People in America forget one of the most important aspects about the US. We are not a homogeneous nation. This is huge! The racial tension between black and white is the most prevalent, but it is not the only one. Long before there was slavery, there was prejudice against Catholics by Protestants. This has never been dissipated. It is under the surface like the next point to which this piece is centered. Wealthy producers have always exploited labor. The stories out of our early beginning in industrialization about labor abuse are not stressed enough in our school system due to possible dangerous outcomes. This is wrong because it allows the abuses to continue. We have idiots in this nation who believe Honda is American because they have a factory here. There are many examples like this. How about the corrupt leaders of Boeing? They made it known to their union employees in the home base of Seattle that they would move work out of the plant to the non-union South if they did not get the vote that they sought. As soon as they received the vote that they wanted, they shipped out the new work to the South. There are countless cases like when the steel workers during President Kennedy's term went on strike over wages, job security and benefits. The CEO asked JFK to mediate. He did. The CEO got his way and as soon as he did, he cancelled all the union requests. Labor felt betrayed by Johnny. He bought this issue to the nation as he berated the CEO nationally. We don't have leaders with that type of guts anymore.
Why are you addressing this, you ask?
There has been a lot of talk about fairness to blacks, especially with employment and also, the rise of homelessness in America and the wealth gap with a shrinking middle-class.
If you believe the government through its agencies, the medium household income rose in 2019 in the US to $68,700. I don't. Stats show that 40% of Americans earn less than $30,000 a year and most of that percentage earn less than $24,000. The way that the government calculates these figures is skewed. The higher incomes raise the stats of the lower earners. However, the total amount of people is 40% of the population. The government says poverty fell from 38 million to 34 million in 2019. Oh, yeah? Then explain why in every city there are visible signs and not the ones in demonstrations, but people sleeping in parks, under bridges or in shelters. If I am wrong and the Census Bureau is correct, how come 26% of all Americans sought payment deferral plans under the CARES Act? Explain why unemployment claims keep a steady 800,000 every week? I am not alone in asking these questions, however my answers are different. Then, there is this one point to digest. We, at Evolution say that 40 million Americans are unemployed. If we are correct, consider this point. Of all the nations in the world (195), 158 have less than 40 million people. This is how bad and sad our economy actually is functioning.
Michael Farr, a CNBC contributor says...
"The problem with the US economy is there are too many poor people." He is correct! He goes on to say that government stimulus is not really stimulating the economy. He is right again! If the government had spent their money in a massive infrastructure program like repairing bridges, roads and tunnels, we get more for our stimulus dollars. If it modernized our shipping ports, the result would be more quality jobs and revitalizing the middle-class. Quality incomes enrich society and this develops commerce which creates more opportunities. This would also ease tensions on race and religion. WEST SIDE STORY is a true reflection of our society when there is little social mobility. Poor whites blame poor PRs for their blight. The negativity breaths its own life of racial hatred. This is part of the BLM movement.
Back to Mr. Farr. He is wrong to say that the economist, Milton Friedman is wrong about inflation. Milton said, "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output." Our debt has been increasing at 7% yearly while our GDP is only at 2%. Milton was right, but his conclusion goes against what the Federal Reserve wants to do. The reason why the US does not meet the so-called inflation target of 2% is due to the machinations by the Fed. When you do not count the three things that everyone needs: food, energy and shelter, then, you can show no inflation. The other point relates to wage earners. There are no quality job left in the US. Everything is imported. When the importers have to exchange their lower valued currency for our reserve currency, this negates any rise in purchase price. If you want inflation, protect American companies and workers! Keep in mind, a strong currency helps low-wage earners as it buys more for their limited income. The lower the value of your currency, the harder life becomes for your poorer population.
Inflation...
would rise in the US like it did in the 1970s if we can place tariffs on imports. The tariffs would force producers back into the US. Our higher priced labor would cause inflation. This is always dangerous to see inflation growing. However, the dollar would actually get stronger to which will help low-wage earners until they could find a new job in manufacturing. This would raise their standard of living as well as everyone - "The rising tide lifts all boats" Sadly, both presidential candidates talk about quality job growth, but they have little conviction. In any event, we must be aware that we are not a homogeneous society. We are a modern experiment. In history there have been a few enlightened people that favored the idea of tolerance for all people, creeds and religion. The greatest is Jesus of Nazareth with love for one's neighbor as one would love himself. The US is the only nation to try this approach with democracy in recent history. We take one step forward and two back. This economic recession will pass, but the return of the vibe to live in peace with one another is needed to last. We have had attempts to make our name "United" really mean that. The last effort was in the 60s with the movement and song by the Youngblood's, "...let's try to love one another right now..." Let the meme sing in our hearts. If we ever get this second chance to save America, we need to make sure that all our citizens get an equal opportunity. We would then be truly the United States. Peace.
