This is a short diary because I just want to bring attention to an idea I have just heard for the first time: Requiring a middle-class impact statement, analogous to an environmental-impact statement, on all relevant Federal legislation. Just a few quotes from a piece on MarketWatch by Marcus D. Pohlmann, a professor of political science at Rhodes College in Memphis:
To remain viable as a society, then, the United States must be conscious of just how important it is to have a stable middle class. And a reasonable first step could be to reduce further damage by requiring the federal government to assess the middle-class impact of every economic-related policy.
Politicians of both political parties should be willing to pledge that before any taxing, spending or regulatory decision, they would require “middle-class-impact statements.” This would be the equivalent of our environmental-impact statements, which are designed to warn the federal government of potential environmental damage.
snip
A middle-class-impact statement would be extremely useful if it contained, for example, a nonpartisan assessment of how cutting taxes for the top 1% of Americans is likely to affect the size and stability of the American middle class.
He also points out that environmental-impact analyses do not dictate an environmental outcome, but instead force decision makers to account for environmental values in their decisions, which are justified in light of rigorous studies and public comment on possible environmental consequences of legislation.
What a good idea!!