Two biggest expenses for me are medical coverage for my family and college education for my kids. Being an Asian family, sending kids to at least four year college is an unstated rule. And being from Bay Area, paying for the best college is a fundamental responsibility. Given that every single decent job in America today requires a four years degree, I am sure, most American dads share the sentiment.
Despite affordable care act, the only means to reasonable medical coverage is to remain in active employment till the medicare kicks in. That means I need to wait till 2033 when I turn 65.
Sending two kids to a modest public college in California means 250,000 dollars. If you don´t want to depend on financial aid, your only recourse is to work a 60 hours week and then indulge in side hustles to make some more.
Bottom line, an average middle class American can´t even imagine financial independence till early sixties
This means, we are pushing most experienced Americans away from starting their own small businesses, leveraging their life long experience to invest in meaningful innovation or even participate actively in politics. The system is designed in a fashion that normal risk averse people must continue to work till they are too old to do anything else
Financial security is a basic requirement for middle class people to use their experience in creating something new or improving upon something they already know.
Bernie’s policies for single payer program for the state controlled health care and education as a right, will provide financial security to millions of Americans. This in turn will fuel a new wave of innovation thru small businesses. And hence more jobs for the young college graduates.
In other words, these policies are an investment in the middle class. A trust that people don´t blew up the benefits they get. They rather leverage the benefits for building a richer society full of new thinking, opportunities and hope for all.