In 1999, I outlined four trends that I thought would consume us for the first fifty years of the twenty first century.
They were: globalism, religious fundamentalism, tribalism, and environmentalism.
I have allowed myself to take a victory lap. I ‘m pretty much on target. However, there’s one thing I may have left out – the abandonment of the middle class in America.
Americans have lost confidence in government’s ability to balance the economic scorecard, which has been tilted severely in favor of financiers that have sucked up much of middle America’s wealth.
But not all people in the world share that view. For the past twenty years, the global citizenry has for the first time started feeling the blessings of becoming part of a new international middle class, while America’s middle class has shrunk in terms of growing wages and job security.
The good news is that this is about to start changing with the next presidential election.
You can look forward to the following actions to be taken to strengthen the middle class:
1. Tuition free college for up to two years at the community college level.
2. Tax cuts for those making 70k or less annually.
3. Tax hikes for those making 250k or more annually.
4. Free pre-school education for all children four and under
5. Completion of healthcare benefits for the last twenty million people.
6. A dramatic increase in job availability brought about by huge investments in infrastructure projects.
7. Availability of low interest loans for home purchase.