john vanhoozer
Jul 10, 2017 · 2 min read

More and more American workers are eschewing traditional full-time hourly or salaried employment, opting instead for more flexible part-time or full-time freelance work.

Seriously?

You do realize that more and more people are being laid off by big business and that their jobs are being shipped overseas? Or their jobs are becoming “redundant” as the Brits are wont to call it, because of automation? Most people don’t “eschew” traditional full-time employment of any kind. Most have to find a new Gig because there isn’t one for them anymore.

You do realize that without something like Obamacare as a safety net, all of these people who start their “Gig Economy” jobs will be hard pressed to find insurance? So all of these people who suddenly “eschew” the traditional employment route — voluntarily or not — now have to provide their own insurance. If they have a pre-existing condition, they’d be screwed with out the ACA. I was once turned down after my “Gig Economy” job as a software consultant came to a screeching halt during the “Dot Com” bubble burst in 2000/2001. Why? Chronic pain… all I needed was a ‘script for pain meds. But no.

You do realize that we’ve reached a point where the federal government doesn’t take in enough money to cover it’s expenses. Whether it’s not paying for road/bridges/infrastucture repair, not paying for the CDC to study and fight diseases from AIDS to Zika, the EPA not having the money or people to clean up toxic spills or police illegal dumping, or NOAA to study the weather we see the Federal government cutting back (for ideological and monetary reasons). All of these things and more are vital to the not only the health of our nation economically, but to the health of our people! So, will the states start having to tax more to fix that cracked retaining wall on the federal highway before it fails and kills someone? Will the States have to increase their revenues to fund their own Zika prevention programs? We’ve seen, time and again where federal programs are needed when problems cross state lines.

We’re being penny wise and pound foolish. Yes, back in the day, the top tax bracket was rediculously overweighted against the super wealthy.

But time and again, economists the world over have shown that trickle down economics might have a small direct economic benefit to industry but the resulting loss of tax revenue increases the overall burden on society resulting in a net loss for most people — That is, the majority of people: people not in the top 1%.