Can someone answer my question about the minimum-wage hike?

[eniwetok]

103. we have to restructure the economy

We're going to disagree how high the national MW should be. But even if we return to $11... the lowest even the most unskilled worker even in depressed rural areas can be paid... then we have to restructure the economy so the higher MW isn't flying in the face of market forces that are creating a downward drag on wages. Got together with some friends a few nights ago and we got talking about the debate here and one friend... age 64, with around 25 years in QC is getting only $10.65 here in high flying Mass doing industrial QC work. His old employer left town and with unemployment running out that was the best he could do. It's fucking criminal.

We need to end free trade with nations that don't impose the same overhead on corporations that we do... and add tariffs to make up the difference... and we need to rebuild the union movement. Both would end that downward pressure on wages. Maybe we need to get away from the adversarial relationship we now have and move to a more cooperative relationship labor has with capital as they have in Germany.