Dear John,

Americans were given $1,200 to live on for five months. Meanwhile, our military spends more than $2,000,000,000 a day.

American taxpayers spend $107,575,000,000 more on police than on public housing.

And 15 states now spend $27,000 more per person in prison than they do per student.

If you think those stats are mind-blowing, that’s because they are.

At a time when public services are needed more than ever, Trump unleashed federal agents in Portland, against the wishes of local officials, to violently crack down on protesters. His latest tactics are part of the United States' swing towards social control instead of social investment.

Social control societies put substantial resources into police, prisons, surveillance, immigration enforcement, and the military. Their purpose is to utilize fear, punishment, and violence to divide people and keep the status quo in place — perpetuating the systemic oppression of Black and brown people, and benefiting no one but wealthy elites. 
 
Social investment societies put more resources into healthcare, education, affordable housing, jobless benefits, and children. Their purpose is to free people from the risks and anxieties of daily life and give everyone a fair shot at making it.

Trump is the culmination of forty years of increasing social control in the United States and decreasing social investment – a trend which, given the deep-seated history of racism in the United States, falls disproportionately on Black people, indigeneous people, and people of color.

Our latest video breaks down the United States’ long history of social control, and why we must demand a shift towards social investment.

The last months of protests and demonstrations have exposed what’s always been true: social controls are both deadly and unsustainable. 

They require more and more oppressive means of terrorizing communities and they drain resources that would ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive. 

This moment calls on us to relinquish social control and ramp up our commitment to social investment. 

It’s time we invest in affordable housing and education, not tear gas, batons, and state-sanctioned murder. It’s time we invest in keeping children fed and out of poverty, not putting their parents behind bars. 

It’s time to defund the police, and invest in communities. 

We have no time to waste.

Thanks for watching,
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action

P.S. I went Live yesterday morning to discuss Trump's authoritarian tactics in Portland, and how he's stoking violence to distract from his administration's disastrous coronavirus response. I'll be going Live every Monday at 11am PT/2pm EST on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to break down Trump's latest outrages, and give you the context and analysis you need to understand what's at stake this November. I hope you'll tune in.

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