You could say the American dream is to both “make a living” and “have a life”. Definitions first. To “make a living” is to work at something that yields enough income to provide for our needs and some savings. Notice I didn’t say wants. This would include food, clothes, shelter, utilities, health care, dental & eye care, enough to replace things that wear out and enough to save for a rainy day and old age. To “have a life” is to do what we love, have family and friends, community, social involvement, enough resources to cover necessities and have some flexibility. I would guess that more than half of Americans do not have both. Further I would guess that at least a quarter of us have neither. How many of us have given up having a life to make a living just to have the great job disappear. How many have refused to sacrifice their life to make a living only to have their health fail and have neither. I have neither. I spend 27 or so days a month on the road working 60 hours a week and don’t make enough to get dental or health care much less replace my dying car. We need a safety net to decrease the number of hazards to our financial viability. We need a carbon tax to raise the money to finance the safety net. I would actually go for a resource depletion tax. Those using up the commons would be paying to support those who are disenfranchised by its loss.