the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Dec 8, 2014
The Labor Department proclaimed that the November figures show things are getting better for workers, with the economy creating more jobs and pay going up.
In fact, their numbers show that these “big gains” are not very real. While the economy supposedly added 321,000 jobs, the share of people working remained the lowest it’s been for many decades. The “rising pay” in the report is a whopping 0.4%. That means someone making $100 a day is now making $100.40 a day.
The reality is that workers’ standard of living continues to fall rapidly. Since 2007, the bottom 80 percent of Americans have spent much less on entertainment, eating out, appliances, furniture, and clothing. They have spent more on health care, rent, utilities, and food to eat at home. In other words, ordinary people can’t afford to shop–they can barely make ends meet.
Meanwhile, the super-rich continue to get richer. The stock market goes up and up. Corporate profits reach for the sky.