8 Comments
Mar 3, 2021Liked by Abdul El-Sayed

I agree!

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Mar 3, 2021Liked by Abdul El-Sayed

abdul, there's no doubt that passing a $15/hr minimum wage is the ethical things to do.

it's also the political thing to do. i fear huge democratic defeats in 2022 and 2024 if we don't deliver for hardworking people. my friends and i have all been calling our senators urging them to pressure VP harris. what else is there to do? should we vigil outside of the local offices of peters and stabenow?

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Mar 2, 2021Liked by Abdul El-Sayed

I grew up in the Detroit area when unions were cooking.

At that time I noticed that even non-union workers doing unskilled labor hundreds of miles away, got regular hourly increases as well as benefits. Unions set the floor with the minimum wage.

Today the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Would you do a good job for $7.25 an hour? You worked all week and still cannot put food on the table.

Even if you do not care about minimum wage, perhaps you care about how Your tax dollars are spent by the federal government? Should the federal government give your hard earned tax dollars to the billionaire shareholders of Walmart, etc?

Federal aid in food stamps, support these minimum wages! These employers are counting on the federal government with a legal minimum wage of $7.25; as they don't provide enough in hourly wages to put food on the table. If you want to survive, you gotta eat!

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the window to pressuring the senate has closed now and now the bill goes back to the house. HERE progressive members can withhold their vote for the relief package unless $15/hr is included in the bill -- as they had originally wanted. the squad must lead the way starting with press conferences right away. the relief package is a must-pass bill so i don't think we have to fear that this maneuver will kill it. if the squad leads the way i think we can do it. i'm going to start calling/emailing right now. the vote is happening tuesday. time is of the essence.

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founding

The federal hourly minimum wage was first established in 1938 by the Fair Labor Standards Act and was set at 0.25 cents/hr. According to Kurt Andersen in his book, "Evil Geniuses," "From the mid-1950s until 1980, the minimum wage had been the equivalent of $10 or $12 an hour in today's dollars." By 1989, while the minimum wage was never technically reduced, inflation had actually reduced it to just over $7/hr where it remains today. The last official raise was in 2009 when it was set at $7.25/hr. One of the largest and most important issues going forward will be the re-distribution of wages and wealth to all citizens. Automation is already and will continue to displace millions of workers and not just those who do manual labor. We will be hearing more and learning more about the concepts of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) and of social wealth that belongs to everyone and must be equitably distributed to all. Last Friday, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed interviewed Michael Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton, CA about his pilot study of giving needy Stockton residents $500/month for their personal use. This pilot concept of Economic Security Income is now being studied in other cities. Andersen in his book predicts that many on the right will contend that giving "free money" to people will make them lazy and not want to work or be productive. His response to those who object for that stated reason is to ask what will be the effect be on those who can now inherit $11,000,000 from an estate tax free? We will have much to ponder and to hopefully act on as Dr. El-Sayed continues to educate and enlighten us.

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