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Warren's Wealth Tax Could Shake Up the Economic Status-Quo

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        The American dream encourages the population that hard work and good character leads to monetary success. But with a shrinking middle class and a small group of people getting richer and richer, more people are beginning to question the morality of extreme wealth.               Democratic primary candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren's tax plan takes aim at America's multi-billionaires. Taxes are very complicated, so after reading this, it would be best to check out  this New York Times article that describes the plan in more detail.  The senator advertises billionaires would pay 6 cents on every dollar in income. That sounds miniscule. In reality, it's definitely not. If Warren's wealth tax had been implemented in 1982, Jeff Bezos would have had 49 billion dollars by 2018 instead of 160 billion. Is this fair? That's for the voters to decide. One could argue that 1 billion alone could buy over a dozen private islands, which nobody needs; another could arg

Slavery Lives on in the United States

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Frederick Douglass enlightened the minds of mid-19th century Americans to the horrors of slavery. In January of 1865, the 13th amendment was passed and slavery was ended forever. Not really, though. The 13th amendment has a loophole that provides the means of enslaving African Americans to this very day. Section 1 of the amendment states: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Did you catch that middle part? Imprisoned persons can be subject to forced labor as part of their sentence. Private, or for-profit, prisons take advantage of this by selling cheap labor, as low as 10 cents per hour, to big corporations. Monetary gain is not exclusive to these private prisons, as this kind of involuntary servitude is commonplace in many federal prisons. Who has bought or continues to buy this labor? Just little compan

Different Worlds in the Same Country

My grandfather on my mother’s side, Royce, lives in the suburbs of St. Louis with my grandmother, Linda. When I think about their house, one of the first things that comes to mind is the peach carpet that covers the second floor. Royce, who’ll I’ll be referring to as Papa for the continuation of the post, didn’t grow up with peach carpet or a collection of nutcrackers in the living room. He grew up with a dirt floor. Papa’s childhood was lived out in northern Alabama. And yes, in a house with a dirt floor. His father was a farmer and laborer for the small town in which they lived. Don’t be fooled by the word town. Papa lived about a quarter-mile down the road from any neighbors. He went to school in a building where kindergarteners to high school seniors were taught. No one in his family was college-educated. Papa knew he didn’t want to stay, no matter how he loved his family there (and his pet pig and raccoon.) He joined the military to pay for college, never seeing any action but n