Bridging the Gap

Abstract

The hotly contested 2016 presidential campaign in the United States revealed socio-political fissures that have been widening for decades. A primary contributor to those divides is an enormous and increasing income disparity, one which disproportionately affects persons of color. I take the position that civil harmony will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve without good-faith efforts to reduce the income gap. I offer two arguably utopian policy proposals, both of which will admittedly be difficult to implement, but which could allow us to make progress toward the goal of a more equitable distribution of income. First, cities should make public transportation free or heavily subsidized. This would open opportunities to workers to seek employment in places previously inaccessible. Second, large corporations that reduce their workforce for whatever reason should be required to find work for their laid-off employees. They should retrain them if necessary, and, if new jobs require relocation, the company should bear the cost. The implementation of these proposals will probably require extensive public-private co-operation as well as creative approaches to financing.