PROJECT 2029 - PART THREE – SOLVING AFFORDABIITY BY MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK AGAIN

Climate change, AI and widening wealth inequality are real existential threats but so is failure to create affordability. To get elected in 2028, Democrats must focus on affordability and describe solutions to affordability to voters such as Medicare for All and subsidized new housing. The new housing would be built by the government under paid contract at the rate of one million units per year. The housing should be offered to working class households with less than $100,000 annual household income at affordable rates such as $ 500 monthly rent for new apartments built in cities or suburbs and purchase of a $400,000 new 3 bedroom 2 bath 2000 sq ft home built on a rural or a suburban half acre with land purchased by the government for $5000 down, a mortgage payment of $1000 per month, and debt free ownership granted after 15 years. The free market is not supplying enough affordable housing and changing zoning laws will not solve the problem.

After getting elected to the presidency and to majorities in control of the House and Senate in 2028, Democrats must raise taxes on the wealthy including a wealth tax on billionaires, raise taxes on corporations, fund solar & wind energy supported with batteries, and end Republican corruption including Citizens United after enforcing the federal law against insurrection to immediately arrest and be detained in detention centers during prosecution which should convict and imprison Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court, and billionaire oligarchs including Musk. Prosecution, conviction and imprisonment are needed for accountability, demonstration of a legal system with equal justice for all, and to create supper majority control of Congress and to appoint six new justices on the Supreme Court. Control is needed to pass needed legislation and have a Supreme Court ready to overturn many decisions such as Citizens United.

A main reason why democracy is not working in 2026 is failure to enforce the federal law against insurrection which was criminally violated by Trump. The law was not enforced by Democrats (Biden and AG Garland) to put Trump in jail for inciting the insurrection on Jan 6, 2021. The prosecution of Trump was excessively delayed enabling the Supreme Court to intervene and kill the prosecution. Democrats (Biden and AG Garland) should have also arrested prosecuted convicted and jailed six justices on the Supreme Court for supporting Trump’s insurrection with the Court’s decision on March 4, 2024, in Trump v. Anderson. The Court ruled Colorado and other states could not block Trump from being on the ballot and states could not enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment because Congress must first pass a federal law defining the crime of insurrection. However, the Supreme Court ignored the existence of federal law, 18 U.S. Code § 2383, which says a felony crime is committed by “Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office”. The violations of 18 U.S. Code § 2383 were occurring during the lawless fascist autocracy installed after Trump was elected in 2024.

States can enforce federal law but the Supreme Court decision in 2024 blocked enforcement of the law by the Colorado Supreme Court which had decided Trump had committed insurrection. The U.S. Supreme Court further illegally supported Trump’s insurrection by giving Trump immunity.

Democracy can’t exist when the law is not enforced when Democrats control all 3 branches of the federal government and Democrats do not enforce the felony criminal law including violations by justices on the Supreme Court. Trump was elected in 2024 because he was not in jail.

Another reason why democracy is not working is because unlimited money in politics was enabled by the SCOTUS Citizens United decision. The corrupt decision that gave political power to wealthy oligarchs by helping influence elections with campaign donations was intentionally created by Republicans with an attack on democracy in an organized campaign since 1971 funded by billionaire oligarchs. But the corruption of the Supreme Court by Republicans was enabled by the failure of Democrats to stop the stacking of the Supreme Court by Republicans (H.W Bush and G.W, Bush) that exploded under Trump.

The billionaire oligarchs like Musk who attack democracy were created by Republicans funded by the oligarchs but were enabled by neoliberal Democrats (Clinton & Obama) who failed to stop the theft of wealth from 95% of Americans. Republicans then transferred the wealth to the oligarchs. The theft was hidden by Republicans to avoid revealing that the theft caused wealth inequality and voters to suffer from unaffordable living costs including housing food childcare healthcare and energy, poor wages and a lack of good paying jobs. Obama bailed out Chrysler, GM and Wall Street after Republican unregulated free market policy caused the 2008 Great Recession and the consequential loss of millions of jobs and millions of homes. But Obama didn’t help people and businesses with cash subsidies like Biden did after COVID and Obama didn’t help people escape from fraudulent mortgages with return of equity and recovery of other losses by helping people litigate for justice by directing courts to enforce federal laws such as 42 U.S. Code § 1983 and reject abusive use of Monell doctrines. The Monell doctrine is another doctrine created by the corrupt Supreme Court that blocks recovery of damages to homeowners caused by failure to enforce equal protection by corrupt officials in local governments.

A NEW GENERATION OF DEMOCRATS MUST LEAD PROJECT 2029

American now needs a new generation of Democrats to select and help elect a candidate for president in 2028 who has outstanding leadership like FDR. FDR created and enforced protections against financial abuse, law violations, raised taxes on the wealthy and corporations, created innovation within the federal government and implemented new Keynesian economic policy to recover from the Great Depression caused by Republicans. The Great Depression had a 25% unemployment rate, massive numbers of bankruptcies and nearly one third of the banking system failed. FDR’s New Deal stabilized banking, restored the economy and saved democracy by creating new protections such as federal deposit insurance (FDIC), creating millions of jobs and Social Security, winning WW2 and creating a prosperous middle class after WW2. Republicans since 1971 have attacked democracy and all parts of FDR’s New Deal that destroyed affordability.

To get elected in 2028, Democrats and a new Democratic president should adopt and commit to implement a PROJECT 2029 with solutions to affordability including housing, food, and energy, solutions to affordable healthcare with Medicare for All, solutions to good jobs/wages, protections to democracy, voting rights, civil rights and equal justice under the law, and effective responses to mitigate the damage caused by global warming.

Democrats need a PROJECT 2029 to counter PROJECT 2025 in 2024 which Republicans and billionaire oligarchs created by funding the Heritage Foundation to design and distribute with a plan to install a lawless, fascist autocracy in 2025. Without adopting and campaigning with PROJECT 2029, Democrats will probably win the House in 2026 but not the Senate and could lose the presidency, House and Senate in 2028. Republicans are massively funded by billionaire oligarchs enabled by Citizens United and Republicans are very good at lying, making false commitments, and convincing voters not to trust the always harmful Democrats. Trump lied in 2024 and continues to lie every minute of every day with total support from Republicans and sanewashing of the lying by the new media.

PROJECT 2029 describes solutions to core problems in America including affordability and wealth inequality with the solutions funded by new much higher taxes on the very wealthy and corporations. PROJECT 2029 creates new taxes including a wealth tax and implements enforcement of federal law enabling change to the Supreme Court enabling overturning Citizens United and many other bad decisions.

My recent post described the history since 1971 of Republican destructive policy and actions which were enabled by billionaire oligarchs and votes from millions of white male supremacists and the inability of Democrats to solve affordability even when they had power. The inability was also caused by a tight Congress without a sufficiently powerful Democratic super majority which is the super majority required now to implement what is described in PROJECT 2029.

Here is my recent post.

PROJECT 2029: GAIN CONTROL OF CONGRESS & THE SUPREME COURT

After getting elected in 2028 to the presidency and gaining control of the House and Senate as mentioned, Democrats must enforce the federal law against insurrection to gain super majority control of Congress and total control of the Supreme Court to be able to pass new legislation to solve affordability and many other problems created by Trump, Republicans and billionaire oligarchs.

After a new Democratic controlled Congress and a Democratic president are elected in 2028 after campaigning with PROJECT 2029, they will have a sworn obligation to defend the Constitution with a commitment to enforce the federal law including the law against insurrection and the Constitution to prosecute, convict, imprison, Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court and billionaire oligarchs. As stated in the Constitution, the incoming president must say, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Enforcing federal law in PROJECT 2029 will create sufficient power with a Democratic super majority in Congress and enable changing the Supreme Court with all justices appointed by Democrats. Enforcing the law will enable new taxes, laws and regulations required to finally solve affordability and wealth inequality, regulate AI, and properly mitigate the damage from destructive climate change caused by global warming.

PROJECT 2029 - HIGHER TAXES ON CORPORATIONS AND THE WEALTHY

A good reference by Krugman on oligarchy creating wealth inequality and manipulating taxes is

Higher taxes on the wealthy including a wealth tax, and higher taxes on corporations must be implemented to fund solutions to core problems.

With new taxes, Medicare for All would then be created and funded in PROJECT 2029.

There are two options to implement Medicare for All. The United States spends about $1.2 trillion on Medicare as it exists now. Medicare for All is estimated by Warren to cost about $20.5 trillion in new federal spending over ten years or about an increase of $850 billion.

In option #1, Krugman recommended an optional Medicare for All in his post

Krugman said “ … an attempt to push people into Medicare-for-all would run afoul of concerns about change. But it would be much less controversial, I believe, to offer a public option — allowing Americans, including employers providing insurance to their employees, to buy into a Medicare-type system. Many people surely would avail themselves of that option. And if they like what they get, which they probably would, we could transition over time to a single-payer system without forcing Americans into it.”

In option #2, Medicare for All would be mandatory and would provide universal healthcare. Employers would be excused from the burden and cost of providing healthcare to employees. All citizens from birth would have healthcare with costs paid by the federal government.

How would Medicare for All with option #1 be funded?

First, raise taxes on corporations.

The federal government levies a flat 21% statutory tax rate on corporate net profits (revenue minus allowable business expenses). But corporations avoid paying taxes with tax loopholes and accounting tricks. Additionally, “applicable corporations” (large companies with adjusted financial statement income exceeding $1 billion) face a 15% Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT). Corporate income taxes are typically the third-largest source of federal revenue (behind individual income taxes and payroll taxes), contributing roughly 10% to 11% of the total federal revenue pool. In fiscal year 2025, the U.S. corporate income tax generated about $452 billion in federal revenue.

Eliminating loopholes and raising corporate tax rates could provide an additional annual federal revenue of about $ 250 billion.

Second, create a wealth tax.

A federal wealth tax would create much needed additional annual federal revenue. A federal wealth tax could create between $350 billion and $600 billion in new annual revenue, depending on the specific tax rates and thresholds.

Estimates vary based on the exact proposal:

• Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act: Projected to generate roughly $600 billion per year, by applying a 2% tax on 0.15% of households with a net wealth between $50 million and $1 billion, and a 3-6% tax on wealth above $1 billion. According to economic analyses, the tax would impact roughly 260,000 households and raise approximately $6.2 trillion over 10 years.

• Senator Bernie Sanders’ Billionaire Wealth Tax: Estimated by economists to raise approximately $367 billion annually (about 1.2% of US GDP) by heavily targeting net worths exceeding $1 billion. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ro Khanna introduced the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, a federal proposal to levy a 5% annual wealth tax exclusively on the roughly 938 U.S. billionaires. Anyone with a net worth under $1 billion is completely exempt. The projected revenue estimated by supporting economists would raise $4.4 trillion over the next ten

years.

A wealth tax should provide additional federal revenue of $600 billion.

The wealth tax ($600 billion) combined with new federal revenue from raising corporate taxes ($250 billion) could fund Medicare for All which requires new revenue of $850 billion above over what is collected and spent for Medicare now.

As mentioned with option #2 for Medicare for All, corporations would not be paying for employee healthcare and therefore higher taxes on corporations are justified to help pay for Medicare for All.

How would other federal programs that solve problems such as affordability be funded?

In addition to new federal taxes (wealth tax and higher corporate taxes), additional new tax revenue from higher taxes on wealthy income can be increased as described in my last post

PROJECT 2029 – PART 2 - SOLUTIONS TO AFFORDABILITY AND JOBS

Higher taxes on wealthy income would produce more than an additional $1.3 trillion to fund solutions to core problems including affordability and wealth inequality.

For individuals, the top marginal income tax rate peaked at 91% for parts of the 1950s (1951-1963). The top marginal rate began to decline in the 1960s, reaching 77% in 1964 and 70% in 1965. This 70% rate generally stayed in place until 1981. In 1981, the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA) was passed, which significantly reduced federal income tax rates, including the highest marginal rate from 70% to 50% and the lowest from 14% to 11%. ERTA also decreased the capital gains tax rate, among other provisions, and was part of President Reagan’s broader economic policy known as “Reaganomics” or as trickle-down economics.

For the past 50 years the federal government was controlled by the wealthy to take and steal wealth from 95% of people and give the wealth to the top 5% - mostly to the top 0.01%. The wealth transfer must be stopped and fair progressive taxes restored. The tax rates for the top 1% and 5% in 2024 must be changed to what the tax rates were for the top 1% and 5% in 1965 with the tax rates for the 95% in 2024 remaining unchanged to what the rates were in 2024. That would create $1.3 trillion of new federal revenue for funding solutions to core problems including affordability of healthcare and housing.

Based on the latest available IRS data for 2022, the top 1% of earners paid 40.4% of all federal individual income taxes. This amounted to $864 billion in income taxes contributed by this group. The income threshold for the top 1% in 2022 was $663,164. America had less wealth inequality and a strong economy in 1965 with better income taxes. The Federal Income Tax Brackets and Maximum Rates in 2029 should be changed from the 2024 Tax Brackets and Maximum Rates in 2024 which included rates of 37% and 24% for the top 1%- and 5%-income levels (joint filing income in 2024 above $785K and $352K) and restored to the Tax Brackets and Maximum Rates in 1965 with income levels adjusted for inflation. In 1965, the rate for the top 1% income bracket was 72% (reduced from 91% in 1960) and the rate for the 5% level was 55%. Therefore, the rates for the wealthy (top 5% and top 1%) in 2029 would be doubled. Rates for lower income levels would be unchanged. In 2022, the top 5% of earners (those with incomes $261,591 and above) collectively paid over $1.3 trillion in income taxes. Doubling the taxes would raise an additional $1.3 trillion but only if the loopholes and deductions used by the wealthy top 1% are eliminated. According to an article published in The Atlantic, How the Richest People in America Avoid Paying Taxes, by Annie Lowrey in August 2025, the top 400 of Americans paid only an estimated 23.8 percent of their income to the IRS from 2018 to 2020. Their tax rates were lower than the average paid by all American households.

Additional changes by Democrats after getting elected in 2028.

Democrats in 2029 should immediately overturn the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations in the Big Beautiful Bill. Extending the expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in the Big Beautiful Bill was estimated to cost about $5.0 trillion over the next decade or about $500 billion per year. The tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations were intended to increase wealth inequality. A significant portion of these tax cuts would go to the top 10% of taxpayers, earning over $228,060 annually. The top 1% of earners, making at least $743,247, would see their taxes reduced by more than $1.24 trillion ($124 billion per year), accounting for roughly 25% of the total tax cut. The budget deficit would have been increased by more than $4 trillion over the next decade.