The Collapse of Everyday Life in America Has Begun

Water bills are going up because lead pipe must be replaced by property taxes, water bills or homeowners doing it themselves - or all of the above.

Electric Bills are going up because for each of the last four years, each year has been the hottest ever due to climate change. Unless we park the gasoline powered cars and trade them in for tethered electric and shift to molten salt reactors, the Barents Sea heat sink will continue to destabilize the Arctic Ocean, as it has been doing at 7 degrees Fahrenheit every decade since 1958. What did everyone buy in the 1950s? Household coal has not been used for a while, but the explosion of gasoline use is the one factor that has changed,

Donald Trump needs to get behind raising the minimum wage as a first step. Government agencies, contractors and beneficiaries need to receive the same dollar amount per hour or month in cost of living increases - limiting what the top 10% get. Prices chase the median dollar of income, which falls at the 90th percentile. Half of AGI goes to the bottom 90%. Half goes to the top 10%,  Getting a COLA tied to income magnifies inequality. COLAs are not an earned benefit - there is no rationale for treating them like one. Giving everyone the same COLA ends the problem of inequality in a few short decades, while breaking the back on inflation.