Readers: It’s another light agenda week. Please enjoy some summer reading inequality and the minimum wage.
Paul Mason writes in the Guardian that the best of capitalism is over for rich counties by painting a bleak picture of what a continuation of “more of the same” means by 2060.
The Philosophersbeardblog contemplates the crisis of capitalism rooted in the continued automation of the service sector. The vexing question of the future of capitalism is “how will ordinary people earn a claim on the material prosperity of the capitalist economy if that economy doesn’t need our labour anymore?” The answer, per the blog, is a universal income.
http://www.philosophersbeard.org/2014/05/the-looming-crisis-of-capitalism-why-we.html
Finally, in a positive note, Scott Neuman highlights data from the Depart of Labor points to spurred job growth in states that raised the minimum wage.
Money Quote: “In the 13 states that boosted their minimums at the beginning of the year, the number of jobs grew an average of 0.85 percent from January through June. The average for the other 37 states was 0.61 percent.”
While it’s hard to pinpoint a direct cause and effect, at the very least an increased minimum wage is not the death knell for jobs that it’s often made out to be.
Dennis Raj is Political Director for the South Bay Labor Council
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