THE POVERTY-RATE NUMBERS I beg to differ. Frankly , it's impossible. The US is a developed nation with the amongst the highest of unfair distributions of income. That poverty-problem is fixed primarily by increasing upper-income taxation, and assuring those below the Poverty-level Threshold Income ($25K annual income for a family of four) are increased as well. That is a Very Long-term Solution. It takes plenty of time to educate people out-of-poverty! Thusly, far more important is very low-cost Post-secondary Education that will pull people out of poverty. At present, the average cost of such an education is around $25K for each school year. It is clear that nobody is going to get that education-level if they are living at or below the Poverty Threshold. The above is the key-solution adopted by Europe coming out of WW2 and it worked. I sent my kids to university here in France for $1500 a year (in Euros). Where there is the will to do so, there is a way out of abject poverty in America. However I, for one - given the fact that manufacturing in America has diminished to around 12% of the total - am convinced that there is no further diminishing of long-term poverty without free post-secondary education. Poverty Threshold Report analysis by the Census Bureau from here: After Covid, it is sure the above numbers (for 2020 and 2021) are going to change and not for the better! Remember, the poverty-threshold rate is $25K per year for a family of four. How would YOU like to be living on that income ... ?
Good argument. Time will tell - I prefer to think there will be No Major Rupture in the economy. But neither will unemployment at the bottom of the rung be dissipated. We are graduating far too many who can't get into a Post-secondary Education because of their poor family Income Level. That Post-secondary Level of education is the only-key to a long-term better income in America today ...
That's not what I said, which is fair incomes for all - bottom-to-top and top-to-bottom. So what is "fair"? As in the range "fair - neutral - unfair" A key economic-factor called Income Inequality (or unfairness) best indicates where a country is located compared to others. From here: The Balance - Income Inequality in America - this excerpt: Need more be said ... ?
WHAT IS INCOME INEQUALITY? It is measured by what we call the Gini Coefficient. And, it looks like this for key economies: A higher Gini Coefficient is NOT goodness. It is badness ...
A WORLD OF GINIS Interested in understanding what the world looks like when coloured with Gini Coefficients? Enjoy! The darker the coloured country is the worse becomes its Gini Coefficient, and higher is its Income Disparity (read "unfairness"). So, yes, Canada has less Income-income disparity than the US and Mexico has more ...
More has to be said about why it's in the US federal government's purview to manage the country's economy. Government's are so willing to step in and take control when they're not needed.
It won't. The problem is the system of privilege that consigns working people to the treadmill that powers the escalator the privileged ride up at their leisure. Through exceptional exertions, some on the treadmill may be able to pass their fellows, and even scramble up onto the escalator. But when people on the treadmill all start running faster, the treadmill just goes faster -- and the escalator it powers goes up faster too, of course. Getting more education, becoming more productive, is just running faster on the treadmill: it can work for the few who surpass their fellows, but it cannot work for the many. Look at South Korea, which has the highest standard of education in the world, yet still struggles with high income inequality because education does not address the root problem. Look at the Philippines, which has more average years of education than Portugal, but languishes in poverty and inequality because landowners in the Philippines are legally entitled to just take everything from everyone else: https://ourworldindata.org/global-education#years-of-schooling
IGNORANCE OF THE POVERTY THRESHOLD This "purview" exists in any developed economy on earth. And, in China it is amongst the worst. Which is why Chinese-billionaires try to get their money and families Out Of China by Skedaddling! Where do they go! America, of course! You are barking up the wrong tree. Income Unfairness in our Beloved America is amongst the worst on this planet. And people like you think naively that even more income at the top is what the world needs. Whilst that significant percentage of Fellow Yanks at/around/below the Poverty Threshold* are "useless knot-heads who don't really like to work" ... ! *Which is income of $25K-a-year for a family of four. That figure has been around for far, far too long. The number should be raised nowadays to $35K per year!
If income unfairness in our beloved America is among the worst on this planet then why are people from Iran to Guatemala risking their lives to come here? Give that a thought and quit being so hard on Americans.
Canada also has less diversity than the US, and Mexico has more. Now, were you saying something about those Northern European countries you want the US to be more like?
Because those countries do not have a free-democracy. They are run by people with single-mindedness in terms of religious affiliation and they want to control the government for their own political gain. This happens all over the Arab-world and has existed for quite some time. When I claim that America has one of the worst distributions of Income Inequality of any developed country it is simply because the measurement of income-distribution in the country dictates that conclusion. Info-graphic source here: Which is the result of the fact that Ronald RayGun's administration started diminishing further upper-income taxation in 1981. John Kennedy had started the downward trend before his death in 1963. My Point? - Income taxation at the upper-level is still insufficient. US Federal Taxation must be reset to a much higher level. America needs no more billionaires ... ! So, exactly what does it need? That is a debate of gigantic-importance - above all for those living between at or below the Poverty Threshold (a measly $25K per year for a family of four) ... PS: We must look backwards historically? Why did Ronnie RayGun diminish upper income taxation? Because it was the millionaires who financed his campaign!
From Investopedia here: What's Wrong With the American Tax System Excerpt: This study linked above is a mindful. I'll leave it at that ...
I'm convinced that there is in Europe a North/South divide - just like in America. But for different reasons in each geography. Historically it was the northern-Europeans (England first of all) that migrated to the US. The southern-migrants went first to South America and are migrating now from there. Believe me, there is a non-negligible difference in mindset between the two groups (North/South) in both Europe and the Americas. Their looks and their mindsets are very-different - and yet their democracies should have the same rules. So, isn't it amazing that South Americans who migrate to the US willingly pay their taxes without the slightest impingement*. Which is not quite the same as in their home countries. (Which is based upon hearsay since I've seen no acceptable study of the matter.) The diversity of national-taxation systems is very great. And I've yet to find a site that explains it in sufficiently understandable terms ... *Which is not a real threat. Getting thrown out of the US back to from where you came is typically done only after prison-time. Meaning, you've got to be caught first!
Overall pricing will remain, and unemployment will be fairly high. I suspect the motive behind open borders was to have a pool of cheap stand by labor to keep pressure on wages. (No to mention immigrants have a higher first generation birth rate) Right now employees have the upper hand, but it always changes back to owners. It is very hard to lower prices because that leads to stagflation (a stagnant economy with high inflation) Today we have demand side inflation, when interest rates go up we will have stagflation which is worse. When the supply side buzz wears off, a lot of businesses are going to fold.
I think the first person to kill a billionaire and claim it is due to poverty will be the face on T-Shirts for years too come...