Op-ed by Buttigieg: Bring balance to the U.S. economy

Also posted in the primary forum here (maybe give it some love?): https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287413158

" … So when I’m president, I won’t measure the success of our economy by the size of our GDP or the heights of the Dow Jones. I’ll measure it by how much a worker has in her pocket, whether a single parent can afford to pay their child’s medical bills, or if a senior can retire with dignity. And I will take unprecedented steps to bring balance back to our economy, so that our government looks out for American families and not just American corporations.

First, we will mobilize an American majority to usher in a fairer and smarter tax system. My administration will roll back the Trump corporate tax rate cuts and require large corporations to release all tax returns so we can see how they are gaming the system. In addition to raising corporate taxes to 35 percent, we’ll implement a financial transaction tax on banks and financial institutions that will raise $800 billion in revenue. We’ll implement a risk fee on big banks to discourage reckless behavior while generating an additional $100 billion that can be invested in our schools, roads, bridges, and other services for the American people. We’ll also crack down on the use of tax havens, so that profits can flow to the U.S. Treasury and not Bermuda. Instead of subsidizing oil and gas companies, we’ll invest more than $200 billion over the next decade to develop clean energy technologies.

Second, we’ll hold corporate America accountable. From the opioid epidemic to low-income neighborhoods filled with pollutants, decisions made in boardrooms on Wall Street and committee rooms in Washington have devastated communities like mine all across the country. That culture of corporate impunity will end when I’m president. Pharmaceutical companies who put profits ahead of American lives will be penalized — and when egregious misconduct takes place, their patents will be on the line. Big tech companies that trade away our privacy will face greater antitrust enforcement, and be subject to breakup when they block competition. We’ll impose multimillion dollar fines on companies who interfere with union elections, and end the legal fictions that enable corporations to misclassify their workers as contractors to avoid providing full employee benefits.

Third, after decades where the middle class has declined hand-in-hand with rates of participation in organized labor, my administration will shift power away from corporations and back to workers. We’ll guarantee bargaining rights for all American workers, and implement new tools like multi-employer bargaining. We’ll double the percentage of workers who are in unions in this country, and raise the minimum wage to $15. While we’re at it, we’ll expand overtime protections and ensure workers get the predictable hours, wages, and support they deserve... "

Full column: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/opinion/guest-columnist/buttigieg-bring-balance-to-the-us-economy-20200108