The Path Forward
Last week, I talked about the outsized influence that billionaires have on our entire society. They control the messages coming from our politicians, the media, even from our churches. How do we break their control and make our society more equitable? How can we make the American ethos, that anyone can be successful if they work hard, a reality?
The first step is to have an engaged and energized electorate who is paying attention and who are willing to punish politicians that work against their interests. I’m pleased to say, we’re getting there. Young voters especially are more active and involved in issues than in years past. The trick will be to keep going in the face of inevitable setbacks.
During the recent debate, Biden said, if elected President, he would raise taxes on people making more than $400,000 a year. Republicans say this will kill jobs and ruin the economy, but (again) the facts are not on their side. California raised taxes a few years ago, and our economy got stronger. We not only raised income tax on wealthy residents, but we forced Amazon to start charging sales tax for purchases from California residents. That extra money went to salaries for nurses, police, firefighters and teachers which in turn became houses, cars, and other goods, strengthening the economy of the entire state. We also built up a huge reserve that helped us get through the COVD-19 crisis.
Assuming Biden wins the upcoming election and the Democrats take back the Senate (neither is guaranteed to happen), his tax increase will be one of the first items on the agenda. It’s important that we use that money wisely. We need to start infrastructure projects that bring high paying construction jobs to millions of Americans. Many of those jobs should be in Red States. We need to break down barriers in our country and start bringing people together. One way to do that is to help the people who are most opposed to what we are doing.
Biden is going to want to improve the Affordable Care Act, which he worked hard to pass, rather than replace it. If that’s the direction we go in, we need to emphasize the word Affordable this time. We need a serious drop in premiums and in the cost of prescription drugs. This should free up money that can be spent energizing other parts of the economy. And again, this will help Red States as much as Blue ones.
Higher wages and lower expenses will put more money into people’s pockets. We need to change our spending habits, also. We need to be paying farmers properly for the food that we’re eating. There’s no reason a farmer feeding the nation and the world should take a loss on a crop of produce. People in other parts of the world are living in poverty while sewing our clothes and growing our coffee and chocolate. We need to do our part to lift those people up as well.
I expect Republicans and the Right Wing media machine to attack any and all of the changes I’m suggesting. We need to override their objections and do it anyway. If, instead of the sky falling, these policies bring about widespread prosperity, people may have their faith in government renewed. They may also lose faith in the media sources that have poisoned our discourse and held our country back for so long.
Thanks for reading! Please like, follow and comment!
The first step is to have an engaged and energized electorate who is paying attention and who are willing to punish politicians that work against their interests. I’m pleased to say, we’re getting there. Young voters especially are more active and involved in issues than in years past. The trick will be to keep going in the face of inevitable setbacks.
During the recent debate, Biden said, if elected President, he would raise taxes on people making more than $400,000 a year. Republicans say this will kill jobs and ruin the economy, but (again) the facts are not on their side. California raised taxes a few years ago, and our economy got stronger. We not only raised income tax on wealthy residents, but we forced Amazon to start charging sales tax for purchases from California residents. That extra money went to salaries for nurses, police, firefighters and teachers which in turn became houses, cars, and other goods, strengthening the economy of the entire state. We also built up a huge reserve that helped us get through the COVD-19 crisis.
Assuming Biden wins the upcoming election and the Democrats take back the Senate (neither is guaranteed to happen), his tax increase will be one of the first items on the agenda. It’s important that we use that money wisely. We need to start infrastructure projects that bring high paying construction jobs to millions of Americans. Many of those jobs should be in Red States. We need to break down barriers in our country and start bringing people together. One way to do that is to help the people who are most opposed to what we are doing.
Biden is going to want to improve the Affordable Care Act, which he worked hard to pass, rather than replace it. If that’s the direction we go in, we need to emphasize the word Affordable this time. We need a serious drop in premiums and in the cost of prescription drugs. This should free up money that can be spent energizing other parts of the economy. And again, this will help Red States as much as Blue ones.
Higher wages and lower expenses will put more money into people’s pockets. We need to change our spending habits, also. We need to be paying farmers properly for the food that we’re eating. There’s no reason a farmer feeding the nation and the world should take a loss on a crop of produce. People in other parts of the world are living in poverty while sewing our clothes and growing our coffee and chocolate. We need to do our part to lift those people up as well.
I expect Republicans and the Right Wing media machine to attack any and all of the changes I’m suggesting. We need to override their objections and do it anyway. If, instead of the sky falling, these policies bring about widespread prosperity, people may have their faith in government renewed. They may also lose faith in the media sources that have poisoned our discourse and held our country back for so long.
Thanks for reading! Please like, follow and comment!
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