Ideas for today

We all have a dead horse on our dinning room tables. It's name is poverty. Our country, like all others has a class of people that for reasons I'm not going to pontificate on, live at a poverty level. The sad thing is the poverty level in our country include single working parents, retired elderly, and the unemployed collecting a weekly check. In 1973 the minimum wage was above poverty level, and a unemployed workers check was enough to keep them well above poverty. Sadly both wages and benefits have been in steady decline for the blue collar worker sense the mid 1970's. Oil prices were the catalyst for the decline back then, when inflation sucked the life out of middle America. Lucky for us the Internet, and semiconductor industry created a new middle class during this period. More skilled, and educated, but a new middle class all the same. What happened to the middle class at the time of this inflation was a devastating blow to their income, and dreams. They never recovered for the most part. Their wages remain substandard even today. In 1973 a kid out of high school could get a job starting at 7.50 to 10.00 dollars as a laborer, or a apprentice carpenter (non-union) anywhere. They could get a crappy factory job paying 8 - 9.00 dollars with little effort, or a good one paying 11- 14.00 to start with no skills. A new 3 bd apartment rented for $175 a month. Car insurance was $50 a month, and milk was under a dollar. Today those same jobs pay the same, but a 3 bd apartment can run you over $900 a month, car insurance is around $150 a month, and milk's about $3. 1

The long term answer to problems like we face in the south is a fair wage for the working class. It takes money to rebuild, and put a human life back on track, and most would rather do it for themselves. As a nation we have always dipped into our pockets to help our local neighbors, but where their was dollars, only change remains.2

It's time to fix what has been broken for a very long time, and allow wages to raise. I purpose that we put tariffs on all imported manufactured goods in the form of a social security tax 16%, and a Medicaid tax 10% based on the retail value of the product. No more favored nation status for anyone. All countries will pay this tax, Canada, Mexico, China, and the Euros. All will pay the same. Money becomes available to pay for elderly medical costs. Baby boomers won't be able to stripe the country of SS. benefit's, and there becomes room to raise wages 26% for the blue collar work. I'm sure there will be a lot more jobs created in this country as a result of the tariffs, but even without factoring in this benefit, we become stronger as a people.3

In the near term lets ask every state to send a convoy to the gulf, with food and supplies. 4

I'm sorry if I exceeded your word count, but I was on a role.5