Herein are the next 3 parts of the continuing discussion.
- Economic inequities, poverty, and taxes. There are about 18 Million millionaires in the US and the top 1% of wealth-holders own 40% of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 80% own just 7%. Some CEOs make 10,000 times more than their minimum wage workers; some CEOs get $100 Million severances for being fired. At the other end, a worker making the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hr) makes $15,000 at a full-time job before taxes whereas the average cost of living is $20,000 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the same as the poverty line for a family of four. About 38 million people, 12% of the US population, live in poverty. Although even people with full time jobs can live in poverty, there are many other reasons for poverty such as living in regions with poor job opportunities, lack of education/training, discrimination, etc. The impact of poverty is significant and as the gap between haves and have-nots widens, consider the following:
- What should be done to narrow the gap?
- Is our tax policy fair; if not how should it be fixed?
- Is a wealth tax advisable?
- Is a citizens’ dividend (Yang approach) advisable?
- How should poverty be addressed (e.g., living wage, etc.)?
- How important is Social Security and what should be done to protect it?
- Infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that it would cost $4.6 Trillion to restore our infrastructure. Poor infrastructure affects personal and business productivity; our current degrading infrastructure is estimated to cost each person $9/day. Consider this:
- Infrastructure has time scales of 50-100 years, whereas politicians have much shorter timescales. How can we reconcile this disparity and get politicians to address the issue?
- Can we devise a public service corps, similar to FDR’s CCC, to contribute to the solution?
- Considering the importance of infrastructure to the normal functioning of America – clean water and bridges, for example – why doesn’t this problem get solved?
- Incarceration. In the US, 2.3 Million people are incarcerated, 0.7% of the population, about 25% of the world’s prisoners (not counting China’s Uighurs). This is the highest rate in the world at 716 per 100,000. Taxpayers spend $81 Billion/yr (12% of the Defense Budget) on incarceration and parole. Half of federal- and 16% of state prisoners are drug offenders. Many prisoners pose no risk to public safety, yet they have broken the rules, an act that calls for prison. Prisoner recidivism is slightly over 50%. It is possible that prison conditions exacerbate incarceration. Blacks (13% of US population) are 40% of US prisoners, 19% are Hispanic (16%), and 39% white (64%). Increased sentencing laws (e.g., “Three Strikes,” 1994 Anti Drug Abuse Act, etc.) and the privatization of prisons (it is claimed) have dramatically added to prisoner ranks and lengthened stays. Given the many costs, safety, and punishment issues of incarceration consider this:
- Is prison reform needed; what should it be?
- Are there reasonable alternatives to prison, particularly for non-violent crimes?
- What role should rehabilitation take in incarceration?
- Why are there racial inequities to incarceration and how might this be solved?