After generations of growing income-and-wealth disparity in the U.S., there are those among the rich and corporate types who are expressing concern about that “problem,” while those who control much of the world's economy are now starting to see that the “problem” of world poverty and all of its attendant ills are headed for a confrontation between the haves and have-nots.

Meanwhile, there are some Americans who can fork over $110,000 for the 2019 Lincoln Continental, the complete production of which was reported to have sold out in 48 hours. For the people who can buy up a car like that, the price tag is chump change. Buyers could write out a check and drive away.

The federal minimum wage is stuck at $7.25 an hour. Any worker who earns at that level of pay is living in poverty and, therefore, has to have two or three jobs to just pay the bills and put food on the table. Some would say that's not living and low-wage earners will tell you, “It's either feeding my children or heating the apartment, or taking them to a doctor.” There are no good choices.

Now, though, there are some 800,000 federal workers who are added to the chaotic mix of President Trump's government shutdown, his fight over a useless “border wall,” and growing inequality in income and wealth, which causes a huge set of problems in itself. Some federal workers have been called back, but without pay. Some federal workers have sought other employment, either temporarily or permanently. Functions of government have stopped in their tracks. It appears that the president has wanted this outcome, otherwise no sane person would cause so much suffering among so many millions of Americans, who are beginning to panic.

There have been some press reports about the “yellow vests” in France, but there has not been much reporting about the approximately 150 million protesters in India. If there were that many protesters in the streets of the U.S., it would count for a little less than half of the entire population of the nation. The economic and political rulers would not want to see that happen. It's not likely to happen, but there is always the possibility and that's what scares the powerful.

French citizens and Indian citizens are protesting the deterioration of their lives. Translated, that means that they are not capable of maintaining their standard of living, which they see slipping away from them. Not much different from the condition of American workers, whose fears have been enhanced by the collapse of government services and the loss of federal workers' pay to local economies. Their fears are real and they confront them every day. While the president brags of “his” robust economy, there are millions of workers who struggle with low wages, caused in part by the measly $7.25-per-hour minimum wage.

The Washington Post reported this week: “Fears are rising about the state of the world's biggest economies, with China posting its worst annual growth in decades and the United States injecting more uncertainty with tariffs and a lengthy government shutdown.” The problem in the U.S. is generally known: an erratic and unpredictable president with no experience in the real world, let along politics and government. The problem in China and Europe and other parts of the world are falling in response to the dire problem of a headless government in the U.S.

A partial solution for the U.S. is a healthy rise in the minimum wage, say from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour. According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 “ would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024, would lift pay for more than 41 million working people—almost 30 percent of America’s workers. It would also phase out the shameful subminimum wage for tipped workers and eliminate the despicable practice of paying workers with disabilities less than the full minimum wage.”

The low federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for 10 years and it's only in the past few years that the workers who are saddled by this low wage have risen to protest their forced penury by governments at all levels. The “fight for 15” has had some measurable effect on wages, but for many, the $15 level is to be phased in over years. NELP reported recently: “In the 21 states that are tied to the poverty-level $7.25 federal minimum wage, the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 would deliver raises for more than 20 million workers by 2024. Nationwide, the move would benefit millions of workers, families, and our communities overall, generating $144 billion in additional income for families who need it most, including 23.1 million women and 4.5 million single parents, according to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute.”

A $15 minimum wage will help distribute money and wealth more broadly, but still, the bulk of the wealth of the country will keep flowing to the very rich and to large corporations and their CEOs and upper management. They don't spend their money in the local grocery store or clothing stores or take their children to a local health clinic. The working poor and the poor who aren't working are the ones who spend their money in their local communities, thus boosting the local economies, even a little. All of that helps raise the standard of living just a bit.

Of course, the U.S. needs more than a $15 minimum wage to survive this age of greed and avarice. It needs a people who are united and capable of representing themselves at the bargaining table in every workplace in the country. That takes a union and the union movement has been the target of the rich and powerful for half a century and, thus, stands at it lowest point in power and membership in recent memory.

So, it's not to talk about a minimum wage that will solve the problem of growing disparity in wealth and income, but to talk about cutting the fetters that the powerful have fastened around workers and their unions. Only when workers in every workplace can stand up and speak for themselves and demand what is rightfully theirs (a share of the growing wealth from their productivity) will the disparity begin to fade somewhat. The powerful and their money will always find ways to keep most of it and keep the workers in their place at the bottom of the economic ladder.

This is not to say that the remnants of organized labor are not trying to bring the people power of unionization to workers everywhere, they are. But the unions combined never can match the money of the powerful to bend the minds of ordinary workers to come to believe that unions are not the answer. While they may not be the sole answer, unions and the union movement are the answer to much of what ails the country today. If there is no democracy in the workplace, there is no democracy in the nation at large. There is no better example of this than the current occupant of the White House and the Senate that is full of Republicans who are afraid to confront a wildly unpredictable president of their own party who has the power of the most powerful (so far) country in the world with his finger on the button of war and devastation.

We have seen the devastation of the American government in the past two years. Now is the time for American workers to stand up for themselves and demand a decent living standard. The way to do that is for each to learn union history and join the union. It's called solidarity. When 100 million workers can speak with one voice, the powerful will begin to listen.