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Bill: Anarch Anakrousite Reform Bill - Wage Slavery
Details
Submitted by[?]: Commonwealth Workers Army
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: March 2132
Description[?]:
| The Anarch Anakrousite Party seeks to see the minimum wage extended to a level where a hard working individual can actually feed his/her family. It is a core assumption of the Likatonian social model that MOST Likatonians are part of a nuclear family of two parents and two children - roughly speaking. And yet, our current legislation does not enable the working parent to support the stay-at-home parent, much less support their children, also. The AAP realises there will be SOME difficulty to start with, but we believe this will be very short-lived, and will actually lead to a more 'democratic' model of wage-distribution within Likatonian industry - in effect, raising the bar on the 'lowest' pay scale, and reducing the number of 'middle scale' and 'high scale' employees to compensate. The AAP can envision a future where there are no longer as many 'middle managers' as there are shopfloor workers, and where those who ARE management, are earning that position through business skills - rather than the current model of the average manager having been 'promoted beyond the point where they are dangerous'. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change The nation's policy on minimum wage regulation.
Old value:: There shall be a minimum wage at a level that a single full time worker on it can adequately subsist.
Current: There is no provision for a minimum wage.
Proposed: There shall be a minimum wage at a level that a full time worker on it can support a family of four without falling under the poverty line.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 01:50:50, October 26, 2005 CET | From | Front for State Prosperity | To | Debating the Anarch Anakrousite Reform Bill - Wage Slavery |
| Message | If people can raise an entire family without being under the poverty line, then they can raise themselves and be far above it. This goes beyond the point of "subsistence" and well into economic destruction. We need more industries, not more unemployed people. It's a proven fact that when you promote the economy poverty goes down with it. There is statisitical, measurable evidence of this. This same evidence does not exist of minimum wage laws. The only virtue I can see ofr this is that it will result in a more equitable distribution of wealth. On the other hand it might damage the economy and/or result in increased unemployment. The first results in less wealth to be redistributed, while the second hampers the initial redistributive intent of the law. Here, check this out. It's the free market method of accomplishing the same thing: Reduce the minimum wage until it's well below that of other nations. Private companies in other nations will invest in Likatonia, seeking cheap labor. Unemployment will go down. As unemployment goes down, factories still seeking to invest will have to provide higher wages to gain workers. As some factories offer higher wages, others will have to also offer them to avoid high turnover levels. Thus wages will go up without government interference. The middle class will be strengthened as formerly low-wage occupations move up into it. A stronger middle class will consume more, requiring more factories to be built to meet demand. These factories will be built in the cheapest possible place, which after the growth in wages will be some other nation. That nation will become more prosperous, wages will rise, unemployment will fall. Their new middle class will require goods to consume, and those factories will again be built in the least prosperous nation. If wage controls do not intervene, ultimately the entire world will prosper. I know what you're going to say. Some nations get "stuck" on resource gathering. That's because all these factories and consumers require resources to build with. However, as more factories are built, as more resources are consumed, and as demand for said resources continues to rise, the price of said resources goes up. This brings more money into resource-gatherer economies, triggering much the same process. Oh, and here's a little heard ancillary of this whole theory. Ultimately the richest nation will be the ones who combine the most resources with the fewest restrictions, as companies will seek to locate there and resources will not need to be imported. In the short term this will probably be Keymon. Eventually Keymon will kill itself with poor environmental policies, as it exhausts and pollutes it's resources, then makes it's land unlivable. As the popular health degrades, productivity will go down with it. Eventually companies will leave, seeking a more profitable site, and Keymon will slowly detiorate as it consumes more than it creates. All this is why I am a green capitalist. I seek to preserve the land and environment while avoiding all other unnecessary barriers to trade, so that ultimately, wealth will rest with Likatonia, as we control much of the world's renewable resouces while having an otherwise unrestricted economy. At least, that's the ideal I'm working towards. I don't think the local political climate supports that too well. Certainly these minimum wage laws are in violation of it. |
| Date | 20:05:52, October 26, 2005 CET | From | Commonwealth Workers Army | To | Debating the Anarch Anakrousite Reform Bill - Wage Slavery |
| Message | Response to the PCP: Okay - kind of attacking from the back end... first: It is all very well saying that Keymon will destroy it's own ecology... but Keymon is not alone... when the Keymon ecology suffers, the nearest neighbours also suffer... and that means us. When Keymon rains acid rain on it's forests, it also rains acid rain on OUR forests. When Keymon turns it's soil into radioactive sterile powder, Keymon also turns OUR soil into radioactive sterile powder. When Keymon raises the temperature around their shores by 5 degrees, they ALSO raise the temperature around OUR shores by 5 degrees. The 'free industrial growth' you suggest, is global ecological suicide. Second: Reducing the minimum wage until it is far below other nations. In the long-term, this MAY bring in industry... but certainly not the type of industry we NEED. If one looks at nations that operate on that kind of policy, one finds sweat-shops and child slavery, and precious little in the way of societal investment. Which is why 'western' Hotels in India (for example), are oases of greenery surrounded by dusty shanty towns. The AAP is not happy to sit by and watch Likatonian industry do this to OTHER nations, and we sure as hell are not happy to sit and watch the fatcat mentality do it to our OWN nation. Third: Your little scenario is all very pretty... but not realistic. It ignores the fact that a 'middle class'... in fact ANY 'classed' society, requires support... both internal 'lesser classes', and a base for that. While a nation can temporarily allay those needs by 'importing' their lowest class (as America does with Mexican labour, and the Romans did with slaves), and by pillaging poorer nations - this cannot continue if other nations are strong and vital. One only has to look at Rome when it reached it's practical limit of expansion (no more pillage meant an empire in decline), and when other nations started resisting. Fourth: The AAP does not believe the PCP assertions. Nations with the best overall population standard of living ALSO have strong economies... but also seem to have strong SUPPORT for their citizens. Surely the PCP can also see that, if we allow more families to keep one parent at home with the children, the percentage of our WORKFORCE which is employed, will actually rise? |
| Date | 14:48:31, November 02, 2005 CET | From | Front for State Prosperity | To | Debating the Anarch Anakrousite Reform Bill - Wage Slavery |
| Message | Yes, yes, we were pointing out that Keymon will kill itself. We're a green party, we agree with you and think that Keymon will kill itself. Unfortunately, you point out that it'll damage us. I agree, and I hate Keymon for it, but I don't know what we can do except attack them - and I'm not willing to go that far. Obviously we would regulate industry minimally (we're against child labor) while simultaneously encouraging high tech industry - you notice that the PCP is technocratic in a sense and massively pro-education. We should raise our standard of living by raising the economy, in that order, rather than trying to raise our economy by raising our standard of living - that doesn't work and has never been shown to. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | |||
| yes |
Total Seats: 155 | |||
| no | Total Seats: 153 | |||
| abstain | Total Seats: 192 |
| Random fact: By default the head of government is the ultimate authority within a national government. In general terms, heads of government are expected to consult with cabinet colleagues (including those from other parties) before making significant decisions but they remain responsible for government action. |
| Random quote: "He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god." - Aristotle |