Day 2 of the New Order:A Discussion 

OK so Trump was elected as our new leader.  I, and a lot of other Americans could never imagine this day would come.  His rise was improbable having started with an announcement that he was running that he paid people off the street to attend.  By the end of the campaign thousands waited in long lines to see him.  His speeches consist mostly of superlatives and little substance but somehow he won.  I want to examine that now not to find blame although in discussing it I am sure to sound like I am laying blame but I think if we are to ever move forward we have to see the past and what I am seeing is some reflections from Germany in the 1930's which disturb me.  I think we need to be mindful of those reflections and make sure that we organize to redirect any moves in that direction.  These are my opinions and analysis.  I know there are many more things I did not think of and plenty of you my disagree with what I might say.  Please respond.  I am writing this as therapy for me but also as a call to arms and I want to hear other opinions that help define and understand what is going on.  I am currently a college professor and a good discussion is what we live for.  Please be polite and as I teach science I would like any comments to stick to facts over conjecture or rumor.  We have MSNBC and Fox for that stuff.

So how did we get here:
There are many factors and here is the list of items I can come up with at the moment.  I am not going to talk about Trump much because he is a result more than a cause of our problems.  I am also going to just take one item a day as I have only so much time to spend doing this and you the reader so much time to read it.  I will pose a problem each day and discuss actions individuals can take and things we need to work towards in changing society.

The economy- Globalization

The economy is not in shambles but there are two things that are deep rooted and grew insidiously over the past 30 years or so that make it seem so to the working people of the country.  Helping them to that decision is Fox New telling them that the recovery is not strong enough.  They are globalization and the concurrent change of the US economy away from manufacturing and into a service economy.  Due to the high wages unions gained for their workers which did not matter due to productivity gains in the 50's and 60's coupled with the cost of meeting tightened pollution and safety standards manufacturing concerns closed plants in the States and took them overseas.  This has in fact resulted in a cleaner environment and less dangerous working conditions in America with a resultant shift in our employment to service jobs.  The boom in college education after World War II certainly was part of this trend also as the coal minors sent their kids off to college so they would no have to work in the mines.  These people then filled the management jobs in the shifting economy.

However the problem with this shift is that now we purchase many things abroad and just sell them here.  Consumption is high and price competition is great between the outlets that sell whether they be the now dying big box stores, the almost already dead local stores or the currently thriving web based ones.   The workers in these places are not generally protected by unions and as such receive as low a wage as the company can get away with paying.  Health insurance is not generally paid either but health insurance is a whole topic unto itself so we will leave that for another time.  Suffice it to say that given the high unemployment rate after the Bush trickle-down years that wage could be quite low.  It is only now after that rate has been whittled down to a manageable level that wages are rising but they will never be equal to what some of those great manufacturing jobs paid.

There are so many possible solutions to this and admittedly Trump has a couple that do make some sense. I will take them first.
1.  Import duties - I would charge them based more on a Jimmy Carter type model where environmental and working conditions in the country of origin count more than were the company once manufactured the materials which I is how I interpret Trump's plan
2.  Lean on China to fix currency issues.  Somehow we have to make china understand that the world market needs to control their currency.  As a leading trade partner we should be able to have some influence even though they hold a lot of our debt paper which is their trump (sorry) card.  Their economy currently is overheated and any slowing of their growth rate would be disastrous for them so we hold some cards too.  We just have to be willing to play them.
Here are some of mine for legislative action:
1.  Charge back companies for food stamp and health insurance paid by the US Government on behalf of their employees.  If they aren't paying enough to keep people of medicaid and food stamps their profits should not be at the expense of the taxpayers
2.  Set the minimum wage higher -  This is substituting government intervention for unionization but is probably easier to accomplish as any union organizer will tell you.
And here is an individual or group goal.
1. Boycott Walmart - OK a personal bias here.  This chain is an egregious example of taking advantage of employees to enrich the corporation.  They also squeeze suppliers unmercifully.  Years ago they boasted everything in the store was made in the US but in the end when their sharp practices brought their US suppliers into near or actual bankruptcy they took everything overseas anyway.   I would love to see organized protests outside every Walmart.  This worked great for the Market Basket employees.  It was a great protest that took some guts on the employees part but was well received by the public who virtually shut down the operation until the management changed.  Walmart is a different, much large animal but I believe the tactics would work if done properly and nationally.  They but must be done outside the company as the employees will lose their livelihood as poor as it is if seen protesting.  

And there is this long shot https://www.change.org/p/electoral-college-electors-electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19

Now add yours and any suggestions for how to organize to carry out any of these.