Disclaimer: The Public Economist does not necessarily agree with the views expressed. It is fourth in the series of seven pieces which Gary has generously agreed to share with TPE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At death, individuals should be discouraged from passing on their wealthy estates to their heirs. Instead, as a substitute for inheritance and gift taxes, impose a transfer tax on the recipients whose holdings exceed $1 million in value, thus encouraging the super-rich to spread out their monopoly-sized estates to all members of their family, friends, servants and workers who helped create their fortunes, teachers, health workers, police, other public servants, military veterans, artists, the poor and the disabled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for education, we should re-established the extension of public K-12 to include tuition-free public colleges and universities, and trade schools, for those students who meet the minimum academic requirements.
\nThe reality is that, except for a relative few, the majority of the population, no matter how well educated, will not be able to find a job that pays sufficient wages or salaries to support a family or prevent a lifestyle, which is gradually being crippled by near poverty or poverty earnings. Thus, education is not the panacea, though it is critical for our future societal development. And younger, as well as older people, will increasingly find it harder and harder to secure a well-paying job \u2014 for most, their ONLY source of income \u2014and will find themselves dependent on taxpayer-supported government welfare, open and disguised or concealed.
\nFor decades employment opportunity in the United States was such that the majority of people could obtain a job that could support their livelihood, though, in most cases related to a family today, it requires the father and mother to both work, if they aspired to live a \u201cmiddle-class\u201d lifestyle. With \u201cFree Trade\u201d those opportunities began to disintegrate as corporations sought to seek lower-cost production taking advantage of global cheap labor rates and non-regulation, as well as lower tax rates abroad. This resulted in a chain reaction forcing more and more companies to outsource in order to stay competitive (thus the rise of Communist China, India, Mexico, and other third-world nation economies).
\nAt the same time, tectonic shifts in the technologies of production were exponentially occurring (and continue to do so), which resulted (and continues to result) in less job opportunities as production was shifted from people making things to \u201cmachines\u201d (the non-human factor) of technology making things. The combination of cheap global labor costs and lower, long-term-invested \u201cmachine\u201d costs has forced the worth of labor downward, and this will continue to be the reality. Our only way to far greater prosperity, opportunity, and economic justice is to embrace technological innovation and invention and the resulting human-intelligent machines, super-automation, robotics, digital computerized operations, artificial intelligence (AI) ,etc. as the primary economic engine of growth.
\nThis will require a highly educated workforce employed in the development and building of a future economy that can support general affluence for EVERY citizen.
\nFor decades employment opportunity in the United States was such that the majority of people could obtain a job that could support their livelihood, though, in most cases related to a family, it eventually required the father and mother to both work, if they aspired to live a \u201cmiddle-class\u201d lifestyle. Higher education was not typically required. But today and into the future, higher education, including advanced trades learning, will be required to compete with students globally.
\nWith \u201cFree Trade,\u201d employment opportunities began to disintegrate as corporations sought to seek lower-cost production taking advantage of global cheap labor rates and non-regulation, as well as lower tax rates abroad. This resulted in a chain reaction forcing more and more companies to outsource in order to stay competitive (thus the rise of Communist China, India, Mexico, and other third-world nation economies).
\nAt the same time, tectonic shifts in the technologies of production were exponentially occurring (and continue to do so), which resulted (and continues to result) in less job opportunities as production was shifted from people making things to \u201cmachines\u201d (the non-human factor) of technology making things. The combination of cheap global labor costs and lower, long-term-invested \u201cmachine\u201d costs has forced the worth of labor downward, and this will continue to be the reality. Our only way to far greater prosperity, opportunity, and economic justice is to embrace technological innovation and invention and the resulting human-intelligent machines, super-automation, robotics, digital computerized operations, etc. as the primary economic engine of growth.
\nWhile the rate of technological progress is directly proportional to the number and quality of the people engaged in the fields of science and engineering, economic policy is the mechanism that fuels investment and development of technological innovation and invention. This is where education is critical to our future societal development.
\nEducation should be encouraged and expanded. Everyone should have the opportunity to personally develop their own exceptional innate abilities and unlock their creativity. That, for many Americans, means the opportunity to earn a college or university degree.
\nBut except for the personal development benefit to advancing one\u2019s education, the reality is that far less \u201ceducated\u201d people will be necessary in the long term to produce the products and services necessary and valued by society. This is due to the exponential development of human-level artificial intelligence, which is embodied in advanced automation and robotics.
\nThose college graduates who do succeed within the fields of science and engineering are hired workers to do what? Our scientists, engineers, and executive managers, who are not owners themselves of the companies they work for, except for those in the highest employed positions, are encouraged to work to destroy employment by making the capital owners\u2019 assets more productive. How much employment can be destroyed by substituting machines for people is a measure of their success\u2013\u2013always focused on producing at the lowest cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This will necessarily entail a discussion of how the system is structured, as the policies and rules make a big difference in whether or not EVERY citizen has an equal opportunity to succeed. At the core of the problem are barriers that inhibit or prevent ordinary people from succeeding. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":44165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,92],"tags":[40,139,137],"class_list":["post-57006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-economy","category-social","tag-capitalism","tag-economic-equality-in-usa","tag-usa-economy"],"yoast_head":"\n