By Richie Burke Contributor Published Sep 24, 2020 at 6:01 PM

We are now less than 50 days away from our presidential election, and our country is more divided than ever. On this week’s podcast, John Burke – president of Trek Bicycle, author of the new book "The Presidential Playbook: 16 Nonpartisan Solutions to Save America" and, yes, my dad – came on to talk about the eye-opening issues our country faces that neither of the candidates are really talking about and the facts that could bring us together. 

Just to name a few:

  • The U.S. gun homicide rate is 25 times other high income countries.
  • We spend more on defense than the next seven nations combined.
  • We will spend nearly $500 billion on our nuclear arsenal (that we will hopefully never use) over the next 10 years.
  • More than 85% of elections are won by the candidate who spends the most money.
  • Our tax code is nearly 1,100 pages.
  • We have more prisoners per capita than any other country.
  • Eighteen percent of U.S. children live in poverty.
 

After being disappointed with the 2016 election, Burke believed the country deserved better and contemplated running for office as an independent. Although he opted not to run, he still decided to release his book, which was to serve as his plan for the American people, and feels strongly that shared facts can bring us together. 

In addition to "The Presidential Playbook," we touch on what it has been like running Trek during the pandemic, Trek’s “All In” plan in response to the BLM movement and answer some “fan submitted” questions.