First of all I hope you had a great Thanksgiving filled with
well food filling your tummy and wonderful interactions with family and friends.
I hope you enjoyed every moment of your time. We certainly did.
Second has anyone seen Tulsi Gabbard lately? I’m sure she is
out there somewhere, yet I haven’t seen her in the news for awhile now. And
that is probably a good thing, yet it seems weird.
Now on to the headline. On Substack Michael W Green
identified as an investor or Wall Street Strategist who helps manage a hedge fund
says on Substack that $140,000 or specifically $136,500 should be considered
the new poverty line.
And of course everyone including yours truly has an opinion
about that statement.
I want to focus though on something that is discussed as the
valley of death or where most Americans fall economically. The poverty line
probably does need to be adjusted due to the inflation of the last few years,
but where it is actually may need a real deep dive that I am not going to do
right now.
This valley of death is a rough idea of people above the current
poverty income level and that $140,000 figure. And Mr. Green uses the
$140,000.00 figure for what is needed for a family of four, the somewhat standard
for measuring economic levels.
Mr. Green postulates that the poverty level should be this figure
to represent the amount it takes to meet all basic needs in modern America
including housing, childcare, healthcare, food etc… And this is where some
people say this isn’t the poverty level because poverty should represent where
people are who cannot meet any needs. I agree closer to the latter idea. Poverty
should represent what it means to be truly poor, not struggling.
So this brings me back to the valley of death thought. Most Americans
earn enough not to qualify for government assistance or the bottom line of the
valley of death to where Mr. Green states we need to earn to meet all our needs
in modern America or the upper level of the valley of death.
And why is this important? Again too many Americans fall
into this valley. They cannot make enough to begin to save, invest or basically
get ahead. They spend their lives robbing Peter to pay Paul then the next month
robbing Paul to pay Peter and one misstep away from complete financial oblivion.
Some people use the phrase living paycheck to paycheck as another example of
this economic group.
And if you read this blog regularly you know I have
identified some public policy ideas to address help for this group. And I identify
them as the working and middle class, technically the backbone of a healthy
democracy.
And if you look around you know we need to send our country
to a democracy doctor right now. Our education system is in the pits and being
subjugated to the wishes of billionaires who really do not want us educated.
Our Congress spends more time courting election funds from these same billionaires
instead of actually representing the majority of this country and the needs of
the people. And it is easy to spout of a litany of other ills facing our
nation.
The what gives moment keeps getting ignored by our media
because they are beholden to these same politicians for news.
So I don’t think $140,000 is the poverty line, but we need
to step up and really do something about the valley of death of economic group.
If you wonder why I am so adamant about saying the duopoly
has failed this country this is one of the main reasons. The people are barely
making it, while the uber rich are allowed to keep taking from them. This isn’t Elizabeth Warren and Bernie
Sanders saying the billionaires need to be reigned in, this needs even stronger
action. And no socialism isn’t the answer. It will create a whole set of new
problems. Don’t believe me, look at the history of the twentieth century.
Socialism failed.
We need a full scale overhaul of our tax system that tilts cuts
towards this group, a renewal to better education for all, improving social
security so the working and middle class can live in their retirement. Work
place savings plans are great, yet they should not be the main answer since
they rely on the economy and current economic trends can go south on occasion such
as 2009 or the pandemic. So I bet you can guess how I feel about privatizing
social security. The last thing we need to do is give more money to billionaires
to manipulate for their benefit.
Anyway campaign finance reform, rescinding the Citizen’s
United ruling because billionaires should not be allowed to have undue
influence on our government. I have said before, capitalism is great, but the
winners shouldn’t be allowed to make the rules for society. So that means
lobbying needs to be reigned in. And also it comes to a point where companies
become so large they are counter to a growing economy since they pull so much
out of it to retain their vast size.
I could go on, yet for now I am glad Mr. Green talked about
the poverty level at $140,000.00. That figure may not be the poverty level, yet
it does highlight what it takes in this country to break even between meeting
basic needs and eventually getting ahead.
A real strong economy would mean the valley of death economically would
shrink to such a point only a very small portion of the population would fall
into it rather than the vast majority we see now.
Are the Cowboys for real? I do not know yet, but it is
exciting to find out.
I really love the players on the Mavericks and see huge
potential still, yet I hope they don’t become too frustrated before they figure
out how to get over this last hump. I know they are close because they are in
way too many games and just losing at the last minute. Pray for them to find the
last ladder step to get where they need to be.
Advent is upon us, the preparation and the wait begin. I
hope you find joy in your heart as we move towards the first and second coming.
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