American Greed and how it hurts the 99%

I’m not an economist, and this is just my opinion on the state of the US and my thoughts on how to fix it.

I thought about this for a long time, and I wrote a big post about it, but then I decided for simplicity I’d write separate articles.

My ideas do have some holes in them, but again I’m not en economist. I’m writing this to spark other ideas in people because that’s what we need. I think the present administration is doing their best with what they have to work with, especially trying to fix the mess the past administration left but, sometimes I feel even with best intentions politicians don’t see the big picture.

Republicans want a small government, but don’t understand (or don’t care) that a small government could mean big companies making more laws and getting away with more greedy deals.

The Democrats want to bring equality to everyone and help everyone which is the right thing to do, but then they talk about a $15/hr. raise in the minimum wage (they call a living wage) but in some states that’s still not a livable amount (but I’ll get to that in a bit).

Then you have Independents which want to make healthcare free and college free and raise the minimum wage to $15/hr. This sounds nice on paper, but I think it’s more difficult to do than they think (I’ll get into this too).

These are simple answers, but how? Raise tax on the rich? They already don’t want to pay the tax they have now how do we get them to pay? The wealthy and big businesses paying their share of taxes would fix a lot of our issues, but a billionaire has dreams of becoming a trillionaire and a trillionaire has dreams of being a quadrillionaire. When I was a kid, millionaires were the thing. The problem is when companies and people make more money most of that money comes from the 99% and they’re the ones that become homeless, or work 2–3 jobs and rarely get time off and end up working till they die. And they don’t seem to care. I doubt many CEO’s have gone up to a worker and asked “Do you make enough money to live? Are you comfortable?”. Because in their heads they’re giving what they have to give, and may be a little more to make them feel better, but their workers are still in poverty. They still need to live with family or have roommates, or live in an area they don’t feel safe in (with roommates). They have to buy cheaper food, and an older car that may still need work and they don’t sleep well because they’re worried about the future because they’re living paycheck to paycheck. A lot of the working class also are in debt. They have credit cards that are maxed out, or they have loans that have high interest rates, which they can only pay the minimum, so they’re mostly paying the interest each month and the principle isn’t going down.

The Democrats want to raise the wage to $15/hr which in some states would be more than enough, but in others like California, Washington, and NY (just to name a few) that wouldn’t help much. They’d be able to pay more bills, but not all of them so they’d still be in poverty. Also, if the minimum wage is raised, not long after the price of living will go up. I’m not saying the minimum wage shouldn’t go up. On the contrary, it should but the amount it goes up should depend on the state and how much the living wage is in that state. Again, though even if the living wage goes up to $50/hr the price of living will go up to and soon that $50/hr. will seem like $7.50/hr. because companies will raise the prices of their goods. How do we fix this? I have a couple of ideas, but they’re not fully flushed out. I’ll say it again, I’m not an economist, just a man with ideas.

About free college, I believe junior college should be free and state colleges should cost as much as junior colleges now. This would give some money to the college and also not put the whole burden of price on the government so taxes wouldn’t have to be raised as much. Also, I believe that for the wealthy going to these colleges there could be an up-sale. What I mean is colleges can make suite dorms which they can charge extra for, these dorms can have maid service, valet parking, and a choice of quality dining with room service (think the amenities of a hotel but in a college dorm). With this idea the money made could take the place of the high tuition. Who knows maybe private colleges will follow and do the same?

Free healthcare for all sounds good, but like free college, it’s a hard sell. I definitely think prices of everything can get lower. Obamacare is working well for low-income people (though I think better dental should be added). Also, as with my idea of colleges maybe to keep prices down for the average person there can be some upscale? More private rooms and better food at a higher cost for instance. The care must stay the same whether you’re rich or not, but the wealthy can pay more for amenities.

These are my ideas. Would they work if implemented? I’m not sure, but they are out of the box ideas. I think President Biden should start a think tank that does just this, brings out of the box thinking to fix important issues like this. The United States can’t be fixed with duct tape, we need huge ideas to jump start change. In my next couple of articles, I have some other ideas, and they’re out there.