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I clicked on this diary on Daily Kos this morning, surfing the web and drinking my coffee, looking forward to week of vacation, even if spent catching up, visiting Social Security about my coming retirement and celebrating the birthday of my sightless and autistic brother who is lucky enough to live in MA, where our family has been supported by decent, if not elaborate, services for him.
Since I had been sharing info on local food on Facebook just before that, I started to think about agriculture, and what if's.
This December, Wake Up Wal-Mart is going all out with our annual Holiday Campaign to awaken America's largest retailer to its responsibilities. Here is a peek at our second TV ad for 2008's holiday season:
Titled Wal-Mart: America Just Can't Afford It Any Longer, the ad focuses on the hidden costs of shopping at Wal-Mart:
Yesterday's New York Times posted a misleading article that uses the relationship between SEIU President Andy Stern and Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott as evidence of a "slowing down" of the Wal-Mart campaigns. (NYT registration required-- it's also re-posted at
HuffPo.)
While we cannot speak for Wal-Mart Watch, everyone should know WakeUpWalMart.com has NO intention of letting Wal-Mart off the hook. None. Zero. Zilch.
In an age of corporate consolidation and dispropotionate power, Dennis Kucinich is the candidate most willing to face the problems threatenting the American dream head on by leveling the economy and supporting growth and stabalization in the small business sector. As Kucinich notes:
The challenge before us today is whether we can maintain a government of the people, by the people and for the people, or whether we will timidly accept the economic, social, and political consequences of a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.
I'm sort of delighted that the minimum wage in New Hampshire is going up. It's about time. It almost happened four years ago, but it lost by one vote in the House; then it almost happened two years ago, but it got sidetracked in the State Senate. This time, thanks to the election last November, it passed overwhelmingly. In the House, the opposition was smashed. I watched the debate in the Senate last week -- it occurred just before the discussion of the Civil Unions issue, so I had a good seat -- and again the opposition was smashed. Deservedly so.
In past years this has been a partisan debate: most Democrats FOR increasing the minimum wage, most Republicans AGAINST. That's not a biased assessment. It's a fact. This year in both the House and Senate, it was much the same but more Republicans supported it than in the past. I guess they do watch television and read the newspapers and Blogs.
However, I'm only "sort of delighted" because it's not enough. Putting the minimum wage up from $5.15 an hour to $6.50 by this September, then to $7.25 a year later, hardly keeps up with current inflation. But it IS good to have passed the increase, and it will help many New Hampshire working men and women. Congress is still working on a similar minimum wage increase nationwide, but it being bogged down by business interests who see their all-mighty profit being taken from the golden parachutes of corporate CEOs and the pockets of speculative stockholders.
Even with the increase in the minimum wage, New Hampshire will still be below the rates set for our neighboring states. It ain't cheap to live in New England (price of gas, food, housing, and heating is higher than most of the nation).
And even with the increase, which will push some of the slightly higher above-minimum wages up a bit, the prevailing wages will still be below the "livable wage." A recent study by UNH's Office of Economic Initiatives and the North Country Council determined a livable wage for a single person in the state is $10.42 an hour, and about $2.00 more per hour in the Seacoast where I live. A livable wage for a family of four with two wage earners would be $11.69 for each.
The "livable wage" is determined, by the way, as the level which is just about enough to pay for basic needs such as housing (rent in most cases), essential utilities, transportation, some child care, some health care, and a small amount for personal expenses. In other words, just about surviving until you get to old age, then you die.
Here's my solution: New Hampshire is in a constant process of growth. We encourage, welcome, and regularly try to seduce businesses to move here and give us their jobs. Let's be selective in that business search and encourage corporations and businesses to locate here which want to invest in their employees and see people as assets, not just cost factors. Let's get those businesses that will pay people liable wages, instead of just locating here to suck out every dollar they can for their corporate board of directors, CEOs, and stockholders, most of whom don't live here (that's the nature of most corporations).
Those corporate chain coffee shops, department stores, supermarkets, movie theaters, fast-food restaurants, hotels, and car distributors should be asked to pledge that they will pay a livable wage. Then their own employees will actually be able to afford to buy what they sell. That's good for business, AND our people.
