Despite high cultural visibility, Spanish usage in the US will likely plateau and decline. This is driven less by immigration policy and more by a classic linguistic assimilation pattern where fluency drops significantly with each American-born generation, mirroring the historical path of other immigrant languages.
The abundance of Colombian mercenaries is driven by military rules forcing soldiers to retire young (age 45 or after 20 years' service). This creates a continuous pool of highly experienced veterans with inadequate pensions and institutional support, making lucrative foreign military contracts an attractive alternative.
Contrary to popular belief, tax and benefit systems in many developed countries have become more progressive since the 1980s. This increased redistribution has successfully counteracted the rise in pre-tax income inequality, meaning post-tax inequality is often no higher than it was in the 1990s.
Historically high marginal tax rates in the 1950s-70s were largely ineffective due to widespread loopholes and expense account abuse. Modern tax systems are more progressive primarily because they have been tightened, making it much harder for the wealthy to avoid taxes, rather than simply from headline rate increases.