>The primary objective of the US government for its people should be to provide everyone with the same basic opportunities. What they do with those opportunities is up to them, like it is in any other country which already does these things.
>Access to education and universal healthcare + a livable minimum wage at the very least.
I'd add that doing so is also smart economic policy and is good for capitalism.
By expanding the pool of folks who are decently paid and educated, we expand consumer spending (which is ~70% of the US economy) and the skilled labor pool.
Both of those will encourage the broader pool of healthier, better educated people to engage in entrepreneurship, growing and stabilizing the economy over the medium to long term.
And even with such spreading the wealth, the top 10% will still be plenty wealthy. It's a win-win, IMHO.
tl;dr: There are compelling economic/capitalistic reasons to increase wage floors, enhance the social safety net, improve edudcation and generally spread the wealth around, not just those around societal good.
The surprising part (maybe it is not very surprising) is that economic elites advocate for policies that are bad for economic growth in the long run. It's surprising because the policies that will result in economic growth are quite obvious. It's unsurprising because those who are in power don't want to give it up for the greater good.
>Access to education and universal healthcare + a livable minimum wage at the very least.
I'd add that doing so is also smart economic policy and is good for capitalism.
By expanding the pool of folks who are decently paid and educated, we expand consumer spending (which is ~70% of the US economy) and the skilled labor pool.
Both of those will encourage the broader pool of healthier, better educated people to engage in entrepreneurship, growing and stabilizing the economy over the medium to long term.
And even with such spreading the wealth, the top 10% will still be plenty wealthy. It's a win-win, IMHO.
tl;dr: There are compelling economic/capitalistic reasons to increase wage floors, enhance the social safety net, improve edudcation and generally spread the wealth around, not just those around societal good.