Raise the minimum wage!

We need a living wage!

The median wage is declining!

There should be a maximum wage!

While I cannot disagree with the validity any of these statements, they all dance around the edges of the issue. The problem is not the level of wages, but the wage system itself. A worker who receives a wage – no matter how large or small – is being robbed. When one labors – i.e. contributes to the production of goods or services – one should receive the fruits of said labor. However, under this capitalist construct in which workers are exploited for our labor, an hourly wage or an annual salary is paid – only after the capitalists have pillaged the wealth created by the very same workers. Thus is the modern wage system. Even when a worker is paid seemingly handsomely – say six or seven figures – they’re still being robbed due to the fact that they’re producing more wealth than they take home. This reality holds true for the migrant farmers who provide our sustenance, as well as the millionaire athletes who entertain the masses.

Many different reforms have been suggested, attempted and even accomplished; everything from establishing and repeatedly raising the minimum wage to putting limits on executive salaries and corporate profits. Obviously, these measures have failed – as extreme poverty, income inequality and wealth disparity have not only continued, but exponentially increased.

The solution is found in an entirely new paradigm of thought and action; one in which the wage system is abolished entirely. The Free World Charter has offered us a beautiful blueprint for a more just, prosperous economic future – without money. The Venus Project, as well as The Zeitgeist Movement, also advocates programs of economic equality. Humanity has proven capable of countless things once thought to be mere utopian dreams. And it is in that spirit of imagination, capacity and determination through which we will establish economic justice for the entire global proletariat.