By John Johnson
America’s laborers/consumers have long existed at the mercy of corporate entities dating back to the 19th Century. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act established the minimum wage at $0.25 an hour. Since 2009, the Federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour. Do the math. This represents a mere .03 percent increase over eighty-four years.
During this span, there have been twenty-one presidents. Consequently, who’s to blame: former President Franklin D. Roosevelt or Joe Biden. Roosevelt saved the Nation during the Great Depression and Biden rescued Americans dying from COVID. Yet, consumers/laborers continue to blame their president for their woes. Biden being the current president, therefore, shoulders the blame.
However, it’s the president’s job to explain in no uncertain terms that the government can do very little to control wages and inflation. His exceptions are limited to the Federal Reserve independently raising interest rates, proposing legislation to create jobs, and raising wages for federal employees. But he won’t dare tell consumers the whole truth!
Capitalism, which is our Nation’s economic system, allows private ownership of business to earn profits by providing goods and services or both. The Gross National Product (GNP) represents the total dollar amount of goods and services produced and sold.
If consumers stopped spending money, our capitalistic system would go on life support. However, too much spending followed by fewer goods will drive up inflation.
Yes, the truth resides in each of us as to how to fight inflation. We should’ve learned in middle or high school about the impact of supply and demand on a capitalistic free market society. Oops! Did I just mention a concept that may have little or no meaning for readers of this article?
Well, just in case, a free-market economy allows buyers and sellers to arrive at prices based only on supply and demand. In other words, the government doesn’t intervene or regulate prices, unless price gouging is detected. Consequently, consumers have unlimited power to control inflation by simply spending and buying less of nonessential goods and services.
Amazingly, relearning how to use the microwave or purchasing one less pair of Air Jordan sneakers can literally vaporize inflation. By no means, don’t stir up a Congressional investigation of Ticketmaster’s’ handling of Taylor Swift’s concert tickets sales. Ticket scalpers are now salivating about their foreseeable profits.
But stop – if you don’t buy tickets, what happens to their prices? Yes, the inflated prices drop like a falling log! That’s consumer power. Rather, consumers would prefer to cry out for governmental intervention.
Yet, consumers are over-night turning Mega shopping malls into relics of the past. Malls have become air-conditioned strolling parks. And why not? Consumers can order almost anything from the comfort of the Livingroom from Amazon. Just maybe not a real army tank!
Billion-dollar companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs have laid off tens of thousands of employees suddenly because of a decrease in potential profits. This behavior clearly represents the worst of corporate greed and exploitation.
Laborers failing to harness and use their enormous power to shield themselves from their corporate cannibalistic purges will forever exist as their prey. Don’t succumb to exploitation. Your skills and creative talents are your leverages as well as weapons.
Yes, laborers can defend themselves by taking the following actions: 1) defend Dodd-Frank Law, 2) demand Collective bargaining rights, 3) revitalize OSHA, 4) elect legislators who propose legislations to strengthen unions and increase wages, 5) pursue establishment of a profit-sharing employee account ( learn from professional sports, NBA & NFL) and 6) be aware of the looming impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on labor.
As an educated consumer and laborer, use your powers as a force to fight corporate oppression and greed. If consumers and laborers united and viewed themselves as an economic force they would become a mighty shield against corporate greed and exploitation, rather than their prey.
Boycotting and striking aren’t new weapons. They remain the most feared strategic weapons against corporate greed and exploitation. The question remains: do consumers and laborers have the resolve to use these weapons to forge a more interdependent relationship with corporations?
YOU BE THE JUDGE!
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