sco wrote:dice wrote:Almost Retired wrote:[/b]
We've been going backwards for decades. No matter who is in nominal power. The politicians and the economic elites get ever richer, while we all see our standard of living dropping because we are losing out to inflation. Young people today have it far worse than I did at the same age. Huge student loan debt. Rents and housing prices out of control. They can't form families or buy houses like was once the case. This isn't a political observation. It's a statement of reality.
1) we (the non-elites) haven't been going backwards for decades. we've flatlined while the rich have gotten much richer. the national wealth has more than DOUBLED (adjusted for inflation!). and the wealthy have gotten all of it. DESPITE longer hours being worked
2) definitely harder for younger people debt-wise. the value of a degree has gone DOWN despite skyrocketing tuition. but they're starting out with higher salaries (again, adjusted for inflation). and, of course, society is much better in some ways than it was decades ago. but the wealth gap combined with out culture of wealth flaunting makes most people FEEL like they're going backwards
it largely comes back to union participation:
No argument on the growing disparity and the impact that declining union participation plays, but I think that a factor that you fail to mention is that much of the decline in union participation came with exporting of union jobs overseas. And I am a fan of the benefits that organized labor, but until we can solve for the impact that some other country with even more exploitable labor forces, the race to lower minimum pay will continue regardless of how many here join unions. The real issues with jobs going overseas are rising healthcare costs and pension costs (which came about because we keep living longer - so not all bad).
globalization has no doubt played a major role. there has also been a concerted effort to both demonize unions and create legal obstacles to the freedom to collectively bargain. when it is illegal for unions to collect dues from those who want to benefit but not pay...kinda hard to operate
health care costs: businesses should be out of the health coverage business! single payer government health care solves that problem. get rid of the insurance companies. nobody should have to deal with them and their enormously profitable, expensive, destructive effect on the nation's health either. both businesses and the general population would greatly benefit. if a public option had gotten into obamacare it'd be a whole different ballgame. but the late, no-so-great (to be charitable) joe lieberman had something to say about that
and their shouldn't be an artificial retirement age either. medicare/SS for all with a universal basic income. no more financial incentive to retire. but that's another discussion
The same can be said for the highest paid people. If we create a big tax or cap disparity vs. other countries, those jobs/people will go overseas as well; although, IMO, there is still room there to do some leveling to be sure.
if people who are being taxed appropriately (whatever society determines that to be) want to leave, that is their prerogative. a new equilibrium will take place
europeans are taxed more than us and aren't exactly clamoring to come here. on a federal level there's plenty of room to raise personal income tax rates w/o fear of some mass exodus. at the state level it becomes a concern, though even california does not appear to regret their tax hike decisions. illinois would have greatly benefitted from the "fair tax", but of course the monied interests flooded the airwaves w/ disingenuous ads that convinced even some intelligent posters here that it could somehow be used against the middle class. which is laughably ignorant. no politician who wants to keep her job would make tax rates higher on the middle class than on the wealthy. maybe such a system exists somewhere in the world, but i've certainly never heard of it.
the intent of the effort to allow a tiered system in illinois was stupifyingly obvious. those who voted against the "fair tax" effectively voted THEMSELVES an eventual property tax hike if their community would ever be in need of state funding and couldn't get enough. and maybe a state-wide income tax hike as well. because, you see, the politicians have ALWAYS had the ability to raise taxes on the middle class. they don't wanna freaking do it!
and by the way...the roughly flatlined middle class income since the late '70s? largely due to the increased cost of healthcare! our total salary and benefits package has gone up substantially...but only because the price of health care has! don't make businesses pay for health care, then watch salaries go up. and at a significantly higher rate than the federal tax increases necessary for an expanded public health care system
Now on your education point, while our Universities are the best in the world, their system is broken. There, the system is become too expensive with the pension plans for faculty outpacing inflation by a lot. I personally think, rather than the Gov't paying for the cost of college, it should create a massive online school that is free for all to compete with colleges. Technology is there. The cost would be a lot less and it could help a lot more people. My personal POV is that way too much of the cost of college is tied to "the college experience", which has gone way too upscale with student housing and meal costs, coupled with a party culture that works against the education side.
i've read that administrative bloat is a big part of it
the donald, always unpopular, did worse in EVERY state in 2020. and by a greater margin in red states! 50 independently-run elections, none of them rigged
