Government I

At some time in the twenty-first century the USA will start the transition into an economy with no human work. After the inflection point, job destruction will be greater than job creation and overall employment will decline. Once the decline starts it will continue and human employment over the next several centuries will approach a very small fraction of current employment, perhaps even zero. This book deals with the transition, not the end result. The topics of Chaps. 6 and 7 are reforms to government problems that have arisen or become much worse since 1980. Two factors make finding solutions difficult. The first is political divisiveness, the first topic of this chapter, and the second is capture of government by corporations and the rich, the first topic of the next chapter. A president can start his agenda quickly by issuing executive orders, which are instructions for government actions within the confines of existing law. In the first hundred days of his administration President Biden issued more executive orders than Presidents Trump, Obama, or Bush did in the corresponding period. Approximately one-half of his executive orders were issued to undo previous President Trump’s executive orders. For major policy that is not within the confines of existing law, the president must get Congress to approve the policy with an act. Ideally the solution of government problems should be addressed by evidence-based policy. The second topic is the origin of this type of policy, its development, and Biden’s action to promote it. The problems that Biden has addressed with legislation by fall 2022 are the Covid pandemic, the deteriorating infrastructure, and climate change. Dealing with immigration and gun control, Biden has been limited to executive actions. These problems are presented in this chapter. The discussion of each political problem is organized in three components. First is some background to the problem. The second is what Biden has achieved through legislation and executive action. The third component is the author’s proposed reforms. The political problems related to government capture are presented in the next chapter.