AN ECONOMY FOR THE PEOPLE NOT THE FEW

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Economic Inequality Reforms

Our country is the singular wealthiest country in the world by GDP and per capita. We have the wealthiest person in the world living in America. We have the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Trillion dollar companies in our country, still operating! Many of our individual states have economies that rival western nations, and NYC alone has an economy that rivals some of our own states! It is even fair to say that we have some of the most bleeding edge medical care and services in the world and that our elite Universities are rivaled by very few institutions in the world.

We also have one of the largest economic gaps in the world as well. Minimum wage has stagnated for over 40 years. Real earnings have declined in the past 20 years while CEO to employee pay ratio has skyrocketed from 20: in the 1940's to 435:1 and greater in many cases, in modern times! We have an increasing homelessness crisis, housing crisis, renter’s crisis, the Covid 19 pandemic caused an economic collapse that resulted in 30% of Americans unemployed with no hope of those jobs returning. The vast majority of new jobs that are being created are minimum wage positions with no hope of career progression and systemic racism and discrimination prevent advancement within the corporate structure for many POC Americans in the first place. This also touches on the continued pay gap between men and women, women and POC, and combinations thereof. Then we have the continued discrimination against LGBTQIA Americans in the work force.

This is where the conversation must begin about Economic Reform. If we do not have the proper context of the sheer amount of disparity between the wealthy and the poor in our country or the utter lack of a middle class in this day and age, we cannot have an accurate discussion on what these reforms will require. Furthermore, due to recent events due to Covid 19 we have to further discuss the willingness of the Government to offer over $36 Trillion is tax payer dollars to banks, Wall Street and corporations but refuse to give Citizens economic relief during an unprecedented economic crisis.

That being said, what can we do as a nation to restore the balance of wealth in America? Many would argue to tax the 1% into oblivion, others would say abolish the Stock Market, and some others would still argue to eliminate taxes altogether! So what is the proper solution? The answer is that no one solution is the answer and that in order to restore wealth to the citizenry several changes will have to be implemented simultaneously. To that end those policies should be as follows: 

Tax Reform

  • Tax Rates:  Incomes from 0 - $100,000 shall be taxed at 10%, and be progressive by every $100,000 by increments of 5% until $400,000 in which it will be 5% for every $200,000 up to $1,000,000 at which time it will be a 10% increase for every million up to $5,000,000 and from $5,000,001+ it will be 90% for personal incomes. This ensures that the bottom 90% of American's do not under any circumstances pay more in taxes than the wealthier members of society.   
  • Tax Write Offs:  The only applicable write-offs will be: personal, dependent, married, New Home, Medical Debt, and Student Debt write offs. Nothing else. Period. 
  • Corporate Tax Rates:  35% flat, no write offs, no exemptions other than 501(c)3's, no tax havens, no tax deferments. Simply a 35% flat tax on all businesses in America. 

Wage Reform

  • No person shall be paid less than $15/hour, or 1/20th of the Highest Paid person in the company including bonuses, and benefits whichever is greater.
  • All hourly workers will be eligible for overtime pay at a rate of 1.5x base pay up to 20 hours, over 40 worked, or 2 hours worked in addition to scheduled hours, and 2x for every additional hour worked in a given pay period or over 2 hours worked on a scheduled work day.
  • Every quarter 50% of all company profits will be distributed evenly to non-management level employees.

Workers Benefits

  • All workers will have 4 weeks of paid vacation, 1 week of personal leave, and 3 weeks of paid sick leave available to them each 365 day period as a minimum.
  • All mandatory breaks and lunches for all shifts will be paid. This means an 8 hour working day with 2 15 minute breaks, and a 30 minute lunch has 7 hours of labor for a total of 8 working hours paid.
  • Due to the Pandemic, it is become increasingly clear that our healthcare system is flawed and therefore any costs incurred by employees for getting treatment or testing due to a contagious disease will be covered by the State or Federal Government respectively.

Company Restrictions

  • All US based companies or companies operating in the US must have assets tied to a nation, or the United States. No tax Havens. Penalties for hiding incomes in Tax Havens will be equal to 500% of the money's hidden compounded daily until processed by the IRS.
  • Unbiased promotion processes, and metrics that do not bring race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or country of origin into consideration.  This also includes no favoritism or cronyism.  Promotions should either be able to be peer reviewed, merit based, or company sponsored training.
  • Companies may not donate to any PAC's, candidates, or other political institutions. • Companies found to be attempting to donate will be charged with bribery, and politicians found to be attempting to accept those funds will be removed from office, charged with fraud, corruption, and embezzlement.
  • For Profit Companies may not associate or affiliate with religious institutions, but may donate to charities, or fundraisers, and may declare that they are a "Christian owned", "Muslim owned", "Jewish owned", etc. business to promote those communities and their culturally significant industries or products and services.

Housing and Rent Reform

  • No agency that provides housing may charge rent above 30% of the median income for the community they are located in.
  • Landlords must provide in all circumstances, maintenance support within 7 days of notification, accept full cost and responsibility of repairs, ensures quality and integrity of repairs, maintain livability of their properties and report tenant abuse of properties with sufficient evidence of deliberate damage to the property.
  • Homeless populations may be placed in homes that have been on the market for over 9 months and given access to job seeking programs, training, resume building workshops, and other social support to help these citizens get back on their own two feet. Homes that are used as such will be purchases at appraised value by the city, owned by the city, and be eligible for resale once the homeless or displaced citizen is able to safely acquire their own suitable living accommodations. These citizens will also have access to a case worker for 24 months who will assist the citizen in any financial or economic capacity that the citizen may need such as access to social support programs, setting up a bank account, finding new work, or entering into training programs. The goal is to ensure that once a citizen has gotten off the street they do not return to the street and have a support structure in place to help them if needed.
  • Hotels, and Lodging - During economic or medical crisis, all Hospitality industries will be made available for patient housing, or displaced population housing at a rate of $30/day paid by the city, the state, or the Federal Government respectively. This will never violate the 3rd Amendment.

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