Middle-class wages have been lagging for decades. Millions of Americans are among the "working poor," and poverty numbers are still higher than they were before the crisis.
The middle class is disappearing. Many Americans have left the labor force in discouragement. Others are working part-time when they need full-time work.
Out-of-pocket health care costs are soaring for insured Americans. Inequality keeps rising. The wealthiest of the wealthy -- the top 0.01 percent -- keep getting richer, and their money (along with that of large corporation) is corrupting the political process.
Economic questions:
-- Do the candidates support the fight for a $15 per hour minimum wage? Do they believe that workers' bargaining rights should be strengthened?
-- Do they support stronger regulation of Wall Street and the breakup of big banks to prevent future crises?
-- Will they support higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations? Would they use the tax revenue to create good jobs rebuilding America's infrastructure and providing needed services?
-- Do the candidates have a plan for reducing long-term unemployment, and for promoting good jobs and economic growth? How do they intend to create social mobility in a nation where your family's income at birth is likely to seal your economic fate for life?
-- Do the candidates have a plan for debt-free college education? Do they support Medicare for All -- or, at a minimum, increasing current levels of coverage? Will they support stronger benefits for American workers, including guaranteed sick leave, as well as paid vacation and family leave?
-- Will they fight to get money out of politics?
Racial Justice, Criminal Injustice
Donald Trump could take a civics lesson or two from another celebrity, rapper Jay-Z, who made a video op-ed for The New York Times entitled "The War On Drugs is An Epic Fail." As the video and accompanying text explain, African Americans are 13 percent of the general population, but nearly one-third of those arrested for drug law violations -- even though white and black Americans use drugs at roughly the same rates.
We imprison more people than any other country on earth; 2.2 million Americans are in local, state, and federal prisons. More than 4.7 million are under community supervision (parole and probation). Altogether nearly 7 million people are caught up in the criminal justice system. 5.8 million people -- disproportionately black and brown -- have lost the right to vote.
The epidemic of African-American deaths at the hands of police officers continues unabated.
At the same time, our nation is wracked by the symptoms of institutional, structural, and historical racism: mass incarceration, racial inequality in wealth and income, disparities in health and longevity, and the trivialization of black and brown people's suffering.
Questions on racial justice:
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