I am not a great writer and nor am I a great analyst, just an average Kossack from the progressive side, so I am really writing in order to generate a general discussion here about affordability.  And I am going to keep it simple. But I will editorialize now though, that weak tea proposals from the Dems such as maybe  a tax break here, a small subsidy there, a tweak to the 401ks, an increase in the EIC ain’t gonna cut it.  The electorate strongly believes that neither party stands for them and their interests, and they are not completely wrong.   I think we should to look to FDR and his strong, even RADICAL YET WILDLY POPULAR AND WILDLY SUCCESSFUL efforts.  Be bold! 

So, both sides are talking about affordability, affordability, affordability, like it is the dominant issue, but there are precious few if any specifics.  Mamdani is the only one that I have seen make very specific proposals, but they are only good for NYC, not nationally.

Affordability of course, has two sides: costs versus income.  I don’t think that for most items that there is much we can do about costs.  It won’t be easy to lower say food costs.    The two big exceptions are healthcare and housing; more later.  So it mostly comes down to the average folks income.  How do we go about increasing it?

Income: I think that Dems should advocate for moving the minimum wage up bigly and quickly: immediately to say $15/hour, next year to $20, and then $25 with indexing to inflation/productivity after that. There will be cries of communism and how its going to ruin the economy, so be ready with the counter argument.  

Costs: How can we make housing more affordable?  We should come up with a Marshall Plan for this, treat it as a national crisis.  How about low cost federally supported loans, generally limited to first time buyers and/or people below a certain age. I would think we could also limit the size of home these could go for, to get developers to build homes that are smaller and more affordable younger folks and easier on planet earth.  Also, we could lower interest rates by working on the budget deficit through taxing the wealthy and re-strengthening the IRS.

We should also come up with a serious real plan to control and eventually bring down medical costs for the nation: Medicare for All.  There is really nothing out there that would lower the national expenditures more than that.  It should not be such a hard sell, just be ready for once to cut through the bullshit: no, they do not wait 3 weeks in Canada to see a doctor for a broken leg, no they do not euthanize old folks in England. What they Do, is to provide coverage for everyone all the time that costs nothing, nothing more than is coming out of your paycheck or your bank account now. I cannot see any reason that we cannot do that and get national costs to come down to what it is in other countries. Do you?  

Dems need to say that they stand for these proposals and that they will push hard for them.  Do NOT promise that you will pass them, unless the voters demand it by giving Dems control of both houses and the WH. If they keep electing choke-the-woke R’s, then we can blame them for not getting the improvements they need.

What do others think?  What specific plans should we push?Â