5 Facts That Show Half of America Is Seriously Struggling
http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-facts-show-half-america-seriously-struggling
1. No Money for Unexpected Bills
A recent Bankrate poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans didn't have savings available to cover a $500 repair bill or a $1,000 emergency room visit.
2. 40 Percent Collapse in Household Wealth
Over half of Americans have good reason to feel poor. Between 2007 and 2013 median wealth dropped a shocking 40 percent, leaving the poorest half with negative wealth (because of debt), and a full 60% of households owning, in total, about as much as the nation's 94 richest individuals.
3. Cost of Living Surges as Income Falls
Official poverty measures are based largely on the food costs of the 1950s. But food costs have doubledsince 1978, housing has more than tripled, and college tuition is eleven times higher. The cost of raising a child increased by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010. And despite the gains from Obamacare, health care expenses continue to grow.
4. Lots of New Jobs (Below Living Wage)
'Amazing' jobs report, apart from wages --Marketwatch
Amazing at the top and at the bottom. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, there have been job gains at the highest paid level -- engineering, finance, computer analysis; and there have been job gains at thelowest paid level -- personal health care, retail, and food preparation.
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5. Our Greatest Shame: Half of the Children Feeling Poverty
All imo, but our biggest problem is we keep chasing illusions of improvement.
Most of our focus seems to be on increasing the minimum wage. It's a great idea in theory, but the biggest problem is it has always adjusted the market rather than actually increase the buying power of the consumer.
First, the minimum wage. From its inception, it at best gives a small boost in real purchasing power that is always short lived.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=405
Let's agree that Money, as a simple dollar amount is a worthless number to work with. $1 in 1955 is NOT even close to $1 today. Real measures of wealth is the amount you have and earn vs what can be purchased at that amount. When it comes to the minimum wage, that value has changed extremely little over the course of the increases.
My proposal: Eliminate the minimum wage all together, and incorporate the profit sharing tax. A tax mandate Where 20% of all corporate profits goes to all employees for any corporation either publicly traded, or business who engages in interstate or international commerce. 20% of all net profits goes to all employees. Then you'll have a self adjusting minimum wage that gives real purchasing power to the people.
I am not and never have been anti ACA (other than it should have damn well been single payer). However, it is too often marketed as health care reform, and it isn't. It is health insurance reform. What we really need is health care reform. I believe a better route would have been to institute a path to success for our inner city schools, and schools in impoverished areas with infusion of grants to improve education, and take the best and brightest of the of children from low income/no income families and give them a path to medical field education. A path for the brightest and smartest to become Doctors, nurses, PA's etc.. In return, expand and reinforce the already existing (but shrinking) network of University Hospitals, charity hospitals, and free clinics. Cut out the insurance middle man completely and expand actual affordable / free health care services in areas where it is needed most.. especially in the area of preventative health care. The future Dr's, nurses, and PA's mentioned above, as a condition of their free or low cost education must support these expanded facilities for a proportional number of years at a controlled reasonable income in order to staff these facilities.
On Income inequality.. I know this will be horrendously unpopular, but I really don't care if the 1% of the world has more money than the rest of the world combined. What I do care about is what the bottom 1%, bottom 10%, and bottom 50% have available to them in opportunities. What can THEIR $$ purchase? Is it enough to have a reasonable standard of living? NO. What's more, an increase in the minimum wage will only give them a temporary bump until the market adjusts again. Our focus is horribly misplaced on what the top 1% has. It's what the bottom percentiles DON'T have that needs to be the focus. Health care, a home, reasonable transportation, safety and security in their neighborhoods, better education, the ability to go to the grocery store, buy food for their families, and not be in an ever increasing loop of debt to do so.. THAT's what's important imo.
If we can focus on THESE, and fix THESE, then so many other areas will also be fixed.. crime will go down, numbers of severe illnesses that could have been prevented will go down (reducing system costs), and quality of life will be better for all.
