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Chief Writing Wolf · News, Opinions and Personal Writings From An Independent Mind In A Strange Universe
Chief Writing Wolf 
Don’t get me started on wages….
That makes at least two of us! I’m currently searching for a full-time job or at least a long-term contract technical writing position. A friend of mine has repeatedly criticized me for not finding “something”. He pointed out recently that our home state of Texas created nearly 13 million jobs in 2021 alone. I responded by stating “13 million jobs & no 1 is really hiring.” (This was via text.) I’ve also noted to him and others that many of those jobs are in the service industry and pay barely above minimum wage with no real benefits. And that’s the key! Living wages!
There was a time decades ago here in the U.S. when someone could work a minimum wage job and still support a family. Now, even a full-time job often isn’t enough. The cost of living is too damn high! Utilities, insurance, groceries, medicine, etc. Everything is pricy! But wages haven’t kept up! And the captains of industry wonder why there’s a problem with hiring.
It is the same here, but we do have some remnants of a wage system and a higher minimum wage than you guys, I believe? The workers rights, our forefathers fought hard for, are gradually whittled away year upon year, under the guise of the forced death march of increasing productivity levels! (I am showing my unionist sympathies here).
Two examples of the madness: The P.M boasts that we will soon have an unemployment rate with a 3 – 3% – the lowest level since the 70’s. However, he neglects to point out the figures have been doctored to mean that anyone with one hour of work within a week ( even voluntary work) is considered in employment. There is no distinction between full and part time. So of course, the growing casualization and contractualization of the workforce and lack of full time positions means we have a massive problem with underemployment and instability/impermanancy for workers. This is one of the reasons why you cannot support a family, gain a housing loan because wages have stagnated. I used to work for a company that had not given a wage increase for at least 6-8 years. Productivity, it seems must increase year upon year for companies to maintain a competitive edge, but wages are gradually erorded year upon year with rising prices and cost of living. It is ridiculous that in a contemporary world we have this new poverty.
But we need to stay competitive, and in this Australia is losing the edge, as noone wants to pay our (perceived) high labour costs meaning industry moves offshore to Asia, (to exploit cheap third world labourers), and in turn, greedy company owners can pay minimal tax and fill their accounts with profits – this so the luxury car and house and prodcut markets can stay afloat!
The second example is our P.M. who is more interested in giving 44 million bucks to his own Pentecostal church compared to 1 million to the Pacific Island nation of Tonga in disaster relief after the volcanic eruption/tsunami!
Like Trump, he loves photo ops that bolster his image. The latest one backfired – he nipped into a hairdressing salon and had his photo taken washing some poor woman’s hair at the basin. It made my skin crawl….
Rant over now….thanks for listening.
Wow! Sounds like income inequality is as bad in Australia as in the U.S. The minimum hourly wage here ranges from USD 11.00 to 15.00. Not surprisingly conservative politicians here have long protested any considerable minimum wage hike; claiming it’s bad for business. Many of them have supported the right of businesses to establish their own wage rates, whether for full-time or part-time positions. These are the same band of grunts who oppose environmental regulations for identical reasons: it’s bad for business. Around 2006 then-President Bush nominated a California judge to a prominent position in some circuit court; a judge who once said companies have the right to profitably pollute. I had never heard anything so outrageous! Her nomination was resoundingly revoked.
I also didn’t realize PM Morrison was Australia’s equivalent to Trump. Brazil’s Bolsarano is just as bad, often dubbed “Trump of the Tropics”. A few years ago Bolsarano said it was unfortunate Brazil hadn’t succeeded in completely annihilating the country’s indigenous populations as the U.S. I was stunned but then again, not surprised. Of course, he’s too stupid to realize a simple fact: as bad as the U.S. tried in the past, it did NOT completely annihilate its indigenous peoples. But to me, that’s the essence of conservatism: blatantly arrogant and bigoted. It’s amazing how these people get elected to such positions of power, yet it gives credence to claims that the given political systems are corrupt and rife with fraud.