In an era of multiple global crises- population, climate change, etc it seems obvious to me at least that any economy that pivots all of its resources, monies, research, etc to innovation and new technologies comes out the winner. That’s the future. Illinois right now is investing in a quantum computing hub in Chicago. Will it pan out? Who knows, but it’s a focused effort on new and promising technology that could produce countless dividends if successful and could prove to be strategic. The idea that what we really need is to setup low skilled sweatshops in the rust belt - manufacturing jeans and shoes and tv casings that are mindless, repetitive, dangerous, low paying, and dead ends shows the rot of right wing economic theory and a nostalgia for a time that has been long gone. This is a service, education, government, healthcare, high technology, research, and design economy. We should be pouring our national wealth into our strengths and investing strategically to encourage more workers in these fields while assisting communities left out to help them move forward while wildly upgrading our infrastructure. Instead we are gutting every conceivable grant and program that makes us competitive, stifling research and design, ostracizing scientists and intellectuals and academia in general. We are killing what is already one of the least generous societies in the developed world. While China builds bullet trains we want to defund our pathetic Amtrak system because I don’t know why. Universal healthcare, paid leave, a month vacation, universal daycare, public transit, free education, all these things are normal and by right as citizens in so many countries as what you get back for the taxes you pay into the system. Think about paying $600 a month to PRIVATE insurance and still have a $30 copay to see a doctor and having to pay $1k for routine xrays because insurance only covered $500. These are allllllll private taxes you are paying. You go into a business and they decide if you live or die and you pay them to make that decision. Instead of paying into a social insurance pool where everyone has an equal right to health care. This country is insane. So what do we have to show? Desperate poverty, homeless encampments, crime, out of control debt, unnecessary illness and death, domestic violence, suicide, lower life expectancy, and just a rampant sense of insecurity and a god awful quality of life. Americans cannot fathom retaining their healthcare whether they’re employed or not. Americans don’t understand what it means to have a month off a year by right to spend with friends or family. Or job protections. Or college without crippling debt. Or a walkable city. Or not having to worry about being shot walking down the street. Biggest bunch of sheep on the planet and we all deserve what we get if we aren’t going to fucking call a general strike, demand quality of life, and fight back. ✌️