THE NATIONAL DEBATE 2020

THE CRISIS IN AMERICA

THE NEED TO REPLACE RHETORIC WITH REALITY

America and the world are in a great state of crisis. The environmental indicators that we have tracked since 1995 are self explanatory. The consensus of the world scientific community on global warming and a whole series of other very severe problems is that disaster lies ahead. That is the reality.

In the case of the American economy, the American middle class has been absolutely devastated The social situation in America is not only among the worst in the developed world, it’s actually worse than many developing countries. Large numbers of people are dying because of this. 70,000 People died last year because of the opioid epidemic, even after we've launched a multibillion-dollar war on drugs. When the war on drugs started, 20,000 people were dying. Now the number is 70,000. That is a larger number than those who died in the Vietnam War. Thousands more are killed due to medical incompetence. That number is believed to be around 200,000, which is a very low estimate. Thousands more died because they don’t have health insurance in America, the only country in the developed world that does not have national health insurance. In the case of national health insurance, this is not a matter of charity, it is a matter of public health as well as morality, because having national health insurance and paid sick leave are a means to control the spread of disease. Half the American people can barely survive a $1000 bill, let alone a medical emergency. We could go on, but the point is that this country is in crisis.

Unfortunately, what we’ve heard from elites over the years—particularly from people like former president Barack Obama or the "experts" on Wall Street —is that things are just wonderful. And while Trump ran against Obama, he himself now is dishing up rhetoric about the economy being great. But things are not wonderful and this is not a sustainable situation. The U.S. government has a 1 trillion dollar deficit. Obviously that’s not going to work. Far more ominous has been the total collapse of America’s international financial position, particularly since the Clinton administration. We went from being the world’s largest creditor in 1980—a position we've held since 1916—to being the world’s largest debtor. And this situation has deteriorated alarmingly in the last 10 years. We are now approaching a -$10 trillion net investment poistion. In other words, with all the assets of the U.S. minus the liabilities you come out with -$10 trillion.

These are very serious problems and they require solutions.

Now what we are proposing here is a set of indicators that will force the 2020 presidential candidates to discuss these issues and to not present cherry picked statistics. What we don’t want to have is the kind of situation we had under Obama where cherry picked statistics were put out to try to pretend everything was wonderful. Instead, we want to publish a set of statistics and talking points that will force the candidates to address real issues. That’s the agenda we have.

The truth matters. No amount of Obama rhetoric or Trump rhetoric will solve grim problems.

RELEVANT WORLD FUTURE FUND REPORTS

Building a Sustainable Future: An Outline of Reform

Success of Social Welfare State

Green New Deal

Economic

Plutocratic Delusions

Health Care

Medicare for All

Need for Single Payer Health Insurance

Education

Student Loan Crisis Page