“Michael Lind, Policy Director of the New America Foundation’s Economic Growth Program and author of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States (2012), discusses the need for economic reform – in THE SOCIAL CONTRACT.
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Michael Lind’s best comment in this video is where he said: “I would like to see an America that remains a democratic republic, but that’s dominated by the middle class.” Meaning that the overwhelming population in America are middle class workers. But where no longer a country with a lot of wealthy people, but with a lot of poor people, and people who are technically middle class and who have an education, perhaps even a college degree, but work really hard and just struggle just to pay their bills. And perhaps are a few lost paychecks away from being in poverty and even losing their home.
The America that Michael Lind wants, is also the America that I want. We just have different visions in how to get there. He would like to see the economic and social benefits that most Americans get from their employers, taken over by the Federal Government, with a Scandinavian style welfare state and perhaps turn America from a liberal, democratic, federal republic, into a social democratic republic.
The America that I would like to see is one with very few in any Americans living in poverty, regardless of race or ethnicity, region, urban, suburban, or rural, with a lot of middle class workers who can not only pay their bills, but can afford to put money away and even enjoy life, and more wealthy people who never have to worry about paying their bills, or their retirements, health care, education, etc.
Leftists hate hearing this, but if you want more middle class Americans and a lot fewer lower class Americans and perhaps even get to the point where you have to look hard to find any poverty in this country, we need a better education system, including more and better job training for low-skilled adults in this country. As well as better infrastructure and more business startups, more creators, more competition in the economy.
You don’t create the America opportunity and free society simply with higher taxes on people who are already doing very well and transfer that money to people who aren’t doing very well with more welfare payments. You get there by empowering people who are struggling in America to make it in America. While you incentivize and reward wealth creation and good education, instead of punishing the things that already work well in America.
