Don't you understand that your value to an employer and to yourself concerning your work is your wage?

[tallsail860]

I guess that means that Mitt Romney considers certain people worthless - since he's said he likes to fire people. The only worth some workers have is their unions' pension funds - which he had no problem raiding, and then firing the people who worked for it - deposited the cash in a Grand Cayman bank, fired the workers, and then left taxpayers on the hook to make up the money due to the laid-off employees.

I guess you would prefer that sociopath to be occupying the White House.

[Pragmatism Please]

Given the mighty power of corporations to supress wages regardless of profits, I like to refer back to Adam Smith, the father of Capitalism. He believed that labor and capital should find equilibium, just like buyer and seller. Thus far, you and I are in agreement. Smith clearly understood that labor must be allowed to organize or capital will enslave labor.

Some unions became too strong during the '70s which is why the big anti-union push through the '80s. Today, the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. Labor is getting its butt kicked. "Right to Work" is a cleaver way to help corporations divide and conquer.

In an even playing field, capital against labor (Management against union,) your true worth as an employee is negotiated more accurately. One guy sitting in the human services office waiting for his job interview has no power at all.

EDIT
A recent Washington Post story (11/20/2012) reveals a legitimate challenge. From 1995 to 2005, domestic manufacturing represented 37% of our growth in GDP. During that same period, they managed this with 24% less labor. Technology, in this case automation, can have an adverse effect on capital/labor equilibrium. In the Preamble of our Constitution, we find the phrase "promote the general welfare." That's pretty generic but could it mean that the government can and should identify bumps in the road of equilibrium and step in to smoothe the transition?

[Diest]

So it's ok to place value on a human being? Even slaves were provided with food, healthcare, and place to live, the concept of renting yourself in today's world is so arbitrary, it's baffling NOT to understand the transgressions of not having a decent job.

@Rockit Anyone can create a decent job if they wanted to. The question is do they have the resources to do so? It's highly evident, by the U.S.'s GDP, that we do. A few things the government could do right now is raise the minimum wage, create higher paying public sector jobs, give tax breaks to corporations who have unions. Simple solutions.

If the value of a person is dictated by the employer, then who dictates the value of the employer? The employer, of course, because he is owned by nobody. He can set an infinite value of himself this way, while those under him can be set almost any way he wants to. If you truly measure someones worth by how hard they work, how is the employer potentially infinite? How can a car run without wheels?

If you don't believe we live in a fair society, fine. But if you do, you should at least consider companies have a distinct control over our very lives, and if regular workers can't participate in a company akin to citizens participating in a government, human rights is in deep trouble.

[Prt Couple]

Where do I go for this handout?

You're forgetting the basics of supply and demand. If EVERYONE agrees to a wage, that is the wage, set by the market. Therefore, the average worker is at the mercy of the market, just like any other provision needed in business.

Therefore, if the labor market is flooded with cheap labor, say maybe from south of the border...Everyone's ability to determine the wages or value has been diminished.

In reality there is a lot more to this debate than you care to post in your question. Just like any other market, there are many ways to create a phony labor market. Which is what we have today.

Hiring old retired folks part time, hiring illegal immigrants, hiring unskilled workers... these are all factors you decide to leave out of the equation. At the same time, many businesses string along unskilled workers with the guise higher wages can be earned as experience is gained. Unfortunately, many people get let go right around the time benefits or wage increases are to be realized.

Let's not pretend economics is this simple 1+1=2 equation.

Let's face facts, no individual can dictate their wage. Some professionals can possibly do this, i.e., lawyers in private practice. Yet, even they are controlled by the market in their communities of practice.

At this point, people are to the point of doing just what you have said... working for whatever wage they can get, as if a gun was to their head.

What $8.00 an hour jobs have you created this year? Who did you hire, an American teenager, or a middle aged illegal immigrant who live in a house with 3 other generations of family? All while at the same time, absorbing all these hand outs you speak of.

And, where does corporate social responsibility fall into play. Is this just a nonsense idea? Do businesses have no social responsibility to the markets and society they do business in? Is the worker part of this society, or only those who create jobs and business? What does society mean to you?

I can pay a bum a dollar for 10 seconds of entertainment, and then proceed to tell him to guy buy a beer.

EDIT:

Well now I just feel left out that the update didn't include me? Was this all to much to calculate? No time, you skipped right over my thoughts.

I think you are full of BS.

[VoteVoteVote]

In a way, you’re quite wrong.

Hostess, for example, spent years in very bad business practices. They cut the workforce, but continued to pile on executive pay. They just asked workers to reduce their salaries by 30% WHILE DOUBLING the CEO’s pay.

Now, WHY would a CEO who is running a FAILING COMPANY get to double his salary?? There isn’t a damn thing those workers did to be “worth less,” and there isn’t a damn thing that CEO DID to be worth TWICE what he was last year.

FACT IS...the working class will always have to fight for rights, fair pay, etc. and they often need to do it as a group because that’s the only power they have.

FINALLY...I have a friend who inherited a business from his father. The guy is worthless, yet he’s CEO, making outstanding money while letting everyone else run the thing. He’s NOT making what he’s “worth.” He did nothing and continues to do nothing to make that money. And he’ll sell that business for $8 million or so...because he was born...not because he’s “worth” it.

[Dangerous Mr.]

Yeah it''s a nice fantasy But when you live in a place like Florida where all of the employers are in cahoots w/each other about what the maximum wage will be ;it doesn't matter where you go the pay scale is the same