New York City used to be the city of hopes and dreams. Today, we see a different narrative emerging.
Last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg showed his true colors as being part of the 1 percent. Bloomberg, the 20th richest man in the world, is loudly denouncing the so-called living wage bill that has just passed New York Council.
The bill would require publicly subsidized companies to raise the minimum wage for workers to $10 with benefits or $11.50 without them. While many employees would gladly welcome this bill, the New York mayor seems to see his beloved town turning a bright shade of Communist red.
Bloomberg elaborated his “let them eat cake” stance on the living wage bill on a local radio show when he said, “The last time we really had a big managed economy was the USSR, and that didn’t work out so well.”
This hyperbolic quote is an example of how conservatives react when faced with most social services — they automatically see “red” and cry Stalin.
Fortunately, he’s alone in his modern anti-communism crusade (unless you count the “brave” five out of 44 council members who voted against the bill). Bloomberg’s stance shows how disconnected he is from the people of New York. He would rather favor businesses than regular working-class people.
For instance, the company FreshDirect (a grocery delivery service based out of New York) has reported receiving $129 million directly from taxpayers’ pockets, yet the company is currently paying its workers less than $9 an hour.
Bloomberg willingly hands out taxpayer money to this company, which offers a service only the wealthy can afford, while refusing to support a bill that would improve the lives of many New York workers.
In a city like New York, a $10 per hour wage is coveted by the working class. If you were to drive past Yankee Stadium on game days, you would see a line of cashiers forming outside the perimeter.
Yankee Stadium hires more cashiers than necessary and has them wait for hours on a first come, first served system to get to work that day. The unlucky ones have just wasted unpaid time standing in the heat. The hope of receiving a higher wage in a city with such a high cost of living was reason enough to wait.
However, Bloomberg’s reaction to this bill is symptomatic of larger societal issues. For instance, Mark Zuckerberg, worth $19 billion, has been reportedly trying to avoid his taxes while the rest of us work hours upon hours just to make ends meet. While we crawl through this fun game called life, these billionaires play hide-and-seek with their money.
Bloomberg’s attitude toward the living wage bill is a reminder that the ones who toil every day don’t matter to the wealthy. Government policy, as seen with FreshDirect, concentrates on affluent corporations and ensures its prosperity. Yet the citizens who pay the taxes to subsidize these companies are relinquished to the shadows.
If the citizens raise their voices and state that these policies are unfair, billionaires like Bloomberg call them communists.
I ask you to not take the title seriously.
Fighting for one’s rights and striving for a fair society is the honorable path to take. As Bloomberg brushes up on his McCarthyism, citizens and workers need to realize that it’s not wrong to strive for equality.
Remember that people were born with a heartbeat, not the corporations.
Michela Martinazzi is an art history junior at UF. Her column appears on Tuesdays. You can contact her at opinions@alligator.org.
