First, the most crucial fact of all: the American people are the United States of America, and their needs and wishes should be priority number one in Washington. Politicians and their parties cannot be allowed to rule over them. Their purpose is to serve Americans.
For this reason, every American must support President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan for all 330 million of the nation’s people. The bill and the Affordable Care Act would be the first two pieces of legislation passed in more than forty years that would serve the needs of the working class and place people before profits.
This plan is designed to return control of America to the middle class while lessening the gap in income inequality.
If most Americans are asked if they are ‘middle class,’ the majority would answer in the affirmative. They are unaware of the changes between 1967 and 2019. A steep decline in the actual number of middle-class Americans began in 1981, as the Reagan administration policies started a “war on the working class.”
History reveals that in 1967 the middle class composed 52.3% of the population. In 2019, the percentage fell to 45.1%. About one-half of all Americans struggle in the low-income or poverty levels in the wealthiest nation in the world.
Of equal interest is the fact that the United States has about 22 million millionaires in 2021 and 788 billionaires.
In Donald Trump’s first year in office, America added 700,000 millionaires to reach a total of 11 million millionaires. In that same year, the number of billionaires rose from 514 to 564.
Even during the height of the pandemic, when the American working class struggled to survive, the number of millionaires and billionaires grew dramatically.
Face these facts: the super-rich can easily afford to pay their fair share of taxes and support President Biden’s plan to improve the lives of the majority. It is a small price to pay for the luxury of living in a nation that has placed profits ahead of the needs of most Americans for the last four decades.
Republicans and their propaganda machines, Fox News and Newsmax, do not see it that way. Instead, they support the plutocracy they created and would enslave the majority to implement a fascist government.
After 25 years of lies and conspiracy theories, Fox is beginning to slide back into the cesspool. Last week Tucker Carlson lost 26 sponsors. Little by little, those who would like to be regarded as legitimate journalists are refusing to allow right-wing extremists to deny the truth and spin the facts.
On Sunday, Fox host Mike Emanuel had a question for Roy Blunt, a “Republican” Senator from Missouri. Emanuel asked Blunt why he would oppose the Build Back Better Act when one child tax credit provision would reduce child poverty.
“Senator, one of the casualties of the collapse of that bill is the child tax credit that expires at the end of the year. According to the Urban Institute, continuing the benefit could have a significant impact on child poverty.”
Blunt lied, as expected, claiming that Republicans doubled the child tax created in Trump’s tax reduction plan in 2017. The truth is that those child tax credits had an expiration date, while tax cuts given to the wealthy and large corporations were permanent.
The party of special interests continues to ignore the needs of most Americans and serve their wealthy owners.
The biggest complaint by Trump’s party is twofold. First, Biden’s Build Back Back plan provides incentives for switching to clean energy and eliminating a growth in carbon emissions. Moreover, the plan also strengthens the Affordable Care Act.
The White House website offers readers a full of the benefits for most Americans on the attached White House website.
Please vote, and vote wisely.
Op-ed by James Turnage
Rand Corporation: Most Americans Consider Themselves Middle-Class. But Are They? By Jeffrey B Wegner and Melanie A. Zaber
Newsweek: Fox News Host Confronts GOP Sen. Blunt With Data Showing Child Tax Credit Reduces Poverty; by Jason Lemon
White House: The Build Back Better Framework
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Tom Thai’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image by Jay Baker Courtesy of Maryland GovPics’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Second Inset Image Courtesy Matt Johnson’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
