Under the Obama administration, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer, to the point of epic and disturbing proportions. The very rich are richer than ever, while a large portion of Americans struggle to get by paycheck to paycheck. There's no easy solution, but let's take a look at some of the ideas that are being floated around and think about whether or not they would have positive impact on the nation as a whole.
It doesn't seem right that folks making tens of millions of dollars per year pay less of a percentage to the government than folks making tens of thousands of dollars per year. I can see a flat tax having positive impact. We just need to figure out what that percentage number should be. But I also believe that those below the poverty line should not have to pay this same tax percentage. If a single mother of two is trying to make ends meet with two low-paying part-time jobs, she needs that little bit of money a lot more than the government does. And while we're at it, there's a lot of talk about how social security is in trouble. I know that a pretty high percentage of my check goes toward social security. I also know that a very low percentage of the checks of the very rich go toward social security. Take a higher percentage from them and put it in the social security pool. If this sounds like a socialist idea, I don't care. It makes sense.
A flat tax would simplify taxes and, quite honestly, I would be perfectly fine if the power of the IRS was diminished or the IRS was abolished altogether. I don't trust the IRS, and the IRS has proven to be untrustworthy and partisan. And most government organizations are really just terrible and inefficient anyway, and the thing they are best at is wasting taxpayer money.
The idea of raising minimum wage to $15 per hour across the board though is not a good one. Perhaps that is an appropriate rate in New York City and San Francisco--that can be left up to local governments--but it is not an appropriate rate in most towns in America. It would actually cause the number of jobs to decrease, or even more small businesses to close because they can't afford to pay that much. And most of the folks in minimum wage jobs are young people, unskilled labor, etc. A minimum wage job should not be a long-term life funding solution. Not everyone deserves to be making $15 per hour. Sorry. And if the push for that sort of dramatic hike in minimum wage continues, I would expect to see even more jobs disappear. Self checkout has been bad enough. But when your job can be replaced by a computer, you shouldn't be making $15 per hour.
How does one get out of the rut of a minimum wage job? College is one way, and there are cheaper college options, though the cost of tuition has continued to go up at obscene rates. Interest rates are very low. So should they be on student loans. Student loans should not be predatory. But they also should not be simply forgiven by the government in a redistribution of wealth. If you've had a higher education, you should eventually be able to pay off those loans. Subsidization programs are also often helpful and appropriate.
Finally, what do we do to help the poor? The correct answer here is not nothing, or that it's their own fault that they are poor. Do you honestly think that Jesus would have said that? Obviously not. We need to do what we can as a society to help feed, shelter, and clothe the poor. The very rich have an obligation to help the very poor, from a moral standpoint anyway. If you are a billionaire, and you give no money to charities, you need to do some real soul-searching...
I guess when it comes to Economics, I don't fall neatly into either end of the conservative versus liberal spectrum, but I realize that something needs to change in this country. The income disparity in this country is truly not a good thing. I mean, really, some of these very rich celebrities spend more money on pampering their pets in a week than some families have to spend on food for the whole year. Something is wrong with that picture. I am in favor of Capitalism and not in favor of Socialism, but what we are doing now isn't fully working. The middle class is suffering. The policies under the Obama administration (as well as the Bush administration) have made this problem worse. Many people believed that Bush was for the rich, but Obama was touted as a champion of the middle class, and he has proven to be very much the opposite of that. That's part of the reason why Bernie Sanders, who is literally a Socialist, looks like a legitimate candidate for President of the United States. Of course, the other part is how terrible of a candidate Hillary Clinton is and the apparent disarray of the Republican Party. But that's an entirely different kind of flying altogether (it was time for an Airplane! reference).
To end, I realize that statistics can be manipulated to appear to show whatever you want them to show, but these graphs look pretty scary. Partisan? Perhaps. But worthy of thought and discussion nonetheless: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-16/obamas-recovery-just-9-charts
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