Vote for a Better Life
Biden offers real relief for the working class
In 2017 22.4 million people applied for a US green card and in 2019 834,000 new US citizens took the oath. Clearly, many people from the world’s 195 countries see the US as a great place to live and work.
But do workers in the US have a great life in comparison to workers in other wealthy countries? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a group of 37 reasonably comparable countries (including the US, Australia, Chile, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom) with high GDPs (Gross Domestic Product) and Human Development Indexes (HDI). Here’s how life in the US compares to life in our OECD peers:
Let’s start with healthcare. Although the US spends twice as much per capita as the OECD average, our life expectancy is in the bottom half of OECD countries. And between 2012 and 2017 the US was the only OECD country whose life expectancy decreased.
And although the US spends heavily on healthcare, individuals still must pay significant costs out of pocket. Most OECD countries have universal (100%) or nearly universal coverage for “a core set of health services.” But in the US there is no universal coverage for anything. Instead, coverage is generally tied to employment, and 36% is private. One result: 16 OECD countries had a lower rate of households “likely to experience catastrophic health spending” (aka, medical bankruptcy).
Our healthcare system is also not keeping us safe from the coronavirus. As of 24 September 2020, our death rate from COVID-19 was 610 deaths per million; only three OECD countries have a higher death rate and half of all OECD countries have death rates of 100 per million or lower.
A healthcare system that costs twice as much per capita as the OECD average, yields a below average life expectancy and results in nearly the highest COVID-19 death rate in the OECD clearly leaves much to be desired.
How is our public education system? Not great. Only 66% of our three — five year olds are enrolled in pre-primary education or primary school; only four OECD countries have a lower percentage. And when 15 year olds were tested, US students were average in reading and science, and below average in math compared to the OECD countries.
Besides the deficiencies of our healthcare system and a barely average education system, what is life like for working families in America? In a word, difficult.
The US has the highest percentage of workers (23.4%) earning less than 2/3 of the median wage (middle class is defined as between 2/3 and 2X the median). In contrast, only 5.5% of Belgium’s workers are so poorly paid. Here’s a concrete example of US workers being grossly underpaid: In 2014 fast food workers in the US earned an average of $9 per hour while their counterparts in Denmark (an OECD country) earned an average of $20 per hour. Such low wages contribute to high levels of income inequality; only six OECD countries are more unequal than the US. This inequality can be measured in many ways. For example, since the Great Recession of 2007 only the wealthiest 20% have gained wealth; everyone else lost ground.
How about parental leave policies that would allow one or both parents to spend some of their child’s first year at home? Nope. The US offers zero weeks of maternity leave while the UK offers 52 weeks (the OECD average is 19 weeks). And “paid father-specific leave” is similar: zero weeks in the US, with Korea and Japan providing 52 weeks (the OECD average is eight weeks).
What about paid sick leave? Again, no. In the OECD, only the US and Korea did not have statutory paid sick leave prior to the pandemic.
Because of low wages and the lack of parental leave laws, many parents who want to spend time at home with their children have no choice but to continue working to make ends meet. But working creates another cost for parents: childcare. And families in the US pay the highest net costs for childcare of any OECD country.
Given the high cost of healthcare, the low minimum wage, the lack of parental and sick leave, and the high cost of childcare, it should come as no surprise that only three OECD countries have a higher rate of poverty than we do (17.8%).
And the reward for a lifetime of working under this system? American workers fare no better in retirement (if they get to retire at all). Net income replacement by Social Security is 58.6% of pre-retirement income (23rd best out of 37 OECD countries). The US has almost the highest rate of old age poverty in the OECD.
These (and other) worker-unfriendly policies have caused the middle class to shrink while the lower (and upper) classes have grown. This is not good for the country; a strong middle class is critical to the health of the economy.
Our criminal justice system is another aspect of life that does not compare favorably to many other countries. The US has the highest per capita rate of incarceration of any OECD country, almost twice as high as the country with the next highest rate. The US has far more killings by police per capita than any other democracy: 33.5 per million (Canada has 9.8 and England/Wales has 0.5). Perhaps this is in part due to poor training practices. Basic training in the US can be as short as 21 weeks in comparison to three years in some European countries. And during that short basic training US trainees spend one-third the amount of time on de-escalation training as they do on firearm skills.
Other countries have independent watchdogs to oversee complaints and investigate killings by officers. In contrast, in the US police departments are largely allowed to police themselves (although there are exceptions); clearly, this approach isn’t working well.
Consider the cumulative effect of an expensive and ineffective employer-based healthcare system, an almost average education, a suite of policies that put tremendous economic and psychological stress on working families, and relatively violent and unaccountable policing. Is it any wonder that 16 OECD countries have higher “life satisfaction” than we do and 17 devote more time to “leisure and personal care”?
Current policies are simply not conducive to the average worker living a healthy, productive and meaningful life reasonably free from fear of financial ruin. Our government is failing to deliver for working American families; perhaps that’s why only 55% of eligible voters even bothered to vote in 2016.
It is clear that American workers are getting a bad deal relative to their OECD counterparts. Working Americans are also getting a bad deal relative to their wealthier compatriots. Working class people labor under policies designed to favor the wealthy over the poor and middle class. An unambiguous recent example: Instead of addressing the needs of working families, the US government spent $1.9 trillion on a tax cut which gave the smallest benefit to low income working families and the greatest benefit to high income taxpayers (the richest fifth got 2/3 of the total benefit in 2018). Not all Americans are getting a bad deal; wealthy Americans are doing just fine.
To sum up: working class Americans are doing poorly relative to workers in other OECD countries and relative to wealthy Americans.
The good news is that none of the existing worker-unfriendly policies fell out of the sky engraved on stone tablets. Each policy has been the result of choices made by our elected leaders. The way to improve these policies is simple: elect better leaders at every level — national, state and local.
The majority of Americans want policies that will enable to them to have more secure, humane and enjoyable lives: paid maternity leave, government funding for childcare, a higher minimum wage, tuition free state and public colleges, and universal medical care. This is not pie in the sky; other countries (including many in the OECD) already have these things, which is proof that we can have them too. All we have to do is elect the right people to represent us.
Better legislators can enact policies that help the working class instead of favoring the wealthy. This is not a hypothetical claim: today’s top tax rate is 37%, but the top rate in the 1950’s (during an economic boom) was 91%. Americans used to work under a fairer set of rules and can do so again. We should not settle for the current state of affairs. We should raise our expectations.
This election offers working class Americans an opportunity to improve their lives substantially. Imagine how much better your life would be if the following specific plans (proposed by Joe Biden and viewable at his website) became a reality:
Healthcare
Creation of a new public option like Medicare
Annual insurance premiums reduced by half
Child and elder care
Increase Child Tax Credit (CTC) to $3,000 or more per child (depending on age)
Provide a tax credit of up to $8,000 for childcare costs
Provide tax credits to help pay for care of older family members
Education
Provide universal pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year olds
Two years of community college or other training without debt
Free public college or university for families earning less than $125,000
Minimum wage, taxes and benefits
Increase federal minimum wage to $15/hour (currently $7.25)
Provide 12 weeks paid leave for serious health conditions
No tax increase for anyone earning less than $400,000
Raise the tax rate on corporations
Raise tax rate on the wealthiest Americans
Require the wealthy to pay the same tax rate on investment income as on wages
Criminal justice
Provide states with grants to promote prevention and reduce incarceration
Decriminalize the use of cannabis
Provide better funding for community-oriented policing
Government for the people
100% public funding of federal elections
Restrict SuperPACS and dark money groups
Require candidates for federal office to release of 10 years of tax returns
These changes would transform the lives of millions of struggling working families, and help create a government whose focus would be on enacting policies desired by working Americans. Working families have had to struggle so hard for so long that these policies may sound like some kind of dream. But they are no dream: these policies can become the law of the land. And they will, if Joe Biden is elected, and control of the Senate flips to the Democrats. But only one thing can make these changes happen: your vote.
The working people of America deserve better. We can and should elect leaders who will enact policies that will improve the lives of working families and strengthen our country.
An election is underway. Make your voice heard. Vote for a better life.
