

programs to guarantee a social safety net,

or raise minim wage to a level of Social Parity

and guarantee everyone a job. Pay for it by

taxing Corporate profit and personal income. The Constitution provides that Congress can Tax, borrow, or create money to meet the objectives set out for Government in the Constitution as listed in the Preamble.

Louis     Aren’t those one in the same?

Why don’t we just make all the janitors

in the country CEOs? Sounds fair to me, no?

William Hodge: So that would make you a

Communist wouldn’t it Louis.

Who knew? I personally believe in the

accumulation of wealth. Extradinary achievement deserves extradinary reward.
You just should not do it by exploitation 

 You seem to  have a very limited view of what is possible.

Louis Ayoub: It wasn’t meant to be taken as a

literal solution. My point is that CEOs

(not the ones you think inherited the post)

have more responsibility, knowledge, skills,

education, and such then janitors.

Tell me how capping a CEOs income and

redistributing it would work? If there

is a minimum wage is there a maximum

wage too?

William Hodge: Actually a minimum wage

has no connection to a maximum wage.

If you provide for the distribution of life

essentials for all members of the community,

the maximum wage is determined competition

for the surplus production. How it is 

distributed will be determined by the  market demand for available skills responsible for

producing the goods and Services.

The wages of Entertainers,Sports Heroes,

Creators of innovative and productive

ideas are often determined by the demands

of their fans andconsumersThey are usually

in the position of being a Personal Monopoly

and can get what the traffic will bear.

Others must get paid according to demand for

skills and service. The common denominator

is that all must pay taxes on income to the

level necessary to provide Social Parity for all.

The rest is reward for success.

Louis:  William, lets get real. I don’t

believe in either a minimum or a maximum.

William, you can not cap one end of a

cylinder and expect to contain anything from

escaping out the other end. If you have a

minimum wage and expect it to have a useful

effect you have to dictate a maximum wage

as well. I’d love to see the Hollywood crowed

embrace that one!!!!! LMAO

Lets say I have a food canning plant. I am the

CEO and I make $10M a year. I pay my minimum

wage earners the going rate. William, what do

you suppose happens when the government says

its time to increase the minimum wage so that 

minimum wage earners can afford the very food

they are canning?  Yes, the price goes up so I can

make my $10M and then we are right back where

we started. The low wage folks are not ahead one bit….

I’ll ask you once again Willie, “what say you

is the maximum wage in America?”

Louis: One more for you Willie. What value

do celebrities bring to the community? Don’t

you think they are over paid for their true

communal value. They actually benefit the rich

as they just help sell more over-priced products

so the fat cats can get fatter.

William Hodge: Louis, Your logic is faulty.

You cannot use physics to argue a sociological

problem. You are not talking about a 
compression of gasses in a cylinder.  At best

 you may be talking 

about DIVIDING of the Pie.

The individual wage is a predetermined cost. Other cost of  production will be added to the expense.  The efficiency of

 your management skill

 will determine the profit and that will determine your wage. How much you earn will be more a result of you skill than your desire.

Your obsession with the earning power        

 of celebrates is irrelevant. Their market value [income] is set by public demand for their skill.

Their income is taxed as is yours.

Copyright © William Hodge 2010

We are Social Democrats

American Social Progressives are not Socialist.

written by William Hodge

Socialism is a political and economical ideology

that intends to create a society free of class- and

other differences, wherein the means to produce

everything is controled by the state, and thus 

everything produced is subsequently

distributed by the state.  Socialism under this

description would be an economic ideology just as Capitalism is an economic ideology.

If the Political form in use were a Dictatorship combined with this definition of Socialism then the socio-economic system would be Communism. The purpose of the Communist State was to take control of the means of

Producing Goods and Services until the classless Society was established. At that point the people of this classless Society would control the means of production and the State would wither away. 

Unfortunately for the classless, those who had the responsibility for running the temporary government prove to have more class priviledges 

It is very difficult to surrender Privilege

once gained . Dictatorships do not wither with grace.

American Social Safety Networks were never meant to be a classless Society.The United States is a Representative Democracy as a 

Political form of Government. The Economic system is primarily Capitalism, an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments

that are determined by private decision, and by

prices, production, and the distribution of goods

that are determined mainly by competition in a

free market. 

In theory the economic gain by the individual depends on the level of ownership he has in the means of production in the economy and by

his level of work and contribution to the productionof goods and services. It is the desire to maximize  the personal gain that contributes to the efficiency of the Capitalist system of production.

In addition to its economic system, the Government is also a provider of Goods and Services. The government maintains a Military system to defend the territorial integrity and 

the protection of its citizens from aggression by other government entities.  It provides

infrastructure(roads, bridges), education, healthcare and a retirement system for the old and disabled and military veterans. It provides some welfare for the poor and various other systems to protect the wellbeing of its citizens.

The money for providing these goods and services comes from taxing the income from goods and services created in the Capitalist economic system. The goods and services

provided by government constitutes the social part of the economic system of our Representative Democracy.

Most Democratic forms of government have a hybrid form of economic system of both Capitalism and Social Parity. Capitalism creates an efficient production of goods and service and Government services provide a safety network

for all of the citizens under the authority of the Government.

Copyright © William Hodge 2010