Belief: Too many Americans live without hope for a better future or access to good, family-supporting jobs.

Reasons to Agree:

1. Stagnant wages and cost of living make it harder for families to thrive

   • Case Study: A 2023 Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report found that real wages for the bottom 50% of earners have stagnated despite economic growth.
   • Policy Example: The Raise the Wage Act, which proposed increasing the federal minimum wage to $15/hr, was projected to lift 1.3 million workers out of poverty (Congressional Budget Office, 2021).

2. Job opportunities vary widely based on geography and education

   • Case Study: A 2022 Brookings Institution study found that rural areas lost 20% of manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2020, whereas urban centers gained high-tech and service-sector employment.
   • Policy Example: The CHIPS and Science Act (2022) aimed to create high-tech manufacturing jobs in the U.S., especially in industrial towns.

3. Automation and globalization have reduced traditional job opportunities

   • Case Study: The McKinsey Global Institute projects that automation could eliminate 45 million jobs by 2030, disproportionately affecting low-wage workers.
   • Policy Example: The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program helps retrain workers displaced by globalization and automation.

4. A weak safety net increases insecurity

   • Case Study: The U.S. has one of the lowest rates of unemployment benefits in the OECD. Countries with stronger safety nets see higher labor market participation (OECD, 2022).
   • Policy Example: Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has been shown to boost low-wage workers' incomes without reducing employment.

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Reasons to Disagree:

1. Hope is a personal responsibility, not a government guarantee

   • Case Study: Millions of immigrants come to the U.S. with nothing and achieve financial success, demonstrating that opportunity exists.
   • Policy Example: Welfare reform in the 1990s (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act) reduced long-term dependency and increased workforce participation.

2. Everyone has access to family-supporting jobs—if they put in the effort

   • Case Study: Studies show that individuals with technical certifications and trade skills often out-earn those with college degrees (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2022).
   • Policy Example: Expansion of vocational training and apprenticeship programs in states like Germany and Switzerland have reduced unemployment rates.

3. "Too many" is a vague term

   • Case Study: The official unemployment rate in the U.S. remains relatively low (3.7% in 2023), suggesting that job opportunities are available.
   • Policy Example: The Work Opportunity Tax Credit incentivizes businesses to hire long-term unemployed individuals.

4. Blaming external factors ignores personal responsibility

   • Case Study: A Harvard Business Review study found that financial literacy and career planning significantly influence economic success, more than social programs.
   • Policy Example: The Opportunity Zones Program, part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, encouraged private investment in economically distressed communities.

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Best Solutions to Related Problems:

1. Stronger labor protections and unions

   • Example: The PRO Act (Protecting the Right to Organize) seeks to strengthen union protections and increase collective bargaining.

2. Higher taxes on the wealthy to fund a stronger safety net

   • Example: Expanding the Child Tax Credit (as in the American Rescue Plan) lifted millions of children out of poverty before expiring in 2022.

3. Publicly funded secondary education and vocational training

   • Example: Tuition-free community college, as implemented in Tennessee, has increased enrollment and workforce readiness.

4. Universal healthcare to reduce financial risk

   • Example: The Affordable Care Act expanded healthcare access, leading to a decline in medical bankruptcies.

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Unstated Assumptions:

1. Hope is influenced by external conditions

   • Assumes economic policy, not personal mindset, is the key driver of hope.

2. Good jobs are accessible only if systems support them

   • Assumes individuals need structural support, rather than self-driven success.

3. Not everyone starts from the same place

   • Recognizes disparities in education, access, and wealth from birth.

4. The economy is not a pure meritocracy

   • Acknowledges that privilege and systemic barriers exist.

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Evidence Scores:

📌 Labor market trends showing rising wage inequality (EPI, 2023).
📌 Automation and AI projections on job displacement (McKinsey, 2022).
📌 Historical impact of welfare reforms on workforce participation (CBO, 2021).

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Most Likely Benefits:

✔️ Higher wages and job security through better labor protections.
✔️ Less financial stress due to a stronger safety net.
✔️ Increased economic mobility through education access.
✔️ A more stable middle class, reducing social unrest.

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Books that Agree:

📖 The Great Divide – Joseph Stiglitz (argues inequality is a systemic issue)
📖 Evicted – Matthew Desmond (examines poverty and housing insecurity in America)
📖 Nickel and Dimed – Barbara Ehrenreich (exposes struggles of low-wage workers)

Books that Disagree:

📖 The Myth of the Welfare State – Thomas Sowell (critiques government intervention in the economy)
📖 Skin in the Game – Nassim Taleb (emphasizes personal risk and responsibility in economic success)
📖 The Conservative Heart – Arthur Brooks (argues that capitalism, not welfare, creates opportunity)

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Videos that Agree:

🎥 Documentary: Inequality for All – Robert Reich (explains the growing wealth gap in America)
🎥 TED Talk: Why Wages Are Stagnant – Richard Wolff (breaks down wage stagnation and corporate profits)

Videos that Disagree:

🎥 The Case Against Raising the Minimum Wage – American Enterprise Institute (explains market-based wage growth)
🎥 Why Hard Work Still Matters – PragerU (argues against dependency on government programs)

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Conclusion:

✔️ Many Americans struggle due to economic shifts, wage stagnation, and job insecurity.
✔️ Some argue that personal responsibility and free markets are enough to ensure opportunity.
✔️ Others believe that structural changes—higher wages, better safety nets, and public investment—are necessary.
✔️ The best path forward may involve a balance, supporting economic growth while ensuring no one is left behind.

After school programs are good

Reasons to agree:

1. Because many people have to work until 5, and don't get home until 5:30, we need after school programs to keep un-supervised kids off the streets, and out of gangs. 


2. After school programs as a form of childcare is much better than the type of welfare that just hands money over to poor people, because after school programs helps poor people have jobs, and contribute to society. 


3. Once your kids are back in school, the government should help you work a normal work day. 


4. Children should be in school for the same time duration as a typical work day. This obviously, would allow parents to work without having to pay for child-care.


5. For those parents who want to spend more time with their children they don't have to send their kids to after school programs. 


6. Your never going to have enough after school programs to please all parents, some of whom don't ever want their kids to come home in the evening, but watching kids until 5, or 5:30 shouldn't be to bad. We can keep it so that it isn't just for lazy people that don't want to be parents, and just for poor people who need to work, so they can provide for their families.


7. Instead of providing after school programs government should just require businesses to let people only work hours that their kids are in school.

Reasons to disagree:

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Probable interest of those who agree:

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Common Interest

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Opposing Interest

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Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: 0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

The Federal Government shouldn't duplicate services provided for by the states

Reasons to agree:

1. When you have administrators in Federal, State, and County agencies all with the same responsibility you are wasting money.


2. When you have administrators in Federal, State, and County agencies all with the same responsibility there is no accountability for the performance of any of the government agencies.


3. When the federal government has a mission that is the same as more local governments, they often don't really do anything besides set standards which the local agencies are not required to follow, and funnels money which they takes from individuals in each state, and put is back into other states. This whole process is overly complex, prone to corruption, bad incentives, inefficient with our money, and leads to bad results. 

Reasons to disagree:

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Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: 0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Images as reasons to agree and disagree

A picture says a thousand words. Why would we keep them out of a debate? Why not have the top 10 pictures that support AND oppose the same issue.

Of course images are returned to Google based on an algorithm, images that have higher scores will contribute more power to the idea.

Template

Reasons to agree:

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Reasons to disagree:

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Probable interest of those who agree:

1. They agree with the argument, outside of any interest or alterior motivation (30%)


2. Confirmation bias (you decide that you don't like Obama, and so this becomes the prism that you see him. People always root for the home team, because over time they start to show interest, and then each new story tells them they were correct. When the other team acts badly, you get mad. When your team acts badly, you feel justified. You continue to identify with Obama, because you once did). 


3. Your a Republican. He is on the other team. He is the enemy. 


4. Party Affiliation Group-ism (Republican). 


5. Racism.


6. Political laziness and issue crossover (15%)

Probable interest of those who disagree:

1. They agree with the argument, outside of any interest or alterior motivation (30%)


2. Pro black racial preference


3. Liberal guilt (environment).


4. Liberal guilt (race). 


5. Party Affiliation Group-ism (Democratic). 


6. The desire to promote more positive role models for our black youth


7. Self Interest.


8. Political laziness and issue crossover (15%)

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Score:

# of reasons to agree: 1

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: 1

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Transportation

As our society becomes more mobile and interconnected, the need for 21st-century transportation networks has never been greater. However, too many of our nation's railways, highways, bridges, airports, and neighborhood streets are slowly decaying due to lack of investment and strategic long-term planning. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that America's long-term competitiveness depends on the stability of our critical infrastructure. They will make strengthening our transportation systems, including our roads and bridges, a top priority. In the Recovery Act and his first budget proposal, the President made investment in high speed rail a key investment.

Sportsmen

President Obama did not grow up hunting and fishing, but he recognizes the great conservation legacy of America's hunters and anglers and has great respect for the passion that hunters and anglers have for their sports. Were it not for America's hunters and anglers, including the great icons like Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold, our nation would not have the tradition of sound game management, a system of ethical, science-based game laws and an extensive public lands estate on which to pursue the sport. The President and Vice President recognize that we must forge a broad coalition if we are to address the great conservation challenges we face. America's hunters and anglers are a key constituency that must take an active role and have a powerful voice in this coalition.

Science

In the past, government funding for scientific research has yielded innovations that have improved the landscape of American life — technologies like the Internet, digital photography, bar codes, Global Positioning System technology, laser surgery, and chemotherapy. At one time, educational competition with the Soviets fostered the creativity that put a man on the moon. Today, we face a new set of challenges, including energy security, HIV/AIDS, and climate change. Yet, the United States is losing its scientific dominance. Among industrialized nations, our country's scores on international science and math tests rank in the bottom third and bottom fifth, respectively. Over the last three decades, federal funding for the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences has declined at a time when other countries are substantially increasing their own research budgets. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe federally funded scientific research should play an important role in advancing science and technology in the classroom and in the lab.

Child Advocacy

From http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/additional-issues

"President Obama and Vice President Biden are committed advocates for children. They will make sure that every child has health insurance, expand educational opportunities for low-income children, extend resources for low-income families, support and supplement our struggling foster care system, and protect children from violence and neglect."

Who isn't against violence towards children? They will make sure every child in the world has health insurance, or just America? The above paragraph is all I saw on the whole website, specifically dedicated to "child advocacy". I didn't see many specifics...



But should Obama "expand educational opportunities for low-income children? To many people, this is the most noble type of activity that a president could be engaged in. However, before stone me for daring to question something that seems so obviously beneficial, please consider the following:





The Federal Government shouldn't duplicate services provided for by the states. When you have administrators in Federal, State, and County agencies all with the same responsibility you are wasting money. When you have administrators in Federal, State, and County agencies all with the same responsibility there is no accountability for the performance of any of the government agencies. When the federal government has a mission that is the same as more local governments, they often don't really do anything besides set standards which the local agencies are not required to follow, and funnels money which they takes from individuals in each state, and put is back into other states. This whole process is overly complex, prone to corruption, bad incentives, inefficient with our money, and leads to bad results.



The Federal Government's power should be more limited than the states.



If cities, counties, and states all have agencies working to expand educational opportunities for low-income children, then there is no reason for the Federal Government to duplicate these efforts. 



There is no reason to have a Federal Department of Education, because no one from the Federal government teaches kids. All kids are taught by teachers who are employed by local jurisdictions. The Federal Government is worse at providing services than local governments. When the Federal Government gets involved in the same efforts as the states, it prevents us from learning which states are doing things the right way and which states are not running their programs correctly, because the duplicative efforts from the Federal Government make it more difficult to tell what is the cause of success or failure. 

Arts

From http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/additional-issues:

"Our nation's creativity has filled the world's libraries, museums, recital halls, movie houses, and marketplaces with works of genius. The arts embody the American spirit of self-definition. As the author of two best-selling books —Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope — President Obama uniquely appreciates the role and value of creative expression."

This is all about trying to make artist like Obama. Romney, Cheney, and Bush also had best selling books! Does this also make them "uniquely" qualified? 



Obama was wrong, in 2010 to spend $167.5 million on the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

Reasons to agree:

1. Publicly financed art is too easily censored


2. The federal government is too broke to be spending money on the arts. 


3. The arts in America get enough money from the private sector that they don't need money from the federal government.


4. The Federal Government should only fund things we are OK with putting people in Jail, if they wouldn't want to pay their taxes for those things. For instance we can require people to pay their taxes to fund roads, because we all have to pay our share. But it would be wrong to put someone in Jail just because they didn't want money to go to a particular project.

Faith

In June of 2006, then-Senator Obama delivered what was called the most important speech on religion and politics in 40 years. Speaking before an evangelical audience, then-Senator Obama candidly discussed his own religious conversion and doubts, and the need for a deeper, more substantive discussion about the role of faith in American life. He has continued to foster open dialogues on faith across the political spectrum throughout his career.

The President believes a healthy discussion of faith in a pluralistic society includes the need for religious people to translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values during public debate, and sincere respect on all sides. President Obama has found common ground in the importance of faith in the global battle against AIDS in particular.

Women

Progress

The President signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls to provide a coordinated Federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.

The President signed the Affordable Care Act, which gives all Americans better health security, with a particular focus on women specific needs:

• In 2014, the new law makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny any woman coverage because of a pre-existing condition or charge more because of health status or gender.


• Up to 15 million women who now are unin¬sured could gain subsidized coverage under the law and 14.5 million insured women will benefit from provisions that improve coverage or reduce premiums.


• Access to care is also expanded, including guaranteeing choice of a primary care provider within a plan’s network, including OB-GYNs and pediatricians.

The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which included a number of provisions of particular concern to women:

• To help working mothers and fathers obtain quality child care, the Act includes an additional $2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, $1 billion for Head Start, and $1.1 billion for Early Head Start.


• The Act boosts family incomes by expanding the Child Tax Credit to cover an additional 10 million children in working families and creating a new Make Work Pay tax credit.


• The Act includes unemployment insurance reforms that will particularly benefit women, such as incentives for states to cover part-time workers and those who recently reentered the workforce.


• The Act puts $225 million toward addressing violence against women in communities across the country, creating 5,000 jobs in the process.


• The Act put thousands more police officers on the street, funded mentoring programs for at-risk youth in hundreds of communities and bolstered law enforcement efforts in cases of Internet Crimes Against Children and child exploitation.

The President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers.

• The President created the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force (pdf) to bolster enforcement of pay discrimination laws, making sure women get equal pay for an equal day's work.


• The President has called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which will stop retaliation against employees who share or seek wage information and close a loophole that some employers use to avoid paying women equal wages.

The President cut taxes 16 times for small businesses:

The President signed the Small Business Jobs Act, which includes 8 of these new tax cuts that went into effect immediately:

• Zero Capital Gains Taxes on Key Investments in Small Businesses


• The Highest Small Business Expensing Limit Ever– Up to $500,000


• An Extension of 50% Bonus Depreciation


• A New Deduction for  Health Care Expenses for the Self-Employed


• Tax Relief and Simplification for Cell Phone Deductions


• An Increase in The Deduction for Entrepreneurs’ Start-Up Expenses


• A Five-Year Carryback Of General Business Credits


• Limitations on Penalties for Errors in Tax Reporting That Disproportionately Affect Small Business

As part of the Recovery Act and subsequent legislation in 2009 and 2010, which put the following eight small business tax cuts into law:

• A New Small Business Health Care Tax Credit


• A New Tax Credit for Hiring Unemployed Workers


• Bonus Depreciation Tax Incentives to Support New Investment


• 75% Exclusion of Small Business Capital Gains


• Expansion of Limits on Small Business Expensing


• Five-Year Carry back of Net Operating Losses


• Reduction of the Built-In Gains Holding Period for Small Businesses from 10 to 7 Years to Allow Small Business Greater Flexibility in Their Investments 


• Temporary Small Business Estimated Tax Payment Relief to Allow Small Businesses to Keep Needed Cash on Hand

The President signed into law the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which puts in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history, including the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau led by Elizabeth Warren.

The President proposed doubling the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for middle-class families making under $85,000 a year, builds on historic increases in Head Start and child care provided in the Recovery Act, and helps states provide paid family leave to workers. 

The President is delivering comprehensive primary care for women Veterans at all VA facilities by 2013, placing full-time Women Veterans Program Managers at 144 health systems and expanding outreach to women Veterans in communities across the country.

The President signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which promotes workplace flexibility and work-family balance.

Guiding Principles

Ensure Economic Security

Our society has made tremendous progress in eradicating barriers to women’s success. Women make up a growing share of our workforce, and more women are corporate executives and business owners than ever before. Today, women are serving at the highest levels of all branches of our Government.

Despite this progress, certain inequalities persist. The income for the typical American woman is still only about 78 cents for every dollar of the median income for the typical man, and women are still significantly underrepresented in the science, engineering, and technology fields.

President Obama believes that women have a right to receive equal pay for equal work.

Promote Work-family Balance

Millions of women and men face the challenge of trying to balance the demands of their jobs and the needs of their families. Too often, caring for a child or an aging parent puts a strain on a career or even leads to job loss. President Obama believes we need flexible work policies, such as paid sick leave, so that working women and men do not have to choose between their jobs and meeting the needs of their families.

Support Reproductive Choice

President Obama has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and believes in preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade. At the same time, he respects those who disagree with him. The President believes we must all come together to help reduce unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion.

Prevent Violence Against Women

Violence against women and girls remains a global epidemic. The Violence Against Women Act, originally authored by Vice President Biden, plays a key role in helping communities and law enforcement combat domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. At home and abroad, President Obama will work to promote policies that seek to eradicate violence against women.