Presidential election, 2016

[Bob Butler 54]

(07-13-2016, 07:41 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: The USA grossly under-invests in the education of poor people. Building another expressway (traffic volumes are not increasing, so it is often pointless) is sexy; investing in K-12 education isn't. Of course we have subcultures that show utter disdain for learning among poor whites and among some blacks who have yet to get a clue. I need be blunt: the "thug" subculture is not good for success.

A few nitpicks.

Building another expressway is often pointless and maybe a bit sexy, but fixing bridges and other failing infrastructure has a point and is not sexy.  A change in emphasis might be appropriate, but there's a bit more thinking to be done.

I've a sense that we're producing more college graduates than there are jobs which truly require an advanced degree.  This surplus of degrees results in jobs that don't truly need degrees going only to those with degrees, providing another set of hurtles for those with high school education or less.  

A bottom line problem is automation getting rid of jobs, producing a surplus of job seekers, which according to supply and demand results in depressed wages.  To some degree you can try to repeal the law of supply and demand using minimum wage laws.

At some point we might have to consider maximum hour laws.  If we don't want to do a lot of dole, and just about nobody does, you need near full employment at living wages.  This would require taking some of the money going to the One Percent and spreading it around.

Which seems to be a good part of the Democratic agenda.  I listened to a lot of the Hillary - Bernie kiss and make up rally.  Bernie spent a lot of time reviewing platform planks that both he and Hillary favor.  Mandate a living wage.  Give everyone access to affordable health care.  Shift the tax burden away from those who can't afford it.  Still, they are advocating band aids.  I've a sense that the New Economy is going to require a major rework.  Well, it's been observed that the end result of a crisis is generally far more profound than the progressives anticipated before the regeneracy.  Once the progressives have control and the people like stuff that is working, people can go nuts, signing Emancipation Proclamations and turning an isolationist nation into the world's policeman.  Something equally profound might be due...  or overdue.

When I shift into my proxy Red perspective, trying to think like the other guys, it sounds intolerable.  It's government mandated redistribution of wealth.  It's taking money away from productive members of society and giving it to losers.  It assumes that the Washington DC bureaucrats can run a program without turning it corrupt and inefficient.  It runs against everything that Saint Reagan stood for.  It's all take from the haves, and give to the have nots.  Clearly, if you are one of the haves, it's in your self interest to vote Republican?  All that bureaucracy and meddling will inevitably bring the country to its knees.

Quite simple and straight forward, really.  Two groups of people living in alternate realities, both trying to make their reality real.