Rent is up each day,
People slave away in every way,
At their jobs to pay.

This isn’t black or white,
You know something isn’t right,
Money problems keep most up at night.

Anxiety and suffering will conquer your day,
If you allow these issues to lead you astray.

The onus on the people rather than corporations is a profound problem affecting the entire nation.
Leading us to:
division, polarization, radicalization.

For when times are desperate and people are needy,
They do things others would see as greedy.
But what else is one to do if they are to survive?
Not even to thrive, to enjoy all the wonders life has to offer.

What must be done?
What can be done?
What will allow this war on poverty to be won?
A war that the depraved and corrupted have already begun, Anticipated every move,
Smoothed out each groove,
Dwelling on it brings one to a foul mood.

I behoove those in power,
This is your hour,
To transform something dark and sour,
Into hope and optimism. 

—————————————

I wrote this poem on April 11, 2022. On that day, a conversation with my brother came up about income inequality. He said something to the effect of it being a multi-faceted problem, with very little solutions. However, there are countries around the world that have almost solved the problem. 

Norway has a welfare state that redistributes benefits to individuals across income levels, with gradual tax rates that increase at certain income thresholds. However, the United States is different due to a larger geography, population and more varied culture. Thus leading a person trying to solve the problem down a big rabbit hole. 

There are several solutions to income inequality in the USA:

1. Addressing food insecurity and making sure that people have easy access to fresh, healthy produce.

a. Baby steps have been made to solve food insecurity. At SUNY Purchase for example, the PFSN (Purchase Food Support Network) makes strident efforts to reduce food waste and support sustainable food systems in their local area. Similar actions could be done in other states across the USA that haven’t done so already.

2. Ensuring the ludicrously wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, and distributing that money to the people who need it.

a. To elaborate, most millionaires and billionaires often have low “taxable income” because they have their wealth in stocks and assets. Incremental systems based on value can be created for these. For example, new annual property taxes on real estate valued over $300,000 which would be 1% of that per year.

3. We should work together towards making Universal Basic Income (UBI) a bigger option for lower-income households.

a. UBI would include a trust fund for each child at birth. The trust fund would gain money up to a certain limit, which would be paid for by surpluses within industries such as infrastructure, energy, and semiconductor tech. On a more individual level, financial education should be made readily accessible to said households as well. This would introduce habits and tools for them to use in their daily lives to both make and keep more money for themselves.

4. Creation and investment in Infrastructure

a. Domestic projects such as high-speed railways or public data centers already have a near-guaranteed return on profits. The surplus from these projects must go to the public treasury rather than private shareholders.

5. Expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) & Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

a. The CTC is already a brilliant concept which works as tax relief for both single and married couples based on Annual Gross Income (AGI). For example, if you owe $3,000 in taxes and only make $140,000 total AGI for your household, you would receive a $2,000 dollar credit, meaning you’d only have to pay the remaining $1,000.

b. EITC functions as a tax credit for low-income households. Upon its enactment in 1975, it gave tax relief of up to 10% for individuals making $4,000-$8,000 per year. To put it in today’s perspective, $4,000 is $24,551 in 2026 after adjusting for inflation.

6. Raising the federal minimum wage

a. For young adults today to have the same spending power as when boomers were young adults, the federal minimum wage would have to be around $60 per year. Right now, it sits at around $7.25. Even raising to $15 an hour would be a game changer for many low-income households. 

Addressing and combating income inequality will be a long-term struggle, and has been around since the late 1910s in the USA. However, one must remain cautiously optimistic in resolving it. I know what I’m about to say is rather cliché, but a glass half full is ALWAYS better than a glass half empty.