What For You is the Single Biggest Political Issue of the 2016 Election?

[Midnight Rain]

Totally disagree with you as I usually do on numerous subjects. Just so you understand where I'm coming from 100 pounds of rice cost about $40, 100lbs of beans around $90. I don't know where or how you grew up but we always had a pot of beans available for almost every meal. Didn't eat rice because my Dad refused to touch it (WWII) I never touched it until I went into the service. Why do you think we have such a obesity problem compounded by more and more diabetes...it because of the JUNK food you just put forward. A bowl of oatmeal takes about 2 minutes to cook.and cost about $4 for 42oz and you can buy bulk a lot cheaper. We have a single neighbor across the street that works part time at minimum wage. She doesn't seem to be having any problems supporting herself above the basic level as a matter of fact doing quite well for herself. She is also in the process of furthering her education. So I have a problem with your conclusions. Also your idea of the federal government mandating wages is in my opinion sheer nonsense.

Is your argument that someone who is working 40 hours a week in a full time job only ever allowed to eat rice and beans? Is that the expected standard of living of a first world nation? The obesity problem is actually a diverse and difficult issue that is plaguing almost every major country in the world. Part of it has to do with the fact that the same junk food is actually cheaper than the healthy food.

And I don't put any faith into your anecdotes. Show me the numbers. As an extension of respect I won't put any arguments into anecdotes with you either.

 

[metis]

Also your [MR] idea of the federal government mandating wages is in my opinion sheer nonsense.

And exactly where did MR or anyone else post that? A minimum wage simply is not "the federal government mandating wages" any more than your Social Security check is "the federal government mandating wages".

 

[esmith]

And exactly where did MR or anyone else post that? A minimum wage simply is not "the federal government mandating wages" any more than your Social Security check is "the federal government mandating wages".

I read the below highlighted (my highlight) as advocating for the federal government to mandate minimum wages. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so. How say you?

The federal government is the only way to ensure that people of the whole nation make a livable wage. 15 an hour isn't outrageous even in the boonies.

The best way to explain why we need a higher minimum wage is by talking about a very simple economic concept used by pretty much every business ever. Its called price elasticity. Its a simple enough to calculate (harder to find the base numbers to use in the calculation however) that shows us how to get the maximum profit for the cost of an item. You could sell an item for 100 dollars and make a 90 dollar profit off each one. However you might only sell 5 total. If you sell them for 15 dollars you make a 5 dollar profit but sell 100. So you end up with a profit of 450 vs a profit of 500. Somewhere in between there is a better number. Perhaps at 20 dollars you still sell 100 but double your profit range to 1000. Perhaps at 25 you only sell 90 but end up with 1250 in profit.

Why does this matter in the minimum wage issue? Because people across the board are selling their labor to businesses (Just like any other product or service) for pennies on the dollar. Their wages should be much higher across the board (not just minimum wage) but they lack the ability to change that. Because in our current economy the workers have very very very very little power vs the companies who have far too much power. You either work for cheap or don't get to work at all.

I will agree that people don't need to live on minimum wage all the time. People need to have some ambition. But if you work 40 hours a week you should be able to support yourself to a basic level. We may disagree on what that basic level is. I think you have an idea that people living in these conditions are constantly making poor life choices or eating far more expensive than they should. This isn't true. Most people are buying the cheapest they can from the cheapest store. Burgers at mcdonalds can feed a family of 4 for about 10 bucks. Little Ceasers makes a full pizza to feed 4 for five dollars.

Its not a matter of attempting to live above your level and wining that you don't have enough. It really actually is needing more to get by. I think the minimum wage should be 20 dollars in some places. perhaps 12 in others. But a flat 15 for the whole country isn't an economy breaking thing. What is more important to me however is the domino effect it has on the rest of the economy. People making 10 an hour are suddenly at least making 15 an hour and people making 15 an hour will probably be making more than 15 an hour. The higher up on the pay scale you go the less it effects you but it will effect those making less than 20 dollars an hour for sure.

 

[Valjean]

Foreign policy/militarism is an important issue. It we didn't spend most of our money on military adventurism we might be able to afford to address a lot of problems at home.

Economic policy is important. Deregulation and 'free trade' policies have enriched a tiny cadre of corporatists at the expense of the "general welfare." Maybe we should reconsider the Supply Side, "trickle down" policies we embraced 35 years ago.

Of course, all this is moot if we don't address the overriding problem of global warming. We build walls to keep a handful of Mexicans out. How do we expect to keep out three or four billion climate refugees? How can our economy survive a new Dark Age?

 

[Sunstone]

A lot of people in this election feel they are not fairly represented and their voices are not being heard. That is really the #1 issue. The people they depend upon to represent them actually do not. Nobody is looking out for the ranchers, for the blacks, for the gays, for the evangelicals, for the small business owners etc. Lots of groups feel underrepresented and unheard, and they also aren't listening to anyone else.

All the candidates do is pretend to hear various groups. "I hear you. Nobody else does, but I do." For some reason that keeps working.

Do you see wealth inequality as contributing to the problem you've outlined? For instance, political power follows economic power. The fact some people are vastly richer than most people easily translates into the fact some people have hugely greater power than most people. Those people are represented in government. The rest of us are not.

 

[Sunstone]

chauvinism

Why chauvinism? For me, that's an issue, but not my foremost.

 

[Sunstone]

Foreign policy/militarism is an important issue. It we didn't spend most of our money on military adventurism we might be able to afford to address a lot of problems at home.

Economic policy is important. Deregulation and 'free trade' policies have enriched a tiny cadre of corporatists at the expense of the "general welfare." Maybe we should reconsider the Supply Side, "trickle down" policies we embraced 35 years ago.

Of course, all this is moot if we don't address the overriding problem of global warming. We build walls to keep a handful of Mexicans out. How do we expect to keep out three or four billion climate refugees? How can our economy survive a new Dark Age?

Do you see any of those problems solved if wealth inequality is not dealt with effectively?

 

[Valjean]

I think Jay, as usual, makes a good point. Our national pride and "exceptionalist" attitudes underlie a great deal of pernicious policy.
It's a hubris.

 

[Valjean]

Historically, increasing wealth inequality has preceded depression, revolution, even societal collapse. I see it as dangerous and a serious threat to both the general welfare and Democracy itself.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Why chauvinism? For me, that's an issue, but not my foremost.

white chauvinism

male chauvinism

religious chauvinism

national chauvinism
​

 

[metis]

I read the below highlighted (my highlight) as advocating for the federal government to mandate minimum wages. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so. How say you?

MR was talking about the minimum wage, and I don't see whereas he stated or implied that this should be done across the aboard. However, raising the minimum wage to $15 would have the effect of enticing other businesses to raise their employee's wages to that level or maybe a bit beyond in order to keep their employees.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Do you see wealth inequality as contributing to the problem you've outlined? For instance, political power follows economic power. The fact some people are vastly richer than most people easily translates into the fact some people have hugely greater power than most people. Those people are represented in government. The rest of us are not.

I can imagine that being a factor, and it probably is. Polling technology has improved, too; and accurate polls allow large parties to play their games better while small groups and small parties don't seem to access this technology as well. The lines of voting counties have been reshaped by political parties in a process called gerrymandering, so instead of having sensible lines the voting districts have ridiculous shapes.

The main reason could also be a shift in culture. For example: the newly empowered black voters. After the revolution of the 1960's they seem to have waited a while in silence for things to improve, but then they became verbally more active. They endured years of unfair police action in many places, and the majority of voters never was aware of it. The homosexuals are another group of newly active political dissidents. We now have 'Latino' voters, and they also have concerns.

 

[metis]

Historically, increasing wealth inequality has preceded depression, revolution, even societal collapse. I see it as dangerous and a serious threat to both the general welfare and Democracy itself.

Absolutely, and an increasing number of even conservative economists are also sounding this alarm. And it ain't gonna fix itself, so if government doesn't work to solve this problem, we will be well on our way to becoming a "potato republic", which is a colder-weather variation of being a "banana republic"-- a much smaller middle class, a much larger and poorer lower class, and most wealth is hoarded in the upper class.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Absolutely, and an increasing number of even conservative economists are also sounding this alarm. And it ain't gonna fix itself, so if government doesn't work to solve this problem, we will be well on our way to becoming a "potato republic", which is a colder-weather variation of being a "banana republic"-- a much smaller middle class, a much larger and poorer lower class, and most wealth is hoarded in the upper class.

Wouldn't it be something if Greenspan made a speech reminding Trump about why he had a change of heart in his approach to economics?

 

[Orbit]

What for you is the single biggest political issue of the 2016 election? Why?




For me, the biggest issue is the increasing concentration of income, wealth and political power in the hands of fewer and fewer people. Because of that, America is now a near oligarchy, and if the trend is not reversed, America will at some point change from an oligarchy into a dictatorship. That has been the pattern through-out history. There is no reason to suppose we will escape it if we do not act to reverse the trend.

Control and subversion of democracy by corporations. That's the root of all the problems.

 

[metis]

Wouldn't it be something if Greenspan made a speech reminding Trump about why he had a change of heart in his approach to economics?

I think so. When Greenspan made his testimony and admitted that his paradigm was flawed, that admittance literally shocked me. Here was maybe the most respected economist in the U.S. admitting that he screwed up big time.

For those not familiar with this, Greenspan believed in more the Ayn Rand approach whereas he felt that government oversight should be kept at a minimum because certainly banks, investment firms, and large insurance companies like AIG wouldn't take such risks as to possibly jeopardize their own well-being. Boy, was he wrong, but at least he admitted it.

He also said he realized he was wrong as early as 2005, but he knew that the economic down-slide couldn't be stopped, so what he said what he hoped for was a soft-landing. It wasn't.

Stunning, but honest, testimony.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

When Greenspan made his testimony and admitted that his paradigm was flawed, that admittance literally shocked me.

You aren't the only one. For me Greenspan went from someone I regularly criticized to someone I hold up and say "see! even he realized it doesn't work like that!"
And I know some others who were stunned and shocked when I told them of Greenspan's reversal. My friend's dad used to hate Greenspan with a fiery passion, and that hatred was snuffed out.

 

[bobhikes]

My biggest issues are Keeping religion out of Politics and Providing immigrants a path to citizenship.

 

[fantome profane]

white chauvinism

male chauvinism

religious chauvinism

national chauvinism
​

Interesting list. Could there also be such a thing as police chauvinism? The phrase sounds awkward to me, but despite that I think it might belong to that list.

 

[copperblade]

If the cost of living in an area mandates $15 for hamburger flippers fine, say like San Francisco or New York fine, but if your living in Podunk _______ then it is too much. Let the local economy determine the wage not the &^%^$#$ federal government.

Or even the local government.