In Parts One and Two of this series I described the extent of wealth inequality in our country and how it has occurred. Conservatives should be mindful that not only is big government a threat, but the big people behind the scenes who control the politicians are a threat as well. Below I have written some of the policies I believe Populist Republicans should advocate to rectify this egregious wealth imbalance.
- Work with Democrats to reverse the situation in which the investment income of billionaires is taxed at a lower rate than that of income earners. A taxpayer filing as a single person is confronted with a 22% tax rate on every taxable dollar over $40,000, while the Super Rich investor never pays more than 20% on investments that he or she keeps over one year. Regardless of the amount of investment return accrued.
- Raise the dependent tax-write off to $6,000. However, this should be applied only to ease the tax burden of the beleaguered middle class, and not serve as a cash give away for those who pay no income tax to have children. The poor have the Earned Income Tax Credit.
- Place tuition caps on all universities that receive federal funding to force then to shed some of the administrative fat they have acquired over the years, causing tuitions to skyrocket.
- Offer considerable tax breaks to businesses that will hire and mentor high school and community college graduates. The current concept of going away to college for four years is excessively expensive, anachronistic, and unnecessary in the age of online connectivity. It straddles young people with excessive debt and prevents them from starting families and buying homes. It puts them in chains for much of their adult lives.
- Implement two minimum wages – one for those 24 and under, and the other for adults over 25. Any business that employs ADULT workers, must pay them a LIVING WAGE, because for far too long business owners have paid adult workers such low wages that their paltry incomes must be supplemented by taxpayers, with the burden failing disproportionately on the middle class. If businesses cannot afford to pay adults a living wage that puts them at or above the poverty level, then they should not be in business. Period.
- Provide all parents with the same opportunities to avoid the public schools that the affluent and rich currently exercise. Too many public schools fail our children and the one size fits all mentality pushed by the education establishment does not work. Competition is necessary. One of the ways the Super Rich stays on top, is to keep those beneath them poorly schooled and dumbed down. That must stop.
- Limit the number of media outlets that individuals and corporations can own. When six corporations own 90% of the media outlets in the country, that looks more like an oligarchy than a democracy.
- Follow the example of the British who have outlawed vulture capitalism. Here is how they did it. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/apr/11/vulture-funds-banned-uk-courts
- Examine ways to stave off vulture capitalists by offering workers of sufficiently large companies the opportunity to buy them from their owners who wish to sell. This would require a federal program to establish national banks for this sole purpose.
- Ensure that the American military must never be used for nation building again. I believe our actions in Iraq and Libya had nothing to do with “fighting for our freedom,” but rather in protecting the interests of the megabanks who control the Federal Reserve.
There is more to list, but this is enough to digest. I am fully aware that some of the positions I recommend may appear to coincide with those of leftists. This is so because both populist and leftists are against the rise of powerful cabals who often act against the interests of the common people. However, whereas leftists are hellbent on tearing down the free market system and trashing the Constitution, populists wish to reform the market system and abide by the Constitution, which I believe serves to protect the common folks from oligarchic tyranny.
If Republicans wish to stay a competitive national party, they should truly become the populist – or people’s party, rather than remaining a puppet of the mega donor class.
