Labor Day Thoughts

Labour cannot emancipate itself in the white skin where in the black it is branded. -- Karl Marx

The Wall St. Journal Reports...The White House and union leaders are using Labor Day to reinvigorate efforts to raise the minimum wage. “Raising the minimum wage would be one of the best ways to give a boost to working families,” President Barack Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio address. He pointed to stronger job creation gains this year but noted many workers are in low-paying jobs.

Raising the federal minimum wage “would help around 28 million Americans from all walks of life pay the bills, provide for their kids, and spend that money at local businesses,” he said.   “And that grows the economy for everyone.”

Congress has not heeded the president’s call. A bill that would have lifted the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour failed to pass the Senate earlier this year. And Republican House Speaker John Boehner indicated a similar measure wouldn’t be introduced in his chamber, arguing raising the wage will cost the country jobs.

A Labor Sec. sighting...Yes it's Thomas Perez (Who he?) speaking to business leaders, asking them do do a little more to help our downtrodden laborers. Please? Pretty Please??

Powerful statement from Emory Univ. Prof. Carol Anderson

Protests and looting naturally capture attention. But the real rage smolders in meetings where officials redraw precincts to dilute African American voting strength or seek to slash the government payrolls that have long served as sources of black employment. It goes virtually unnoticed, however, because white rage doesn’t have to take to the streets and face rubber bullets to be heard. Instead, white rage carries an aura of respectability and has access to the courts, police, legislatures and governors, who cast its efforts as noble, though they are actually driven by the most ignoble motivations.  -- Washington Post, Ferguson isn’t about black rage against cops. It’s white rage against progress.

This from the Walton Family (combined net wealth, $144.7 billion)

Labor Day online specials at Walmart this year “celebrate hard work with big savings.” -- Forbes, Labor Day Sales Could Be Bigger Than Black Friday