Capitalism is the problem

$24 million: that is what Towson University pays to the ARAMARK corporation to clean the University. $6.81/hour: that is what ARAMARK pays, on average, to its 150 housekeepers. $8.20/hour: that is the Living Wage for Baltimore.

Based on figures provided by TU Administration, $2,043,000 is what ARAMARK pays all of its housekeepers per year. Adding the cost of equipment and direct management, where is the rest of the $24 million going?

Living Wage is not possible in US; we live in a capitalistic society. We’ve been told that it is not good business sense to pay the workers a living wage.

But it is not good human sense to pay the workers poverty wages. It is not good human sense to offer health care coverage that is so expensive many workers cannot afford it.

Mr. Schwarz said that if workers are paid more, then other people who went to school to get their jobs will want more money too. This theory proves that capitalism keeps people in poverty for its own benefit. How can someone go to school when they can’t afford it? How can someone work to better their family on low wages?

A Living Wage is the hourly rate a worker needs to be above the poverty line. Right now some workers work 16 hours a day at two jobs. If they were paid a Living Wage, they would need one job and would be able to better their families. This would free up jobs for other unemployed.

The high ups in ARAMARK are lining their pockets at the expense of the University and workers, a reality that Mr. Schwarz says is okay because we live in a capitalistic society.

Capitalism seems like a good idea, but then again, so did slavery.

Jordan Feder
senior, graphic design

Original link: http://media.www.thetowerlight.com/media/storage/paper957/news/2002/05/13/Perspectivesletters/Capitalism.Is.The.Problem-2197590.shtml

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