Tag: Health care

TACKLING THE AFFORDABILITY CRISIS Part 2

The U.S. affordability crisis is multifaceted and has been growing for 45 years, caused by low pay and high prices. Here are longer-term strategies for tackling low pay and high prices. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s policies are exacerbating the crisis. Please join a protest on March 28.

The U.S. affordability crisis is multifaceted and has been growing for 45 years, caused by low pay and high prices. There are many strategies for tackling the affordability crisis; some are presented below. However, many (most?) of the Trump administration’s policies are exacerbating the crisis. Therefore, one longer-term strategy for tackling affordability would be to participate in a No Kings rally (pro-democracy and anti-Trump) on Sat., March 28. Find an event near you here.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

The U.S. affordability crisis is multifaceted and caused by low pay and high prices. My previous post discussed short-term strategies that would increase low pay including: [1]

  • Reduce wage theft.
  • Raise the minimum wage.
  • Enact family-friendly policies including subsidies for child care and paid family leave.
  • Strengthen unions and union organizing.
  • Reform tax systems.

These strategies can be undertaken at the state and local levels now but would benefit from or require changes in federal laws or enforcement to be most effective. This probably won’t happen until Democrats take control of Congress and the presidency. Therefore, they and the other strategies in my previous post are also longer-term strategies.

There are other longer-term strategies for addressing low pay. Generally, they require action by the federal government and, therefore, aren’t likely to happen soon. They include:

  • Trade treaties that include standards for workers. These standards could include standards for working conditions, the ability to unionize, and minimum wage levels. Such standards would prevent unfair overseas competition for U.S. workers, which undermines pay and working conditions here in the U.S.
  • Antitrust law enforcement so there is more competition for workers among employers.

There are many strategies for addressing high prices. Some are potentially short-term but given that they typically require action by the federal government, they aren’t likely to happen soon. They include:

  • Rescinding tariffs.
  • Enforcing antitrust laws so there’s competition based on the price and quality of goods and services, as well as on customer service. Poor customer service is not only frustrating but a tax on our time. We’ve all spent hours on the phone, much of it often waiting for a real person, trying to resolve a credit card problem, a denial of coverage for health care, or a problem with a purchase.
  • Reforming our health care system so the costs of insurance, services, and drugs are at levels comparable to those in every other wealthy country, which are dramatically lower than they are here.
  • Ending the vulture capitalism of private equity financing. Saks Fifth Avenue is the latest in a long list of retailers that have gone bankrupt after being pillaged by private equity financiers. The list includes Sears, Toys ‘R’ Us, Kmart, Sports Authority, RadioShack, RJR Nabisco, Barneys, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Hudson’s Bay, Payless, Joann Fabrics, Party City, Red Lobster, and on and on. The loss of retailers due to private equity vulture capitalism raises prices, costs workers their jobs, undermines communities, and reduces government tax revenue. [2]

The private equity financiers’ model is to buy a company using lots of debt; sell off its assets (often real estate) and pocket the money; charge the company exorbitant management fees, rent, interest, and other expenses; fire employees, slash pay, and cut their benefits including gutting their pensions; and file for bankruptcy while walking away with hundreds of millions of dollars. The private equity financing model is only possible because of loopholes in securities and bankruptcy laws, as well as the unlimited tax deduction allowed for interest payments on debt.

Senator Warren’s (D-MA) Stop Wall Street Looting Act would put an end to the private equity model by stopping these abusive practices and making the private equity financiers personally liable for damages and losses. [3] Private equity financiers are buying up and bankrupting or charging exorbitant prices (while often degrading quality and service) in health care, nursing homes, trailer parks, pest control, veterinary practices, youth sports facilities, fire truck manufacturing, restaurant chains, prisons and detention facilities, and anything else out of which they can squeeze a profit.

  • Stopping corporate investor purchases of housing. Corporate investors (as opposed to residents or community members) own nearly 450,000 single family homes, more than 2.2 million apartments, and more mobile home communities than anyone else. In 2025, they bought nearly one out of every six homes sold. Consequently, costs for residents go up (e.g., rents and fees) while maintenance often goes down. Evictions go up. Meanwhile the investors take advantage of federally backed mortgages meant for home owners and other federal tax breaks at taxpayers’ expense. Senator Warren’s (D-MA) American Homeownership Act would end these abusive practices and invest in building homes that working families can afford. It has just been passed in the Senate with a large, bipartisan vote, 89 to 10. [4]

Every politician, at every level, local, state, and federal, who’s serious about addressing the affordability crisis should embrace these strategies.

I encourage you to contact your U.S. Representative and Senators and ask them to endorse these strategies for tackling the affordability crisis. You can find contact information for your US Representative at  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

For lots of good news, see Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water blog’s most recent good news Sunday post here.

My next post will discuss additional strategies for tackling the affordability crisis.

[1]      Meyerson, H., 12/3/25, “The $79 trillion heist,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/2025/12/03/79-trillion-heist-worker-pay/)

[2]      Kuttner, R., 1/20/26, “Private equity Saks another retail outlet,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/2026/01/20/private-equity-saks-another-retail-outlet/)

[3]      Warren, E., 10/10/24, “Warren, Lawmakers Renew Legislative Push to Stop Private Equity Looting,” (https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-lawmakers-renew-legislative-push-to-stop-private-equity-looting)

[4]      Kuttner, R., 3/13/26, “Elizabeth Warren’s Amazingly Progressive Housing Bill,” (https://prospect.org/2026/03/13/elizabeth-warrens-amazingly-progressive-housing-bill/)

WHAT EVERYDAY AMERICANS WANT FROM GOVERNMENT

Many Americans are worried about being able to afford the cost of living. Government policies can increase the amount of money they make and the benefits they get, as well as reduce the cost of everyday expenses. If Democrats or others want to garner support and votes, they should unequivocally advocate for policies that would improve the affordability of day-to-day life. Some examples are presented below.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

Polls have shown for some time, and elections results on Nov. 4 underscored, that many Americans are worried about being able to afford the cost of living. This has two components: 1) the amount of money they make and the benefits they get from their employer, and 2) the cost of everyday expenses from food to housing to health care to utilities.

If Democrats, or another party such as the Working Families Party, want to garner support and votes, they should focus on the affordability of day-to-day life. They need to promote a vision of a more economically secure future for working Americans. They should embrace economic populism, including reducing economic inequality. [1]

Workers’ wages haven’t kept up with inflation over the last 45 years. The value of the federal minimum wage is 60% of what it was 45 years ago. Similarly, workers’ wages have not kept up with their increases in productivity. The result has been that investors and corporate executives have gotten rich, very rich, billionaire rich, off the big profits companies make on the backs of underpaid workers. Meanwhile, workers’ standard of living has been falling, and, for many, their economic security is gone. Government has helped, but its safety net is fragmented and full of holes. It prevents some workers, some of the time, from becoming destitute. Nonetheless, many workers are anxious, distraught, depressed, and even suicidal. Meanwhile, the government safety net is in effect subsidizing large companies that don’t pay their employees enough to live on. However, these big companies and their owners and investors don’t want to pay a fair share of the taxes needed to fund even this limited safety net.

Here’s an overview of some government policies that would increase workers’ compensation, including both wages and benefits. [2]

  1. Increase the minimum wage. Government officials and candidates at all levels, national, state, and local, should work toward increasing the minimum wage. If Democrats want to continue the winning momentum from the recent elections and want to win back one or both chambers of Congress, they should run hard on increasing the minimum wage and put questions to do so on the ballot wherever they can. (Note: An enormous body of research on the effects of higher minimum wages has shown that past minimum wage increases have meaningfully raised pay for low-wage workers without causing significant increases in unemployment. Moreover, increases in the minimum wage often lower worker turnover, a major cost savings for employers, and can attract  better workers.)
  2. Support unions and unionization. Unions built the American middle class, but Republicans have been undermining unions and the ability to unionize for 45 years. (See Story #2 in this previous post and also this previous post for more background.) Democrats weren’t actively supporting unions either and were complicit in expanding global trade and the off-shoring of jobs, which undermined unions and workers’ wages here in the U.S. Elected officials and candidates need to stand up for unions and strengthen federal laws and agencies that support and protect workers right to unionize. For example, federal laws and regulators should not allow companies to do what Starbucks has done. It has been stonewalling its workers since the first votes to unionize in December 2021. It has refused to meet with union representatives and has failed to engage in any serious bargaining. It has shut stores where workers voted to unionize. While its workers face low pay, rising health care costs, and working conditions that are not worker friendly, Starbucks’ CEO made $96 million last year.
  3. Other ways to increase workers’ incomes. The federal and state governments should take action to enforce labor laws and reduce wage theft. Wage theft occurs when employers don’t pay overtime as they’re supposed to, don’t pay workers for some of the time they spend on the job or in job-related activities, etc. It adds up to billions of dollars a year. In addition, overtime rules should be strengthened so employers can’t dodge overtime pay by claiming that low-level, low-pay workers are members of management who aren’t eligible for overtime pay.
  4. Ways to increase benefits. The federal and state governments could increase unemployment benefits, strengthen regulations on employer offered health insurance, and enhance requirements for employer-supported retirement savings programs. They could require minimum amounts of paid sick leave and vacation time.
  5. Enhance public supports and the safety net. The federal and state governments could expand food, heat, and utility cost assistance programs. They could also enhance subsidies for early education and child care, as well as implement paid family leave. They could increase support for renters and first-time home buyers, while also better regulating private owners of large rental properties and single-family homes, which are increasingly being bought up by investors. They could help alleviate the student debt crisis. Perhaps, most importantly, they could make health insurance and health care more affordable and accessible. Over half of Americans support creating a Medicare for All type universal health insurance program. These public supports and the safety net are underfunded today because wealthy individuals and corporations are not paying their fair share in taxes. More on this in my next post.

My next post will discuss policies that would tackle the cost of goods and services. It will also discuss economic inequality.

[1]      Reich, R., 11/3/25, “What the Democrats must do. Now!” (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-the-democrats-must-do-now) /

[2]      Dayen, D., 7/28/25, “Greg Casar is organizing to win,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/2025/07/28/2025-07-28-organizing-to-win-greg-casar/)