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[593] Homer: subsistence wages When issue that workers receive wages that only allow them to
reproduce their labor-power i.e. subsistence wages, was discussed, it
seemed that many people did not buy this. If people can physically
survive on $12 a day by living in a cardboard box and eating out of
garbage cans, how is it that a worker getting paid $12 an hour is
receiving subsistence wages? In this case subsistence does not mean
merely physiological survival. How many workers own anything more than
some consumer goods? The point is that while a worker may be able to
afford a tv and a popcorn popper, she will not be paid enough to acquire
her own means of production. She will always have to continue selling her
labor-power. |
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