/lit/ - Literature

>>22330266
>the explosion of the service industry and tech sector
The median wage is WAY down compared to the period of time between the 50s - 70s. Now, it's true that commodities like flat screen TVs and sugar are drastically cheaper and more affordable, but the essentials to actually flourishing (housing, education, healthcare) are WAY less affordable for the median worker. Remember, just a few short generations ago, a man with a single income could afford a house, a car, and college for 2 children easily. My grandfather was a typesetter for his career and paid off his house by 40 years old and sent his two sons to college and his wife didn't work.

>>19875685
As a leftist, we are absolutely NOT living in a leftist zeitgeist. We are living in a neo-liberal zeitgeist, which mouths leftist social positions but is right wing on economic and foreign issues (the issues that actually matter and which concentrate power). The top billionaire just increased his wealth by over $100 billion in a single year while the bottom 40% of the USA lost wealth. A real left wing zeitgeist would be a return to a post war focus on labor through policies like The New Deal and the domination of labor unions which actually ensured the economic gains made by the most advanced production machine known in human history actually fueled wealth increases for ALL workers, NOT for the corrupt ownership class. Both parties in the USA are laissez faire capitalists happy to receive lobbying dollars from private companies to do their bidding. Nancy Pelosi just said she needs to be allowed to buy stocks because it's a free market even though she guides regulation on the very market she would be investing it.

>>18609314
If minimum wage was $24 an hour and the rest of the pay scale was arranged accordingly, then sure, as is, it's just a massive scam.