When failed Republican presidential candidate and multimillionaire asset-stripper Mitt Romney said this week that he supported an increase in the minimum federal wage to US$10.10 ($11.63), as advocated by President Barack Obama, you knew the sounds of discontent from America's growing underclass must have penetrated the hallowed sanctuaries of the very rich. Not that Obama's proposal, the Minimum Wage Fairness Act, went anywhere. It was blocked by Senate Republicans last month and the wage remains at US$7.25 an hour.
Meanwhile, the push-back against inequality, started by Occupy Wall Street with the "we are the 99 per cent" call to arms, is spreading across the United States.
This week, fastfood employees in 150 US cities went on strike, demanding the right to join a union and a US$15 an hour minimum wage.
They were joined by solidarity actions in at least 33 nations, including New Zealand, making it the first global protest by fastfood workers.
