Top 10 Best Ways to Reduce Wealth Inequality

We currently have one of the most embarrassing education systems in the industrialized world. Children are pressured into high-risk testing instead of learning a love for knowledge. Teachers see their students as dollar signs instead of the next generation of humans.

Our system has been like this for decades, yet no president has done anything about it, regardless of party or platform. If we reform the education system to cater to each student's individual needs and teach a love and lust for knowledge instead of treating children like they're cogs in a machine, we can only stand to benefit.

I've talked about a basic income in another list, so feel free to check it out for a broader explanation. In short, a basic income means that everyone in the country will receive enough money to keep them out of poverty. A basic income also incentivizes work, unlike our current welfare system.

We also have one of the most complicated and inefficient healthcare systems in the first world. Millions have no healthcare, and those who are lucky enough to have it can rarely use it because of sky-high deductibles. Our healthcare system is one of the major causes of poverty, and little is being done about it.

While the ACA may have been a step in the right direction, there is still much more that can be done. Most countries realized decades ago that healthcare is a right, and yet the U.S. treats healthcare no differently than a candy bar or a shirt. If you don't have the money, too bad for you.

We need a universal system where everyone, regardless of income, has at least a basic level of coverage. Contrary to what many Bernie Sanders supporters believe, this system does not have to be run by the government. Switzerland has universal healthcare, and yet their system is 100% private. Everyone who wants coverage gets coverage and has many options and choices for their coverage.

Whether we take Sanders' proposal or copy countries such as Switzerland or Singapore, our citizens can only stand to benefit.

While our tax system is progressive in theory, in reality, it isn't. While the top bracket rises with income, very few people at the top pay anywhere near this rate. Instead, many rich people pay an income tax rate very close to what many middle-class families pay. Sometimes, they pay even less.

To make this worse, we also have many regressive taxes that mainly hurt the poor and middle class and have very little effect on the rich, such as payroll taxes, sales taxes, etc. If we raise tax rates on the top earners, or, better yet, eliminate loopholes in our current system, we would have more funds to invest in education, healthcare, job training, or provide the poor and middle class with a tax cut. All economists agree this is a way to grow the economy and reduce wealth inequality.

Our prison system obviously needs reform. For decades we've been fed the fallacy that long, harsh sentences deter crime. This is an outright lie. If it were true, we wouldn't currently have the highest incarceration rate in the world, and countries with laxer laws and penalties combined with strong rehabilitation programs wouldn't have some of the lowest crime rates in the industrialized world.

Our prison system needs to be reformed to rehabilitate criminals and allow them to enter the job market to provide for themselves and their families.

While copyrights and patents are good in theory, they usually do much more harm than good. Companies can extend their copyrights and patents repeatedly, which results in less competition and more accumulated wealth in the hands of a few. If these laws were rolled back, there would be more competition, which would lead to bigger distributions of wealth and lower prices for American consumers.

One of the major reasons behind wealth inequality and unemployment is licensing laws. You need to be licensed to run a hospital. This isn't really controversial. But why is it that you need a license to be a manicurist or a hairdresser?

Basically, the government has a monopoly over many industries in the economy. If you can't get a license, you can't work, and are condemned to poverty. If we scale back licensing requirements for safe occupations, unemployment will be lowered, and more small businesses will emerge into the market.

If a private organization provides risky and unsafe loans to people and the people do not repay the loans, the organization should go out of business in a healthy capitalist society. That isn't what happens. Bad businesses are bailed out, so they actually receive a reward for hurting society. That's right. Fat cats literally get paid to make you unemployed. End all government bailouts, and this problem won't be nearly as common.

Is there any good reason why large corporations, such as Walmart, receive money from the federal government? No. No, there isn't. Subsidies to large businesses should be completely eliminated. If a business can't make it on their own, they shouldn't ask the government for a handout.