John key said on Newstalk ZB that:
...there's got to be a recognition that where there are increases in wages that they have to be paid for - we don't want to be threatening people's jobs so there's a balancing act here and that's what the Cabinet will consider," Herald
I am supportive of the current National government for their shift towards a more conservative orientated party. I still wouldn't vote for them; but they appear to have a conscience. They genuinely do seem to take a more egalitarian approach than previous National governments.
However, I still reject the idea that a $15 wage is unworkable. In America, 1% of the population controls 80% of the wealth and I would suspect that a reasonably similar distribution of wealth occurs in New Zealand. The majority of people in New Zealand work under a wealthy business which has accumulated far disproportionate wealth than what is fair.
The greatest tragedy of our society, as I notice every day walking to university, is that we have built towers that can scrape the sky, but are unable to house the homeless at the foot of them. We have thrown out the baby with the bathwater as far as social justice is concerned; we have rejected our tribal egalitarianism along with the social structure that 'democracy' replaced.
The result is that corporations by and large, do not care about the environment they are destroying, or the employees who build their wealth. They have forgotten the spiritual lessons of their forefathers; forsaking their neighbour to squeeze every cent out of her.
The attitude by many corporates is that anyone can succeed; they must just work. That simply cannot be the case. So long as the poverty cycle is perpetuated by lucrative housing markets, high living costs and a low minimum wage, we will never be able to see a world where each person is guaranteed a good standard of living.
After all, if every could achieve the heights of the financial elite, just who would they exploit to remain there?
Your neighbour deserves far more than $12.50 an hour. $15 an hour will not destroy the economy. They will not loose their jobs. It will simply mean that the financial giants will have to show some compassion for the workers who build their empires.
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