Not a day goes by in Sioux Falls that we don’t hear about how some charity is giving out FREE things to people. Mostly food, but we have giveaways for all types of things, like backpacks, cars, and bikes. I commend the charities for helping these people. Somebody has to. There will always be a sector of our society that needs that help.
But I often ask, what are we doing for the working class? The people that get up every morning and do their best to make their lives better and this city better? Often times, when you help this segment of society (which I would estimate is probably about 80% of our population) you will see great returns. Sometimes just a little incentive is enough to have a big impact.
I am also not saying we give a direct hand-out, but a hand-up. Most people who are hardworking can take small incentives from the government and turn them into gold.
An issue I have had for a long time in our community is that we are always screwing around with the fringes of our society while ignoring the folks who actually drive our economy and city. Whether that is the super poor with blatant handouts or the super rich with tax rebates and incentives.
I have outlined on this blog over the years that if our city government ever got their poop in a group, they could put together some simple programs for the working class that would have big paybacks;
• A better, more efficient and affordable public transportation system.
• Tax rebates and incentives for cleaning up core, working class neighborhoods.
• A city mandated minimum wage higher then the state’s minimum wage.
• More regulation on employment ads, such as listing the wage scale.
• A city wide group health insurance program for small business employees and the self-employed.
• City taking care of their property such as fixing their sidewalks and trimming their trees in the boulevard at NO cost to the abutting property owner.
There are many, many, many more things we could add to the list. And while there will always be a need to help the extremely poor, I really don’t think the trickle down method of incentivizing the super rich developers or business owner is working that well, except for them. We need to help the ‘bread and butter’ of our community who work hard already everyday and reward them for the fruits of their labor.