Have you considered WHY younger people might be earning less? let me give you an example: My 19 year old granddaughter is living with us while she works and goes to school. Our minimum wage was just jacked up and our state still holds to the Obama-care requirements for providing insurance. The solution for her employer is that no one on the payroll other than the supers gets full time work. It is cheaper to have multiple part time workers. In her age range, very few people have skills that will earn more than minimum wage unless they have started in a trade. Minimum wage workers are pretty easy to come by.
In a dream world if I could make the changes...
HEALTHCARE Remove employee provided healthcare. It gives an unfair advantage to larger companies. It makes it much harder to start a business. Remove the special benefits from all government employees.
EDUCATION Equalize the standards across the nation for public schools. If the well to do want something better they can send their kids to charter schools that have no government assistance of any kind. I like the idea of community colleges. Low cost funding should be provided on a 3 month basis for grades C and above.
MANUFACTURING/ TAXES No tax on companies that produce goods with american workers. A flat income tax rate. No filing taxes.
INFRASTRUCTURE A new branch of the government. Government take over of our rail system eliminating cross country trucking. Government take over of our power grid. NO government funding to private enterprises.
I agree with you that employer-provided health care is one of the worst things ever demanded by employees. We would have a far more efficient and cost-effective system if we had competition in healthcare insurance and if we had a cash-based system for most services. Part of the problem is the state mandates on what insurance must cover. Another part is that we can't shop for healthcare insurance in the same way we shop for auto insurance.
We have tried equalizing standards with No Child Left Behind. It didn't work. There are a number of reasons it didn't work. A better way to make education more effective is to allow the tax dollars to go with the child. In that way, the family can pick the best education system for their child. Teachers' unions hate this idea. Public schools hate this idea. It would cause competition and they would have to actually teach kids in order to keep kids.
I agree that we should have a flat tax that is paid by every person that has a source of income. Welfare, etc. should be taxed at the same % as everything else. If you are paying taxes, you care where your money is spent. If you are living on OPM, you don't.
The last thing on earth we need is another government department of waste. Amtrak is subsidized and it is horrible. It is expensive, unreliable, and often unsafe.
Freight rail often gets federal and state money for projects, and it certainly was helped in the distant past by favorable land grants, etc. That said, the freight system is private and runs on profit, not government money. It is efficient, safe, and for the most part, well run. It has limitations. Because of the size of this country, it is not possible for freight to be delivered by train all around the country. Truckes are the only answer and can't be done away with.
Government take over of our power grid. NO government funding to private enterprises.
No on the first. Yes on the second.
On the power grid, assuming you are talking about a federal government takeover, that's a big no. It would not be more efficient, it would not control cost. PUCs, states, and private companies are accountable to the people who use the service. The feds are accountable to no one. If my power goes out, my local company is out here to fix it quickly.
Imagine trying to get service from a federally run power provider! Maybe you can give me an example of a federally run anything that responds quickly to the "customers" needs?
The one thing the feds could do is facilitate the upgrading of the grid. This is a national security issue and within their wheelhouse. Instead, they worry about roads and bridges, most of which should be taken care of by states.
