To (re)impose a fair and balanced labor market:
First, double the minimum wage to $13/hr over three years (a dollar every six months?) – and – legally guarantee inflation adjustments for incomes under $100,000.
Add 72.5% to the $7.25/hr minimum wage would give approaching 40% of American labor a (still) measly 12.50/hr) – accompanied by an only (easily computed) 2% inflation.
Next, legislatively introduce French-Canadian style (lite) sector-wide labor agreements to the US labor market (airline and supermarket employees would kill for sector-wide contracts) – and – legally mandate union certification and re-certification elections (every four years?) at every work place (periodic re-certification could clean up the most common objections to unions: entrenched, complacent or even corrupt leaderships). direct price increases plus perhaps (?) 3% more after other wages are pushed up – a minimum wage-force multiplier.
Top 10 percentile incomes enjoy 40 percent of the take these days (up from 27.5% in 1973) – plenty of headroom there for the mid 50-90 percentile to rake back more missing share points through higher labor prices – a collective bargaining-force multiplier.
Finally: as the torrent of dollars defying gravity stops pouring towards the top, the "indispensables" (CEOs, ballplayers, news anchors) will have that much less gravy to scoop up -- and (at least temporarily?) hike marginal tax rates (75% over $500,000, $1,000,000?). Folks earning 2500% more than folks doing the same work 25-35 years ago will not return all the way to earth through 12.5-25% price increases – erode their force multiplier.
America’s lower 90 percentile earners never think to impose legislative hegemony to recoup the 12.5% income share they lost to top 3 percentile since 1973 – their unemployed force multiplier.
****************************************
For a follow up discussion of the foregoing see this pose on Angry Bear:
No comments:
Post a Comment