Society will have to make changes.
We will need to guarantee health care coverage for ALL Americans. The easiest way to do this would be to allow citizens to enroll in Medicare and pay for it via payroll taxes. If you want to stay tied to an employer based insurance or opt for more expensive premium coverage, that is your choice but, allow the choice.
Business will need to pay higher salaries and allow greater flexibility at work. Your worth at a job should be measured by your output and measurable results, not your cool quotient, the number of hours that you are visible in your cubicle, and, what brand of jeans you wear. Wall Street needs to slow down and ponder a long term view to investment. GDP needs to grow in a slower and more sustainable way.
Politicians - Is a policy good for ALL Americans or just a few at the top? If an industry needs subsidies, is it even viable for the long term? Before we cut taxes, will we have enough to fund our fiscal obligations and guard against another recession/pandemic/national crisis? Does it pencil out? Perhaps, we need to raise taxes instead? Is the nation safer because we spend more money for cops/prisons or does crime fall when less citizens are desperate for food and shelter? Perhaps we should look outside of our borders for solutions that work? Maybe, we should allow the rest of the world to figure things out while we focus on taking care of our own? Radical notion-maybe other nations enjoy trading, sharing, and, connecting with America but, don't have to become America Lite. in the process? Here's another nutty idea - COMPROMISE.
Mindless and conspicuous consumerism needs to go. The biggest issue with the retail sector was that competition for "the lowest prices!" led to razor thin margins. To stay in business, you had to keep motivating traffic to buy more and more cheaply made goods at ridiculously low prices. Miss a month of retail sales? Your store or chain is now effed beyond repair. The American consumer needs to shift their mindset - buy better quality and more durable goods at fair prices rather than cheap disposable imported junk at heavily discounted prices.
This behavior is also driven by our media. Now, it isn't wrong to aspire to nicer things or more financial success. The problem is that our entertainment constantly sells us the supposed glamorous lives of wealthy people as a means of benchmarking our own lives. Even the "middle class" is portrayed by the 1%. Look at HGTV as an example. Nearly every show on that channel features couples that absolutely need a new house or a whole house renovation. But, how many Americans have a seven figure mortgage budget or $300,000 just sitting around for remodeling? IMHO, shows like "Property Brothers" are skewing the housing mentality of average people. Most of us over 40 were raised in modest homes and never truly wanted for anything. Thanks to these two Canadian actors pretending to be a real estate agent and a contractor, Americans cannot conceive of living in anything less than 5,000 square feet of open concept splendor with high end finishes, custom made furnishings, and a 1,000 square foot dedicated "play space" so that Trevor or Emma doesn't grow up to be socially retarded or miss out on an Ivy League education for lack of creative stimulation.
Food? Eat whole food. Nutritious food. Food that you cook at home. Stop eating processed garbage at fast food joints. Stop consuming 1500 calorie "value meals". On the flip side, knock it off with getting $35 artisan burgers of spiritually raised Wagyu beef with small batch bacon jam, family farmed heirloom sliced tomato, and, small batch imported Gouda cheese made by blind monks in Latvia. You are doing that for Instagram flexing, not because you can taste the soul and love poured into that sandwich.
Our grandparents were happier people. A good steady job, a roof over your head, and, three square meals a day were sufficient. They lived within their means and treated themselves when it was appropriate to do so. They sought realistic opportunities to do better and saved for the inevitable rainy days. They didn't have to see a therapist because a college classmate posts better Facebook stories. They didn't fret the imagined embarrassment of still using a three year old iPhone7. A cup of Folger's fueled their workday and they would be shocked and amused that someone would pay $5.50 for a dose of caffeine. Perhaps our generations need to return to these sorts of values?