Opportunity Blueprint

In modern times, we find ourselves a highly divided country with an alarming (and continuously growing) disparity in terms of income between the classes of our society. Incomes diverge, as expenses grow. It hasn't always been that way, but this is where we are and we have to resolve these issues before our nation collapses along the fault-lines of growing division.

First of all, let me say this clearly - it is all about money. There literally is nothing else that divides us at the core except for money. Racism, anti-antisemitism, xenophobia, islamophobia, etc. are all just the byproducts of the basic problem where people fear for their financial well being due to a perceived threat or a poverty-stricken reality makes people desperate enough to believe.

While these threats are just untrue and ridiculous at the core, the division we see across our nation are real. Furthermore, the proposed solutions to the economic divergence/disparity among the classes couldn't be more different and polarizing from both Democrats and Republicans. But without a meaningful admission of the core problem, neither of these one-sided proposals have any viable way of solving the root of the problem.

The government earns money from taxing the citizens' incomes, purchases, sales, gifts, etc. The majority of the revenue comes from income tax. The economy strives when the citizens are capable and motivated to spend their disposable incomes. As a result, it drives corporate profits and government revenues up. Finally, businesses see a reason to keep people employed and hire more staff to expand in order to meet the demand.

It has long been a predominant Republican belief that applying a flat tax across all tax brackets will raise enough revenue to balance the budget. However, taxing the lower classes and those below the poverty line would not only drive people into a further financial despair, it would also require additional Federal spending to accommodate those suffering from such a tax program. The general population will have less disposable income, the businesses will lay off staff due to waning demand and the government will be left with an ever-declining revenue. It is a losing scenario.

It has long been a predominant Democrat belief that spending government funds to hire people and create government sponsored projects are ways to increase employment and, subsequently, increase the government's revenue stream. While this appears to be a good plan in theory, it is a totally different result in practice. When you are spending tax revenue on hiring public and creating projects that do not have a corresponding demand, you are in fact cannibalizing the government funds. Yes, the unemployment decreases and the government revenues increase. However, your spending outpaces the revenue received. It is a net negative effect and a losing scenario as well.

What I propose is a return to near-parity in terms of net income. What does that mean? Net income is the total amount of money a person takes home from their wages after all taxes (including income tax) are paid. How would someone increase the incomes of the poverty line and lower classes? Simple, it would involve a two-fold plan of income re-balancing in an employer-employee environment.

First, the government would need to institute an enforceable guideline for compensation of companies' lowest paid employees to be no less than a certain reasonable percentage of the highest earning employee (usually the CEO). This way, each company is required to distribute its profits more fairly and each employee earns enough to where the taxes no longer cripple them below a living wage (that would otherwise require them to borrow in order to survive).

Second, the government would need to protect American companies and workers from outsourcing and in-sourcing scenarios. A lot of companies began to chase profits in the 1990s with cheap overseas labor that resulted in higher profit margins. However, this all came at taxpayer expense as hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their source of a living wage. The government loses revenue from taxes on those incomes and is now forced to spend their depleting revenue to support the newly unemployed. It is time to stop the bleeding. United States is still the leading consumer economy in the world. As such, it can dictate what US companies' foreign manufactured goods can pay in taxes - recognizing that one such product or service bought, is one American product or service left with declining demand. To solve this problematic economic minefield, the government needs to gradually phase in a tax of (5%, 10%, 15%... n%), where n% equals the difference in cost between a comparable American product (or service) + 2%. This will level the playing field for US produced goods and services, while providing American companies operating overseas with enough time to move back their operations, avoid losing government incentives and hire American workers.

The end result will be a greater level of net income for majority of Americans, a new degree of income parity between the highest and lowest earners, protection for American workers' incomes, increased disposable income spending, increased government revenue, reduced unemployment benefits spending and a more stable economy. 

And maybe, just maybe, when we are in a new era of wholesale economic revival, our divisions will greatly diminish as our incomes and interests converge.

How The Rich Campaigned for, Lobbied and Stole Economic Recovery

It is no secret that today on the Internet, Television and Radio you will hear news of the Great Economic Recovery! While it is certainly true that the traditional indicators of economic health have shown positive signs of life, it is also true that the American Elite (the American equivalent of Russian Oligarchs) have gamed the system to make the economy look healthy, while screwing the average American in the rectal cavity. 

By now most of you have already heard of the economic recovery that has lasted the past three years. Most mainstream media and financial analysts point to unemployment figures, corporate profits, and wall street indexes to unequivocally prove that the American Economy is on a path to recovery in a big way. However, these very same analysts will not point to how the majority of American People are living today as opposed to six years ago.

The average middle class American today (wage per capita less than $60,000) will find their adjusted-for-inflation annual wages down by 5%, as opposed to six years ago. Compare that with the upper class (wage per capita more than $150,000) and the upper crust (wage per capita more than $500,000), whose adjusted-for-inflation annual wages are up by 10% and 25%, respectively. You can see the unfair disparity in these figures. 

You may ask yourself - how come the economy seems like it is healthy?

The answer is simple - it is a combination of the Federal Reserve pouring in money into the markets without any rational limits, the Unemployment Index not showing the full picture and the Corporate landscape using creative means to make a profit while preventing the benefits of those profits to reach common Americans. 

It is clear as day that since the financial crash of 2008, the Federal Reserve has been printing money to mask the deflation that should have taken place in order to stabilize the unhealthy explosion in asset values which occurred due to Bank Deregulation and the Housing Asset Bubble. And, to a certain extent, the Federal Reserve has been successful in psychologically bypassing the panic and collapse associated with the deflation of the Great Depression of 1929. 

However, just like Herbert Hoover's administration in the post-crash years, Barak Obama's administration has stepped into the same trap of trying to stimulate the economy from the top down. In Hoover's time it was called "Trickle-Down Economics", in Obama's time it is called "Bailout" and "Stimulus Package". History teaches us that it doesn't teach us anything. Just like in the 20th century, in the 21st century the Corporations kept the money made as a result of Government assistance, while the average American has seen their savings shrivel and their paycheck devalue with time. 

With respect to the Unemployment Index, all it shows is how many Americans are getting a paycheck. While it is true that there are many more people employed today as opposed to four years ago, it is also true that the vast majority of recent employment opportunities are either part-time, contract, full-time positions with lower salaries, or full-time positions with multiple role responsibilities. As such, a large majority of American population that is a part of the "employed" figures according to the index is in fact "underemployed", if not completely overworked. 

Corporate profits are up! The American stocks are soaring in value. But the vast majority of this growth is due to creative tactics, not an increase in productivity. The Corporations are using the free liquidity pouring in from the Federal Reserve to restructure their debt (refinance) and make their balance sheets look healthier. They are also cutting their biggest expense - the employees. Whether it is through laying off older more expensive employees in favor of fresh from college graduates, reducing employee benefits, or "consolidating" their workforce by having fewer employees do more - it leads to the appearance of profits. If that wasn't enough, the profits the companies are getting, they're not using to grow the business and hire more people - the corporations know there isn't a growth in the actual demand. Instead, they increase the value of their stock by putting all of those profits to buy back their own stock, which leaves the remaining shares more valuable - making it look like the company is growing, when in fact it is not.

So the Corporate Landscape, which was too big to fail, is thriving! However, the ordinary people who make these corporations work are losing. They are losing in wages, benefits, personal time, rising cost of goods, and oh by the way having their tax dollars sponsor the bailouts of the very companies that are now fleecing them.

The true problem is that we, as a people, have lost faith in our Democracy. Through our apathy, we have turned it into a De Facto Polyarchy! Get off your lazy ass and write a page, just a page, to your local representatives and senators. Make sure that your voice is heard! Make phone calls to those same representatives and senators. Get your community to know the facts and get them voting. This should be our Outbreak - an Outbreak of Consciousness.