Moving forward to a higher minimum wage

1. A minimum wage raises wages for everyone but executives, who because of low marginal tax rates, have an incentive to cut labor costs (and fund campaigns appropriately) in order to earn bonuses from captive boards and shareholders. Shareholders get a normal return, regardless.

2. Minimum wages counteract monopsony labor markets, including oligopsony or monopsonistic competition (and attendant discrimination), so that wage increases do not mean job loss.

3. The cure for job loss is not low wages, it is government paid training (ESL, GED, Elementary to Associates, Apprenticeship/Vocational) or paid training as an offset to an employer paid subtraction VAT (SVAT). Payment should be at minimum wage levels to offset opportunity cost.

4. Advanced education should carry a service commitment, ideally in an ESOP or cooperative, with a government or industry association backstop if employment does not work out and to avoid peonshe. From each according to their ability. 

5. A living wage should be in addition to minimum (and all other) wages. In order to keep workers with family empoyable, the government must pay such benefits at median wage levels as an offset to the SVAT. To each according to their need.

6. ESOP/COOP voting and preferred shares could be an offset to employer-paid FICA or SVAT, with a third of the funds invested in an insurance fund held by industry associations or successor to Federal Reserve. That fraction gives a quarter of employees the means to call for intervention against executive malfeasance or incompetence. CEOs would bid for job in open auction with employers voting among lowest 2 bidders.

7.  An EITC paid as an offset to a subtraction VAT would simply be a minimum wage. A floor on FICA (or minimum wage) is possible if employer FICA is credited on an equal dollar basis. A ceiling keeps entitlements low.

8. A credit invoice (IVAT), receipt visible Carbon VAT (CVAT) and an Asset VAT (AVAT) fund discretionary; overseas and sea deployments; and r&d/direct environmental enforcement and passive enforcement respectively.

9. ESOP/COOP workers would give overseas subsidiary/supply chain worker pay high enough for same standard of living and ownership to end need for militaries.

10. Second/Third tier SVAT or income surtax would eventually stop wage theft and be offset by tax prepayment bonds to pay FICA trust, Net Interest and debt reduction in fairly short term.

11. This is not Sanders' social democracy, which absorbed DSA

12. This is what socialism looks like. It starts with indexed minimum wage and tax reform. No one likes Tax Day.