Here is an idea the House Majority Leader Eric Cantor needs to consider if he wants Republicans to stand up for the struggling American worker: Raise the minimum wage. The  American Conservative  published an intriguing piece by Ron Unz back in November advocating a minimum wage of $12. Cantor would be helped by reading it. In the article, Unz lays out why conservatives should favor such a move. Unz includes many arguments normally associated with “liberal” pundits about the direction of the American labor market and the type of jobs being created during this century—mostly low wage. And, he accurately argues why raising the minimum wage would not really effect America’s global competitiveness. He even points out how  WalMart lobbied  for the most recent increase of the federal minimum wage back in 2005 because it would boost the earnings of its customer base.

We’ve said it for years. Because of the “ Union Difference ”—fair wages and better benefits for workers who belong to a union—unions are the ticket to the middle class. Even if you don’t belong to a union, there is a spillover effect to the whole economy. In other words, when unions are strong, everyone benefits. But don’t take our word for it, here’s what Time magazine  contributor Eric Liu says:

The fact is that when unions are stronger the economy as a whole does  better .

While the nation’s economy added 157,000 new jobs in January, the job creation wasn’t enough to prevent the unemployment rate from slightly ticking up from December’s 7.8% to 7.9% last month, according to  figures released this morning  by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

When you hear anyone from the big multinationals or Wall Street using the word “reform,” watch out! The way  they  use the word, it means give them more and We, the People, get less. They want to “reform” Social Security, “reform” Medicare and “reform” the income tax code. And now they want to “reform” the taxes corporations pay on money made outside the United States. It’s like “reforming” an oak tree with an ax.

MAD magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman was always shown with a grin on his face, captioned, “What, me worry?” Well, now it is time to worry. 

Take a look at that down-trodden family at the left. Maybe, they’re lining up for shelter after a natural disaster, or waiting for the food bank doors to open or at a donation center to gather up winter coats for the kids. Damn, they look so sad.

But no, none of the above is true. They live in “ Wall Street Journal World .” It’s a place where, according to a recent Journal story on the impact of the new federal tax rates, most Americans—those of us who make less than $180,000 a year and pay taxes—"don’t exist" (we're not mentioned at all).   

According to a new report from Oxfam, the wealth and income that the world's richest people accumulated last year would be enough to  eliminate world poverty four times over . Ben Phillips, a campaign director at Oxfam, said that extreme wealth is now one of the major obstacles to solving the problems of extreme poverty. The $240 billion the top 100 billionaires in the world made in 2012 would completely eliminate extreme poverty, the report concludes.

The wrong way to greet our military veterans as they return to civilian life after defending the nation would be offering an  $8.81 an hour part-time job with little to no benefits.

Walmart CEO Bill Simon said this morning at the National Retail Federation conference that starting Memorial Day, Walmart would offer honorably discharged veterans jobs. Simon pledges to hire 100,000 vets over the next five years. Right now, it's unclear if these Walmart jobs would be full-time or offer adequate benefits. 

What would it cost if the nation’s crumbling infrastructure of bridges, roads, rails, sewer systems, power grids, airports and more is allowed to deteriorate at its current pace? Some 3.5 million jobs and $3.1 trillion in lost economic output by 2020. What would it cost to avoid that? About $1.1 trillion in additional investment.

Sure sounds like a great return on the investment and it is, according to a new report from the American Society of Civil Engineers ( ASCE ). The study, Failure to Act , finds that:

The jobless rate is dropping and the economy has been adding jobs every month for nearly three years. But far too many of those are low-income jobs that don’t pay enough to meet a family’s basic needs, according to a new report that finds that working poor families in the United States now account for 32% of all working families, up from 28% in 2007, the year the recession began.