
Most Americans Say Government Doesn’t Do Enough to Help Middle Class - wslh
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/02/04/most-americans-say-government-doesnt-do-enough-to-help-middle-class/
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gedy
Assuming that starting and owning small businesses are the backbone for a
strong middle class, then yes the gov't doesn't "help" enough. But instead of
actively helping, maybe it would be better phrased as not passively hurting.
The left rallies around regulation and benefits that frequently require or
assume big business, and right's "pro-business" stance is also focused on big
corporations, free trade, etc.

Have some family members running "Mom and Pop" sized businesses and it's very
tough for them to make a living.

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yolesaber
In my experience (have some family members running small businesses as well,
including my father) the crunch seems to be coming from the fact that the
middle class has just enough money to make mortgage / car payments - which
keep them in the middle class - but not enough left over to spend at small
businesses. If compensation was rising in accordance, there wouldn't be a
problem. However large corporations are hoarding cash like crazy and leaving
employees out in the cold which in turn harms small businesses.

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rm_-rf_slash
This is why campaign finance is the #1 problem facing American democracy
today. It's not about the election, it's the re-election. It's about the
sausage-making. Even if you come to Washington without the support of wealthy
donors, you will have to work with people who do. Representatives in the
pockets of special interests will favor them because those are the groups that
truly hold politicians accountable, because losing re-election is akin to
flushing a political career down the toilet. So policy tends to favor the
special interests, even when the popular majority opposes it.

I do not believe it is possible for a powerful state like America to avoid
corruption, because high concentrations of power insulate themselves from
accountability (which is a threat to power like any other), and it takes
immense power to reap immense benefits (whether those benefits reach the
general population or are at the expense of others is a different story, like
the CIA-backed coup in 1950s Guatemala which broke the back of local
communists/socialists and ensured greater profits for United Fruit Company and
lower costs to American consumers).

Therefore, I advocate a citizen's veto amendment, allowing the public to
reject laws passed by representatives who only give a damn about the
constituents during election season. If corporations and wealthy individuals
are going to control Congress and the Executive, the people ought to retain
the right to say no.

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itgoon
The one bright spot in this cycle, IMO, has been the utter failure of the
campaign finance machines to have much of an effect.

JEB blew through $100mil (reportedly). I hope each and every one of those
donors considers it wasted money, and are more reluctant to do it again.

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rm_-rf_slash
Like I said, re-election is what matters. It's not about money winning
elections, it's about politicians spending their terms serving their donors
once they're in office so they can stay in office.

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tanker
"Overall, 62% say the government doesn’t do enough to help the middle class,
while 29% say it does about the right amount and 6% say it does too much.
Roughly the same share (59%) says the government does not do enough for poor
people or for children (59% each), and 66% say the government doesn’t do
enough to help older people."

Basically, people think the government doesn't do enough. I would like to see
views on taxes included in the same survey.

