Imagine Universal Free Daycare
American parents know how devastating the high cost of daycare is to the economy of the United States. In many families, one of the parents holds a job that barely covers anything more than the cost of the daycare made necessary by that job. As a result, in many couples, one of the parents does not work at all.
Taking years to stay at home with young children can ruin a career, as well as a family’s finances. Many parents are happy to be at home, and some can afford it, but many parents are simply trapped.
The problem isn’t just for parents and individual families. When people who seek to contribute to the American economy are alienated from the ability to work, we all suffer. Parents ought to have the freedom to stay at home with their children, but they also ought to have the ability to choose to work.
Congressional candidate Jeremy Cloward has proposed a solution to the daycare problem: Universally-available, free daycare centers established through local public school districts. The daycare centers would be established through a one percent tax on corporate profits, which should be more than offset by the increased economic productivity of American parents and the force of parents’ increased spending.
Cloward is running as a candidate in a special election in the 10th congressional district in California, soon to be vacated by Ellen Tauscher, who has been nominated for a position in the Obama Administration.
