AP
- The Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg wrote in a Marketwatch column this week that President Donald Trump had broken his economic promises and enriched the wealthy at the expense of most Americans.
- “Too much wealth is in too few hands,” the billionaire boss of Bloomberg LP who previously served as New York City mayor said. “Nearly all the money goes to people like me, who don’t need it.”
- Bloomberg laid out his plan to undo the damage as president: invest in research and development to create “job factories” across the country, support education and training programs, and work to improve benefits and protections.
- View Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg wrote a Marketwatch column this week arguing that President Donald Trump has broken his economic promises and enriched the wealthy at the expense of most Americans.
The stock market has surged to a record high and unemployment has plunged to a 50-year low under Trump, but nearly half of Americans don’t own stocks, and a similar proportion earn a median wage of just $18,000 a year, the billionaire boss of Bloomberg LP who previously served as mayor of New York City said.
Moreover, middle-class Americans are “being squeezed by higher prices on everything from health care to housing,” Bloomberg said. Workers’ share of national income compared with investors’ has also shrunk to a near-record low, he added.
In contrast, Bloomberg said, the rich have gotten richer under a president he said was “in the pockets of special interests.”
“Too much wealth is in too few hands,” he argued, adding that Trump’s sweeping tax cut had only exacerbated the problem as “nearly all the money goes to people like me, who don’t need it.”
The comments echo those of the Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, a billionaire philanthropist who recently called for higher taxes on the wealthy as a way to tackle rising inequality.
Breaking promises
In his column, Bloomberg accused Trump of reneging on his promises to American workers. As a presidential candidate, Trump pledged to revive US manufacturing and support domestic agriculture, but factories have closed and farmers have suffered from the trade wars he’s waged in office, Bloomberg said.
After detailing Trump’s shortcomings, Bloomberg laid out his own pitch to voters: create millions of quality jobs by investing in parts of the nation that have been hammered by globalization and automation yet ignored by the government.
Specifically, Bloomberg plans to ramp up spending on research and development by over $100 billion, establishing “job factories” across the country that make scientific breakthroughs and create new jobs across green energy, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, and other industries.
Bloomberg vowed to invest in educational and job-training programs to equip workers with modern skills. He also pledged to improve labor protections, work to expand paid sick leave and paid family leave, and support workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain for better pay and benefits.
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