Something For Discussion - Family Economics

[Yo_Mama]

This week BLS released the Consumer Expenditures update:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cesmy.nr0.htm
Income before taxes -0.9


Average annual expenditures 1.0
Food 1.0
Housing 2.0
Shelter 3.3
Utilities, fuels, and 4.5
public services
Household furnishings and -7.0
equipment
Apparel and services -1.9
Transportation 1.2
Healthcare 11.3
Health insurance 20.1
Entertainment -1.0
Cash contributions -8.2
Personal insurance and -0.4
pensions
All other expenditures -4.2

Sorry for the crappy formatting, I did the best I could. The overall picture is of rather pressured households, and although the fuel drop will help, food prices are still very high.

I think this will and should be an underlying theme in the elections. We cannot continue to go down this road.

Also note that ACA did not reduce the overall burden of health care expenditures, and this probably accounts for some of what happened in the last election. Combined with surveys that showed average Americans

I noticed that thread about what Dem candidates had to do to win against Hillary. Well, all any candidate needs to do to win is address the experience of the American people. This is a huge part of that reality.

I wonder if DU can come up with any ideas that help? What do YOU want candidates to discuss in this next election cycle?? We know they are all going to hear from the corporations with $$ in their hands!!!

[PowerToThePeople]

1. universal health care

Living wage
Wage caps (or very high tax rates over a threshold)
Equal taxation of wages and investment income
Defunding MIC

That is a start.