I've travelled a lot in the US and many parts feel like a developing country. The tent cities and begging and vehicle-dwelling and so on appear worse each time

I've travelled a lot in the US and many parts feel like a developing country. The tent cities and begging and vehicle-dwelling and so on appear worse each time I go over. But people either don't vote or vote against their own interests. Maybe one risk of framing things as a societal issue mean that people are less likely to take individual action in voting or changing jobs (if possible)? Voter apathy in the US is quite remarkable, given the constant media furore. I'm in small business so I'm offering no comment on larger companies, but often here, I think an employee paid $x is expected to produce $3x as an old rule of thumb to cover overheads, taxes, etc. And I have sympathy for the brutal world of small business ownership: if an employee detests that $15/hr, go freelance at $40/hr and wear the downsides that come with it. Almost every business owner has taken a risk at some point to work unpaid or underpaid while getting off the ground, has covered wages during slow periods, etc. It's not always glamorous. An idea I find intriguing is in government or enterprise providing small businesses with as much boilerplate/scaffolding as possible to minimise the impact of wage theft or rostering struggles or anything else in that painful interface between the employer and employee. Without it, an employee is at the mercy of the foibles of the smalltime employer.