The financial freedom agenda
Treat cost disease, reduce the debt, and save Social Security
Americans deserve better than a hot-potato game of ‘affordability’. In that game, whichever party is out of power promises to lower prices. Then, it fails to deliver.
Americans deserve financial freedom. That requires:
Treating cost disease. Cost disease is when prices in a sector go up faster than wages, year over year. Housing, healthcare, and utilities are most afflicted. But, their cost disease can be treated. Cut regulations that drive up prices, like bans on starter homes. Promote technology that lower prices, particularly in hospital services. And, always: take on special interests, like utilities, that keep prices high.
Read more:
A congressman on how Democrats can regain the initiative on the economy (The Economist)
Cost disease: what it is & why it matters (Simple but Not Easy)
Lower prices or perish (Simple but Not Easy)
Saving Social Security. This earned benefit is sacrosanct. Yet, it’s on track to be insolvent by 2033. Congress must fix the arithmetic of Social Security. That fix should include the wealthiest paying more than into a Trust Fund. It should also include raising the minimum wage and expanding access to wealth creation for workers.
Read more:
Save Social Security & the 3-leg stool (Simple but Not Easy)
Reduce the debt. The last president to balance the budget was a Democrat, and the next one should be, too. Handing off more than $40 trillion in debt to the next generation is a bill that comes due in taxes and inflation. It’s not fair.
Lowering deficits requires changes in growth, taxes and spending. Education, science, infrastructure and legal immigration improvements drive growth. Closing tax preferences like the Buy-Borrow-Die loophole for billionaires will raise tax revenue. And pursuing efficiencies in healthcare delivery, especially in chronic-disease care, can lower spending.
Read more:
Reducing the debt, part 2: the policies (Simple but Not Easy)