At a Reddit site, someone asked if we could ever cure the nation of its MAGA obsession. I pointed out that in my view, MAGA is more like a virus that has been with us since the Civil War. Some viruses cannot be cured, they can only be subdued. We cannot cure herpes and I doubt we can cure the USA from the MAGA virus. What we can do, is recognize that, like herpes, the MAGA virus is more likely to erupt when the body is stressed. When wages stagnate, when only a small number of Americans are able to land that good paying job that is reserved for college grads, and many college grads wind up with a debt and a low wage job, when a majority of Americans can’t save for a rainy day, a majority live paycheck to paycheck, while an injury or illness can send them into bankruptcy, the body of the American electorate is stressed and so, just like with herpes, men like Donald Trump emerge and are empowered.
I would suggest that the key to preventing another MAGA eruption is not to fight racism or misogynism, bigotry, or hate, but to ease the economic stress with good wages for ALL essential jobs, universal health care, and worker’s right
I’m with you all the way to the very end.
The problem is our reliance on labor — whether measured in time or effort — to distribute wealth. In the modern world, “good wages” are a fantasy that will never ever happen. They will not happen because labor — the component that drives good wages — is no longer part of the wealth creation cycle.
In my view, the key to preventing another MAGA eruption is to ensure that the wealth distribution of Americans is never again skewed so far towards the ultrawealthy as it is today.
If the wealth held by the top 0.1% or 1% of Americans today was distributed among the 99.9% or 99%, most of the issues you described would evaporate. It will take some serious number-crunching to determine whether the threshold for an Elizabeth Warren-styled wealth tax is $100M or $1B or $10B. That threshold will be FAR above the wealth held by almost everyone. A household with a combined net worth of $100M is not going to go hungry if they are forced to pay 5% of that — $5M — each year in a wealth tax. If that distribution was accomplished in the form of a universal base income paid to every American or household, then most of the issues you describe would evaporate — and almost surely be replaced by others.
The American south of the 1850s was among the most prosperous economies of the mid-19th century world. That was possible solely because it was premised on slave labor. Dismantling chattel slavery was economically devastating to the American south, and led to huge migrations and cultural dislocations over the decades that followed.
America today is built on wage slavery — workers who perform jobs they hate because they desperately need the money to provide the bare necessities of life to themselves and their loved ones. When a UBI removes that desperate need, many of the institutions Americans take for granted will collapse because they are premised on wage slavery.
America needs to impose an erosive wealth tax NOW, in order to fund a UBI, universal health care, and the TIME to actually pursue happiness for every American.
Indeed Tom, labor is now longer part of the wealth creation cycle. It was for quite some time. What is economic value, and who creates it? I do not agree that it is a fantasy that will never happen again. In my opinion, Democrats need to stop thinking that the media is their liberal ally. The media is the message and the message is that “this will never happen again”.
Check out this 20 minute video, please.
https://marianamazzucato.com/books/the-value-of-everything