<story><title>Dust in the Light</title><url>https://stratechery.com/2020/dust-in-the-light/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dmode</author><text>I love Ben Thompson&amp;#x27;s writing and I like how he accurately connects the history of institutional racism to the events of today. I have seen a few articles of this kind, and it seems like in today&amp;#x27;s America vast majority of people (except a few Trump holdouts) have acknowledged that the historical arc of slavery to segregation to white flight to real estate discrimination has led to where we are.&lt;p&gt;However, what I don&amp;#x27;t hear is radical solution to this problem. Even in Obama&amp;#x27;s medium essay, the solution is deep police and criminal justice reform. Which, while important, is  incremental. What we need here is a step change to course correct 400 years of history. And incremental changes do not cut it. Here are some step change suggestions&lt;p&gt;1)Trillions of dollars of reparations 
2) A generous UBI
3) Free healthcare
4) Trillions of investment in schools in poorer neighborhoods
5) A dramatic rise in minimum wage&lt;p&gt;In pre-COVID world, I would accept a reasonable pushback against this suggestion was &amp;quot;deficit&amp;quot; &amp;quot;debt&amp;quot; etc. But COVID has exposed these pushbacks was hypocritical (puts a stark spotlight on the hypocritical Tea Party movement). We printed trillions of dollars overnight to save small and big businesses, and employees. Why can&amp;#x27;t we move at that scale ? If we can suddenly print that much money, what is stopping us from massive investments in our most disadvantaged communities to undo 400 years of history ?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>twunde</author><text>Tangent:
For anyone who wants to learn more about the history of instutional racism in the US, in particular the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, The Color of Law (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Color-Law-Forgotten-Government-Segregated&amp;#x2F;dp&amp;#x2F;1631492853&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Color-Law-Forgotten-Government-Segreg...&lt;/a&gt;) goes into detail about the history of red lining and how it was GOVERNMENT-supported. For those bothered by the curfews imposed across the US, I&amp;#x27;d also recommend Sundown Towns (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Sundown-Towns-Hidden-Dimension-American&amp;#x2F;dp&amp;#x2F;0743294483&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Sundown-Towns-Hidden-Dimension-Americ...&lt;/a&gt;), which discusses how many metropolitan areas had unofficial but very much enforced curfews for minorities.</text></comment>
<story><title>Dust in the Light</title><url>https://stratechery.com/2020/dust-in-the-light/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dmode</author><text>I love Ben Thompson&amp;#x27;s writing and I like how he accurately connects the history of institutional racism to the events of today. I have seen a few articles of this kind, and it seems like in today&amp;#x27;s America vast majority of people (except a few Trump holdouts) have acknowledged that the historical arc of slavery to segregation to white flight to real estate discrimination has led to where we are.&lt;p&gt;However, what I don&amp;#x27;t hear is radical solution to this problem. Even in Obama&amp;#x27;s medium essay, the solution is deep police and criminal justice reform. Which, while important, is  incremental. What we need here is a step change to course correct 400 years of history. And incremental changes do not cut it. Here are some step change suggestions&lt;p&gt;1)Trillions of dollars of reparations 
2) A generous UBI
3) Free healthcare
4) Trillions of investment in schools in poorer neighborhoods
5) A dramatic rise in minimum wage&lt;p&gt;In pre-COVID world, I would accept a reasonable pushback against this suggestion was &amp;quot;deficit&amp;quot; &amp;quot;debt&amp;quot; etc. But COVID has exposed these pushbacks was hypocritical (puts a stark spotlight on the hypocritical Tea Party movement). We printed trillions of dollars overnight to save small and big businesses, and employees. Why can&amp;#x27;t we move at that scale ? If we can suddenly print that much money, what is stopping us from massive investments in our most disadvantaged communities to undo 400 years of history ?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>disease</author><text>Economic parity would go a long way towards solving these problems, I don&amp;#x27;t think they can happen before white racial resentment is solved. It&amp;#x27;s interesting that so many working class whites are so willing to vote against their own economic self interest - particular where the possibility of raising the levels of working class blacks is concerned. Last Place Aversion is a very real thing it seems.</text></comment>