ICYMI, especially my Republican friends and fam: tax cuts and private investment are not the only keys to economic growth. In fact, since Reagan launched his assault in 1980 on government's role in balancing capitalist greed, these types of economic policies have been only the keys to increased deficits -- you know how much of a hole the Reagan, Bush, and Trump administrations left the economy, right? -- and increased inequality, i.e., the rise of the 1%.
The facts are that Biden's American Rescue Plan is doing its job. Not only is the economy booming, with unprecedented job growth in July (unemployment is now at 5.4%), but salaries are 4% higher. This is crucial as we should be ashamed to admit that our nation has been home for too long to many F/T, over-employed workers whose wages do not put them above the poverty line.
The new infrastructure bill -- finally passed, after much yapping and no action during the Trump admin -- is projected to create another 3 million jobs over the next 10 years. Not to mention give us better, more cost-affordable, and more universal high speed internet access, repaired roads and bridges, and more environmentally friendly technologies.
This is what government can and should be doing for us: balancing individual and corporate greed with the common good in order to increase prosperity for all -- just as FDR's and Eisenhower's administrations did during and after the Great Depression and WWII. Unregulated capitalism fails everyone but the 1%. Let's hope an increasing number of Republicans stop being obstructionists and continue to get on board with these facts and sense of common purpose to serve.
h/t Heather Cox Richardson for data
No comments:
Post a Comment