A boldly misguided idea

I have to give Thomas Foley credit for trying to think outside the box in his opinion piece Capitalism Isn’t Working for the Poor—Let’s Try Something Else. Unfortunately that’s all the credit I can offer because he based his idea on some faulty assumptions and managed to propose a solution which is quite probably worse than doing nothing. (That is quite the accomplishment when starting with a system that has become as unbalanced as ours.)

First let’s recognize his two accurate concepts:

  1. Our system isn’t working for the poor.
  2. Ill designed interventions act as a parking break on economic potential.

Foley proposes “a two-track system that provides a free-market system for those who thrive in it and another system for those who don’t.” He goes on to clarify that at least 70% of the population would be in the free market system while up to 30% could opt into the alternate system. This exposes his assumption that at least 70% of the population is thriving in the free market.

That assumption stands in stark contrast to the statistic that more than half of the population cannot weather even a single $1000 emergency. I’m not sure how Foley would define thriving but if he thinks being one minor emergency away from debt counts as thriving he needs a new definition. If he doesn’t think so then his plan is to have a lot of people who aren’t thriving stuck in the free market system where they already aren’t thriving.

I assume he got his 30% benchmark based on the fact that 30% of our population is currently receiving benefits from one or more government assistance programs but again, he already agrees that system isn’t working and he is proposing to stratify it so that only a relatively static 30% of the population can receive such benefits. His system fails to account for the fact that while ~30% of the population is receiving benefits at any given time, 55% of Americans receive those benefits at some time.

Finally, Foley proposes that young adults choose at age 20 which track they want to participate in. It seemed somewhere between irresponsible and cruel to require that with virtually no life experience young people recently out of high school must choose between having a government stabilized income so long as they are working, or hoping for higher wages in the free market system while being excluded from access to things like a child tax credit or nutritional assistance. While he would allow them to change their choice once within the first 10 years  that is still a limited amount of life experience and all of these choices would be conditional on not exceeding 30% of the overall population on the government benefit track.*

Foley emphasizes that this program is “distinct from a Universal Basic Income because it isn’t universal” but I guarantee that for the same net cost of $535 billion a year that he estimates his program would require we could provide a universal basic income large enough to ensure that everybody can weather an unexpected $1000 emergency or scrape by with an unexpected job loss even when having to wait several weeks before their unemployment checks can arrive (if they even qualify).

* Foley indicates that the stabilized income wages would be adjusted annually to maintain the ratio which suggests that the more people who want that security the lower the wages would be.

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Phoenix time for Utah

One of the issues that tends to have massive agreement (like 90%) is the desire to stop switching clocks twice a year. The only disagreement is whether to do permanent standard time or permanent daylight savings time. So far the most politically successful cohort has been the permanent DST group who have managed to get a bill passed which declares that Utah will adopt permanent DST if certain conditions are met: 1) Congress passing legislation to make it legal, and 2) multiple neighboring states moving to permanent DST as well.

In advance of the next legislative session let me offer my fellow Utah citizens the reasons why we can and should abandon that impotent legislation and make November 3, 2024 the last time Utah ever had to change its clocks.

Advantages of standard time

  • Current law allows us to end this silliness without a literal act of Congress. States currently have the authority to adopt permanent standard time but not permanent DST.
  • If we switch to standard time there is already a built in defined timezone. Utah currently uses the  America/Denver timezone but a switch to permanent standard time moves us to the America/Phoenix timezone. Moving to permanent DST would mean making a new timezone or remembering that we are in America/Mexico City.
  • Standard time is naturally better for humans at a biological level. As succinctly stated by the British Sleep Society, “given the choice between natural light in the morning and natural light in the afternoon, the scientific evidence favours light in the morning.”
  • If we were to pass a bill early in the legislative session it could go into effect before we will otherwise move our clocks forward to “capture an extra hour of evening sunlight” during the summer for extended evening recreation (the argument of the permanent DST cohort) as if we don’t already know how to entertain ourselves long after dark for half the year anyway and would still have to for 4 months a year with permanent DST.
  • Lastly, those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it. Half a century ago the country decided to give permanent DST a 2 year trial run. They scrapped the trial in under a year because of the extremely late winter sunrises. Admittedly, that’s an even greater problem in Maine or Montana than in Salt Lake City but why should we doom our Logan citizens to 9:15AM sunrises in addition to maintaining the tortures of parents trying to put their five year olds to bed with a 9:00PM sunset?

Join Arizona to create a corridor of permanent standard time. We can switch from Denver to Phoenix time without waiting on the feds to end clock switching, adopt the clock scheme that is most in harmony with biology, and do so without becoming a time island.

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America needs to detoxify our media ecosystem

It behooves Americans who care about the future of democracy, decent governance and the fate of their most vulnerable fellow Americans to understand the fundamentally different media reality that envelops a substantial number of voters.

Jen Rubin

In a recent article, Jen Rubin called out the need to reclaim reality from right-wing disinformation. As is generally the case she has a lot of good information there although I think the claim that Democrats need to reclaim reality is slightly off the mark. Genuine conservatives also need to reclaim reality from a party that has redefined “conservative” to mean “willing to go along with whatever MAGA says.” (Its also important to recognize that  a willingness to believe disinformation and conspiracy theories is not limited to Republican voters. I’ve been disappointed to see educated Democratic voters consoling themselves with faulty explanations about the outcome of our elections this year.)

In truth, it is American democracy which cannot effectively function in a culture where fact and opinion are given the same weight by an underinformed populace that doesn’t understand the critical role that a genuinely engaged and accurately informed populace plays in making our constitutional democracy work.

While it is important for Democrats to win elections so long as the alternative is a Republican party untethered from facts, we must recognize that such electoral victories will be fragile if they are based simply on getting more voters to choose Democrats rather than on getting better information to voters and winning elections based on voters who can distinguish fact from bluster and fear mongering.

The work that must be done is 1) to teach people across the political spectrum to examine their existing beliefs honestly, 2) to train people on how to validate the information they are receiving, and 3) to get them to buy into the importance of basing their voting choices on facts rather than emotions.

We must also work to build up a new media ecosystem that will do what traditional media has largely abandoned, doggedly pursuing truth in an effort to help people be informed rather than clinging to a mirage of treating all viewpoints as equally valid regardless of their factual basis. Journalistic opinion needs to be easily distinguishable from factual journalism and the media industry must rebuild trust with a populace that has come to believe, not without cause, that no media outlets are more interested in the truth than they are in swaying their audience.

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National Security and Global Leadership

Platform for America

Vision: A secure nation that leads with strength, innovation, and moral clarity on the global stage.

Key Policies

  • Modern Defense: Invest in cybersecurity and advanced technologies to counter emerging threats.
  • Counter Terrorism: Stay vigilant against domestic and foreign adversaries.
  • Humanitarian Leadership: Support democratic movements and provide crisis aid to struggling nations.
  • Global Partnerships: Strengthen alliances and lead efforts on global challenges like climate change and pandemics.
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Government Accountability and Democratic Integrity

Platform for America

Vision: A transparent and fair government that serves the people and protects democracy.

Key Policies

  • Campaign Finance Reform: Bring transparency to political funding by requiring disclosure of large donors for PACs and Super PACs.
  • Government Transparency: Increase accountability through open data initiatives and rigorous oversight.
  • Broaden Voter Participation: Combat voter suppression, expand ballot access, and ensure fair elections.
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Education and Workforce Development

Platform for America

Vision: An education system and workforce strategy that prepares every American for the opportunities of tomorrow.

Key Policies

  • Workforce Training: Partner with businesses to create apprenticeships and career programs tailored to emerging industries.
  • Invest in Teachers: Raise salaries and provide resources for professional growth.
  • Civics Education: Promote American history and civic participation through updated curriculums.
  • National Service: Establish education grants tied to community or international service opportunities.
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Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability

Platform for America

Vision: A future where sustainable energy powers our economy, limits our dependence on foreign powers, and minimizes dangers to health and safety.

Key Policies

  • Energy Security: Secure America’s energy future by investing in sustainable domestic production, reducing reliance on foreign sources, and creating jobs in renewable energy industries.
  • Green Jobs: Support training programs for workers transitioning to renewable energy careers.
  • Clean Energy Transition: Prioritize a sustainable energy economy through renewable infrastructure investments.
  • Environmental Justice: Ensure that underserved communities share in the benefits of climate and pollution mitigation efforts.
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Civil Rights and Social Justice

Platform for America

Vision: A society where every individual is treated with dignity, equality, and respect.

Key Policies

  • Criminal Justice Reform: End mass incarceration and invest in rehabilitation and alternatives to imprisonment.
  • Combat Discrimination: Strengthen protections against racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination.
  • Protect Reproductive Rights: Ensure individuals can access comprehensive reproductive healthcare.
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Freedom, Rights, and Community Empowerment

Platform for America

Vision: A nation that upholds personal freedoms and empowers communities to shape their own futures.

Key Policies

  • Religious Freedom: Protect the right to worship freely without government interference.
  • Lawful Immigration: Streamline legal immigration processes while ensuring secure borders.
  • Second Amendment: Uphold the right to bear arms while requiring universal background checks and responsible ownership.
  • Privacy Protections: Safeguard citizens’ data from misuse by corporations or the government.
  • Local Control: Return decision-making authority to states, municipalities, and parents for tailored solutions.
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Healthcare and Well-Being

Platform for America

Vision: A healthcare system that prioritizes affordability, accessibility, and comprehensive support for all Americans.

Key Policies

  • Make Health Insurance Portable: Ensure workers can maintain their existing coverage when they lose or change jobs, with costs fairly distributed between employers to avoid burdening individuals.
  • Lower Costs: Negotiate lower prescription drug prices and cap out-of-pocket healthcare expenses.
  • Mental Health Services: Expand funding for mental health care and substance abuse programs.
  • Protect Medicare: Safeguard and strengthen Medicare for seniors, while eliminating fraud and abuse.
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