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If you did not see “60 Minutes” Sunday evening, you missed the warnings of billionaire Ray Dalio. I am gloating when I say that he echoed much of what I have been claiming for years. His views of American economics and our nation’s future are wise and a clear warning of future failures.

Dalio grew up middle class and, unlike Trump and many other wealthy Americans, worked to amass his fortune. He is worth an estimated 18 billion dollars and will give one-half of his fortune away to charity.

He predicted the 2008 recession, and continues to be concerned about the fact that ten percent of all Americans control 90 percent of our nation’s wealth. The disparity is not only harmful to the majority, it is a danger to national security.

The United States has 540 billionaires, and 11 million millionaires. Dalio claims that this is the result of a failed capitalistic society. He was asked if he and other extremely wealthy Americans should pay more taxes, his response was “definitely.”

The enormous gap between the wealthy and the working class in America has caused many problems and will create many more.

The obvious problem is that only 10 percent of all Americans are able to live the “American dream.” True freedom is based upon the amount of money you have in the bank or in offshore accounts. When asked if he believed in “trickle-down economics.” His answer was, “that’s ridiculous; it makes no sense.” This has been every Republican president’s policy since Ronald Reagan; it has never produced the effect promised by the right-wing. Every Republican president has left office with a high unemployment rate and an increase of trillions of dollars in the national debt.

The second problem concerns social programs, healthcare, and education.

Social Security is not a ‘social program.’ It was designed as a self-sustaining program by FDR in 1935. Greedy and ambitious politicians somehow gained access to funding for  a near perfect program and today it is running out of money, although not one individual in history has received the full amount he or she and their employers contributed to the program. There should be a surplus.

Medicare and Medicaid have become necessary because America has the worst healthcare system in the world. Average costs in the United States for medical procedures are as much as 10 times greater than in other developed nations. Universal healthcare is a must in the richest nation in the world. It must not be a ‘right’ reserved for the wealthy.

America ranks 14^th in education. This is unforgivable and will widen the gap between the wealthy and the working class. Nearly 30 years ago Republican politicians began ignoring the need for our high schools, colleges, and universities to prepare our young men and women for the future. It has already cost our nation trillions of dollars every year.

Income inequality is responsible for the failure of many small businesses. With less ‘disposable income,’ the working class is unable to purchase little more than the necessities.

Earlier I said that the income gap is a threat to national security. In the 1930’s several democratic nations turned to socialism and communism because of conditions related  this problem. Revolutions were fought and eventually powerful dictators promising better lives for their nation’s people took control of every aspect of their countries.

Could this happen here? The truth is that a revolution has already begun. The 2018 midterms resulted in many younger, more progressive men and women winning elections at the local, state, and federal levels. Several liberal legislators are suggesting the replacement of capitalism with ‘democratic socialism.’ Although this is not pure socialism, it would require corporations and the super-rich to pay their fair share which would ensure issues such as healthcare and education would be available to every man, woman, and child in America. It would also force companies to pay a livable wage to their employees, and require programs which would allow them to share in their company’s profits through wage increases and better benefits.

Millennials, our nation’s largest voting bloc, and women, are less concerned with preparations for another war, and the profits of large corporations. Their priorities are the people of our nation; every one of them. They are our nation’s future. Old, white, wealthy men are the past and have damaged our nation for far too long.

“The Truth Lives Here”

Op-ed by James Turnage

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