The 1% Solution
January 22, 2009 by Will Marre
We are living in a puzzle of paradox. On the one hand we are staring at the single light of an oncoming train barreling down the tracks of a collapsed economy. On the other we are giddy with optimism that President Obama’s leadership will usher in a new era of inventive solutions that will bind us together in a new future. As recent national New York Times/CBS News Poll declares, 80% of Americans believe Barack Obama will lead us to responsible prosperity and world peace. Wow. That’s hope on steroids. But just below our optimism are nagging questions.
We are all upset about bailouts without accountability. Banks who seem to have no trouble tracking every transaction on my debit card suddenly can’t tell us where they stashed or how they used $350 billion. It’s all co-mingled with all the rest of their assets in a giant money bin they tell us. Right.
Next we gulp when we’re told that the government has to spend a trillion dollars to stimulate our economy. Hey, they are going to build roads and bridges and get us back working on high paying union jobs. Yea…that’s good I guess, but how come every time I drive down the freeway by a construction zone all I see are lots of people standing around and a few people working? And why do these projects take so long to complete?
It seems to me that flushing billions down the sewer of our giant broken banks without any accountability and huge public works projects is like treating cancer with aspirin; it may be necessary, but it’s not a cure. The problems our bombed out economy is dealing with are far deeper than bank balance sheets and a new freeway interchange.
One massive game-changing problem is that globalism and technology has stopped our incomes from growing. Don’t get me wrong. Global trade and technology aren’t bad in and of themselves. But when they are primarily used as tools to increase the wealth of a few, their toxic side effects are potent. A global workforce has radically swelled and depressed wage growth in developed nations. This combined with automation and software has rendered lots of well-trained and educated people’s skills irrelevant. A recent side effect to no wage gain is the decline of consumption so our markets can no longer sustain the rapid industrialization and output growth of Asia and Eastern Europe. Of course there is a silver lining to the collapse of the old economy. We’ve been way too wasteful. We bought stuff, lots of stuff, we didn’t need, and we gravely abused our planet. It was all unsustainable. But since the old economy paid our bills, its collapse comes with a raging river of human suffering.
So here comes the cavalry. The bugle blows and Obama rides to our rescue. Well maybe. I hope so. He’s intelligent, reasonable and inspiring. But is government the right tool to fix what ails us? Our own government’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently estimated that one-third of our annual $3 trillion in taxes is wasted. We receive no value for it. That’s just the way it is. A trillion gone. It’s true that some things government does best. But mostly what I want government to do is make and enforce laws that promote fairness and justice. I want them to keep the playing field as level as possible. I want them to prevent corruption. I want them to take the “special” out of special interests.
But one thing they are not good at is valued job creation. The fundamental problem of government employment and government contracting for services is non-existent accountability. When there are no consequences for under performance, underperformance is usually what we get way too much of. Helping big business is not much better. For the past 30 years they’ve been in the business of cutting jobs, not creating them. For instance, General Motors has shrunk its global workforce by 75% over the past three decades as its market share shrank.
So what’s the best thing we can do? Let’s try something completely simple and completely radical. Before I propose it let me be clear there are lots and lots of details to work out. So I need your help with creative solutions to all the ways this could fail. But just hear me out.
Our core economic challenge we have is to create reasonable paying, needed jobs. Jobs that create value. Jobs that have performance accountability. Jobs that build a sustainable future. Jobs that make our nation stronger and benefit the world. And we need to create these jobs not through a government bureaucracy but through ingenuity of millions of citizen entrepreneurs and professionals working with local, national, and global business. Here’s how.
Our federal government can issue a tax credit equal to one percent of gross sales of all businesses with a business license. So a $1 billion business would get a $10 million reduction on their taxes that they could carry forward if they had no profits. A small business with $250,000 in sales would get a $2,500 credit. However, this credit would only be valid if the money was directly invested in a new business that made money by benefiting humanity or healing the environment. New businesses would qualify by meeting well-established Socially Responsible Investing Standards (SRI). (This means no investments in cigarettes, vices, weapons or heavy polluters.) There are also many standards to judge socially responsible enterprise used in social venture capital competitions held throughout the world. A simple annual audit form would have to be submitted by the new business to qualify for further investment in future years.
Based on our total GDP this ought to create about $100 billion in private capital to go in a new company and job creation for sustainable solutions to our most urgent problems. This money would not go through the hands of bureaucrats but would be our money directly invested by us. If we maintained this for five years it would be close to $500 billion invested in our new future. My view is this would stimulate innovation, job creation, and sustainable business thinking faster and more broadly than anything else. Of course not every business would work. But the efficiency of the market place would reward good ideas and competence and bureaucratic waste would be minimized.
Oh, one last thing. We’d all be investors. You see we, the taxpayers, would own 10% of any new business funded by our tax credits. Who knows, our investment in the future may even help pay off our national debt. No, this won’t solve all our problems…but it would spur new business formation in the businesses we need for our future right now.
So, what do you think? How would you improve it? If we can create a workable program, I am off to Washington. Obama, you better buckle up.
Will, it seems to me that the key element here is sustainability. It’s nice and noble to want the tax advantage to go toward green or humane oriented business, but what does a pizza shop owner do?
Perhaps direct payment toward the purchase of alternate-energy vehicles and/or equipment like hybrid cars or trucks, solar or wind power generators, that kind of thing could be included…
I agree with you Will.
Keep the brainstorm going. I think that the people have better suggestions that our newly elected officials. I read the critical comments of the nobel prize winner in economics about Obama’s plans and he said that this would only represent a third of what is really needed. I sencerily do not think that by designating as treasurer of the US a person that was directly involved in structuring the baylout and transfer of assets in bears with hazy intentions as the president of the NY federal reserve constitutes a real change and will to rescue the economy is like they are saying the wall street journal comments the fox in charge of the hen house. The same people serving the wall street special interest groups in charge of saving our economy. What great future we expect! Reason why I agree with you. The real solution will come from us not from the government. I am a democratic but this decision just proved me that we will expect more of the same. A person that could not be responsible, honest, etc, for his own personal tax payments will manage all of ours? someone that admited before congress that he failed to supervise properly Wall Street operations was not fired but is promoted??? What is the message there?? More of the same discuting politics. Wall street first, main street last.
Will:
I think the direction your ideas are going is terrific, although the resulting business framework you suggest would, in my opinion, be impossible to swallow by the majority of Americans who want quick fixes.
Your take on creating “value” jobs is right on the mark. Personally, I have a hard time getting my hands around industries that rake in lots of money and put out nothing in return. When millions are spent promoting entertainment focused solely on what performers are wearing to an awards ceremony, I scratch my head in disbelief. (Keep in mind I used to be a professional entertainer myself.)
Similarly, when our lifestyle has become one of quick fixes, we all end up paying exponentially more on the back end. My example for this is the medical industry, which is structured to poo-poo most wellness therapies and wait as long as possible until complex and astronomically expensive medical intervention is necessary. Nothing against surgeons and what they charge, but from the public’s perspective we’d be far better off ‘paying the price’ for wellness and exercise programs over an extended period of time. And THAT’S a great example of where some high-value jobs (both in dollars and in human benefit) could be generated.
I agree will.
Thank you again for bringing up such important matters. This like most Americans at this time is near and dear to me. I am a single mother of three beautiful girls. I was a “stay at home” Mom prior to my divorce and have been forced to re-invent myself. I welcome the challenge but what timing! It has become very clear to me that all things are meant to be, and even though we can’t see it at the time, and if we all have a bigger and better intention we can make good of what we have percieved as a bad hand. It is my opinion that the economic hardship has allowed the conciousness of people to turn to what really matters such as the enviroment, family, and values.
How can we (I) go about putting more time and energy into childrens lives, afterall they are going to be running this country at some point. Why doesn’t our government value this? It’s time to invest in America, small business, go back to the basics of what made this country what it was, but better, greener, and find the real meaning of why we are on this planet. I am in support of investing in small businesses, endorsing the “mom and pops” and all of your suggestions.
I am looking forward to making my own changes here and would like to see what your experiences will bring.
Thank you
Robin
I agree that the bail outs are a mistake. The bank bail out was a farce. Why are our tax dollars going to the big businesses???Do they really need the money. General Motors would do better going through bankrupcy than getting bailed out and pushing the VOLT which may or may not ever be built and marketed.
I read somewhere that for all the bail out money, each citizeen could be given 1 Million dollars. Niow that would stimulate the economy.
Also I think we need to rethink our piorities. Yes, the focus has to be on creating value. Real Value. Not just junk they think the advertising industry and sell us.
Support for new businesses that creat real value is a mustl
Don’t forget decreasing waste!
Sorry, pushed the button too quick!
My pet peeves are: costs of collecting taxes…and the bookkeeping and paperwork involved in calculating taxes..and the HIDDEN taxes that “corporations” pay…NO CORPORATION PAYS TAXES…they just pass them on to unsuspecting consumers in the form of higher prices, so that POOR PEOPLE are paying taxes on FOOD, CLOTHING AND SHELTER…very sneaky REGRESSIVE TAX!
Well done – a disciplined market based solution! Government expenditures and provision of goods and services are ineffiient and ultimately unsustainable (see the Soviet Union), yet for some reason that is the path that our society seems to be currently embracing. Your notion will lead to far greater return on investment while overcoming any market failures and unleashing the creativity of individuals. One thing I’m not sure about is the 10% public ownership. It would be great to get a return on tax dollars, but it doesn’t seem necessary to move forward.
it is a very good concept because it strikes at the core of the need – get business motivated to invest. Government only accounts for about 13% of the economy; therefore I agree with you its impact is limited when compared to the impact of the other 87%. That is the problem FDR ran into – his public spending did good things but he viewed business as an enemy and therefore taxed them and prosecuted them rather than encourage private investment. So we languished for 10 years.
Having said that your sense that we can legislate the social good of an investment is a form of liberal fascism. The standards you cite are not necessarily generally accepted. Unless the constraints were extremely limited I would prefer that the investments were merely legal and subject to ethical investment and accountability standards.
I’m thinking that one thing we can all agree on is that our government is not responsible and not accountable . . . period. So therefore why not start there as part of any prospective plan. We need to demand accountability for every dollar they receive and spend and they need to face serious legal consequences if they don’t provide the right answers as to where the money is going. How stupid can we be and have we been?
Some of the main beneficiaries of the special interest game in Washington have been and are our Congress. How can they be given the task of preventing corruption when they are the corruption we need to prevent. Again I repeat, we need enforceable accountability. Why should their pay and benefits be better than most Americans and yet they want to cut social security and medicare. What are they going to cut from their benefits and retirement packages? Nothing, I guarantee it.
Let’s get real about this like our Congress never will because they are the ones benefiting from our blood, sweat and tears and yet they could care less about accountability and doing a little suffering with the rest of us. If we have to sacrifice then damn it so should they. And let’s start making it a requirement that the government must face an annual audit, again with penalties and accountability for non-compliance. It is and has been a bottomless pit in Washington. Think of all the problems of every kind that could have been solved if our tax money had been spent accountably. I guarantee we would not be where we are today.
As long as we have the “Federal” Reserve in place, we will not progress in any shape or form. Until everyone realizes how corrupt the people at the top are, nothing will change. These are not “bailouts”, these are BANKER TAKEOVER bills. Research the people at the top, you’ll see it’s all connected. For someone who says it’s not feasible for any elitist to work with another, think again, it happens all the time. Congress is basically threatened with martial law now if things don’t pass through. Obviously the bought out media won’t let this be known to the American people. People need to realize how bad they are being duped by the elitist backed Obama camp. He is just as bought out as the next one. The republican/democrat dictatorship WILL NOT SAVE YOU !
The last true president we had, that warned us of the illuminati, secret societies got killed. JFK let this out in the public, warning the American people of this very thing that’s happening now. There is reason why Lincoln said once before; “I’m not worried about the Confederates in front of me, I’m worried about the bankers chasing behind me.”
If anyone still thinks that the President of the United States has any REAL power whatsoever, is dreaming. The reality of the situation is this, the bankers are taking over one bill at a time, and they will implement anything they want. It’s been like that for a LONG time, and will get even worst then it is now if people don’t wake up and realize this.
A LOT LESS government. Gold backed currency. Abolish the “Federal” Reserve. Abolish the IRS. Let corrupt corporate CEO’s, bankers SINK in their evil greedy ways, LET THEM FAIL ! These bailouts are doing one thing, putting EVERYTHING on the backs of taxpayers, while the elite get to vacation in the Bahamas, and buy REAL assets for pennies on the dollar !
RIDICULOUS.
Please be patient as you read…I want to list a number of details …before I get to my suggestions…and solutions…in the end of this response I will give you hope…So now the tough issues …:)
Personal Ethics…TRUST …and personal responsibility…where are they?
Purpose…of a Nation?
Goals of a Nation?
Vietnam vets still live and Die under Highway Bridges…
Homeless are burned alive…we have more people in jail then any other Nation in the world..over 2 million…every year in America…between 14,000-25,000 Americans KILL each other by some violent act…during Vietnam 13 years of fighting over 58,000 Americans were killed…back home…during that time…between 150,000- 250,000 Americans killed each other…
In Iraq we have lost over 4,000 soldiers…in America for the past 7 years…between 98,000 and 140,000 Americans have Killed each other…
Our Schools graduate 50% …except for the few schools that do well…our education SYSTEM is out of focus with REALITY…
Anyone…who pays their bills…works hard and has no debt and lives with in their means …is laughed at…they ask for nothing …get up and work as hard as they can so they are not a burden or a debtor…they should be teachers in the community …
We have DRUGS that are used on children to quiet them down…to CRUSH their spirit and creativity…
Old age homes do the same…any older patient screams or cries out is slowly sedated to death…
Okay …then there is the DRUGS on TV for Everything…God Forbid you get up off your fat lazy non productive ass and get a job…and or create one…or just simply go out and help a Vet who can’t walk…something to give to…or have two jobs…instead of taking a PILL to solve your problems…
We have a Fat Drugged Nation that complains about Immigrants who care for their parents…and feel they deserve Cheap sneakers …shirts …food…and yet they would never work for .50cents an hour….in a third world nation who gives us these products at such CHEAP ridiculous prices…
There is more to think about…One of the most painful secrets is our soldiers in this War In Iraq who have died…their families were Awarded $250,000 to $450,000
insurance plus for the lose in combat…NO OTHER AMERICAN SOLDIERS Families in our History have ever received such compensation…the standard was Payment for a burial and a Flag…($6,000-$8,000) PERIOD…think about this…and please do not forget the CASH bonuses to sign up…$25,000-60,000 plus…So that is why this War has seen so little protest…the PAIN has been sedated with the families with more money then they have ever made or will ever have…so it is hard for them to complain when they have been given such payments that HAVE changed their lives…it makes it confusing…
Our leaders in Congress…Receive a 100% Health care coverage…and they receive FULL PAY …for the rest of their lives…How could they represent a people who do not get Health care…and certainly not a Pension that pays them 100%…
So…sure change will come…but we are a ignorant arrogant country…that would have sold homes and cars…and things to people who could not afford them…THEN …take it all away…and have the Government compensate the banks for Emotionally and financially destroying the lives of millions…as well as creating a country with out a moral compass…but a mandate for greed and abuse…at any cost…and the WALL STREET Leverage game…and Bernard…who ran a Ponzi scheme…destroyed the lives of many including Charity’s and powerful people who were very successful but got caught up in greed…the list goes on…
There is a VISION that has been lost….70 % of households in America are single family households…PARENTS?
Where are they? Also
Here is a Very serious issue that has been made into NORMAL…
Instead of focusing on how family values strengthen a society…we are now Promoting behavior of THE GREEKS and Romans as they collapsed…. and DEMANDS are being made as though families really have no true identity…ABERRATION of the truth…and the redefining of the foundation of a great nation and what makes it strong spiritually and morally is what makes a Nation great. Leading at the highest Standards…not lowering a NATION to the JERRY SPRINGER FAITH of Anything Goes…and all the other Nut case shows that kids see and then what? All the TV shows that have ABERRATION… Point is…so much has fallen from grace …that people need to clean up what they have done to financially CRIPPLE families…REAL ESTATE agents OWE their fees BACK…plus interest and Penalties…they knew what they were doing…and only cared about their FEES…
When the sales people…and all the managers that buried people in House Debt…CAR debt…and Credit card debt and were living off that …need to step forward and make up for the damages…
People knew what they did to get their fees…and until those Americans come clean they will do it again…because they will not be trustworthy until they do come clean and realize what RESPONSIBILITY they had in the collapse of a system that was producing a Nation of Thieves with no remorse or responsibility…
OKAY…I could go on…but
here is my suggestions…
We need to build ENTRY LEVEL CARS…Houses…and Apartments….
Meaning…a Car without carpet and all the whistles and bows…a BASIC car that you could order …they stopped that…and that was a IMPORTANT element …so people could buy what they could afford…a One bedroom house…that are no bigger than an apartment…so the cost is Affordable…
And Apartments that are clean and affordable…so we need to understand…there are ways to help families and individuals to have a life…
The year you buy a house…and can prove that to the IRS …you do not pay TAXES…those TAXES will be used for the down payment…It’s once in your lifetime…and it means …if you make enough in one year to get a home and do…then you pay no taxes…also up to TWO CARS…same deal…
Instead of taking away the money someone finally earns that could get them ahead…and stable…we help them…knowing they will work harder to have that once in a lifetime shot to get a home…
Also …sending 18 year old kids to college and put them in debt to party for four years is INSANE…if they are mature and studying to be a doctor etc…then they go…but to get a BA and waste four years and have a huge debt…then we are creating a debtor nation…I propose they WORK from 18 to 24…save their money…stay at home contribute BUT…the buy a home with their
savings…which also would have given them a chance to do many jobs…discover themselves more…then at 24 decide what to do…but they would be debt free and have a home and Equity…wouldn’t that be sweet…and a USED CAR…which keeps the cost down and the INSURANCE…So
What I am proposing is to re design the Architecture of life…by teaching and designing a life around the person with Financial advice that build wealth not increasing debt…
Our Nation is a debtor Nation…next step is slavery to those we owe…so it’s time to re think the flow of a individual life…
There are many ideas that would change the past failures and would make a new Nation strong and wiser…
But to have a new generation go through the same debt system will only lead to the same failure…
It’s time to think and do outside the box…
Electricity has been a lie…the few chose to control it…Edison made it a plug in and pay world.
Nikola Tesla …
He was the mastermind of it all…and the government betrayed him…
go to these two sites I created…you will be amazed…
http://www.Electricity.weebly.com
http://www.electricity2.weebly.com
SO…in the end…We are going to have to LEAD the world with new solutions of what is a good life…and how do we achieve that…and We would be smart and wise to FOCUS on Electricity…and solve the Oil problem once and for all…that is a road that will change the world.
So…yes I went on here…and wanted to inspire…
I am working on a book…and much of this is going to be in it..
TREADING WATER…
I hope you will get it…use it and share it…
All the best.
Tree Fort Productions LLC (c) all rights reserved 2008-9
To Sirtony,
Many excellent and right on points. All most too much to think about, let alone do something about, but the truth is we all let things get to this point even though we as individuals may not have been a starter or catalyst.
Someone once said, “When mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary. When mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable.” When it comes to this I think we have hit the wall and crossed the line as witness our totally out of control economy and country and government. We need to take your list, and every other list we can compile as a group, of real problem issues so we can start attacking them and solving them one by one. We need to work at the root causes of the problems not the leaves (the symptoms). We need to hack away and cut with an ax not a scalpel. Just about every problem in this country is way beyond the scope of a scalpel.
So far I like Obama and his start as far as taking action. However, i also have questions about many of his people choices who appear to be more of the same old politically connected. The jury is out and will remain so for some time til we see which direction things begin to go. As someone once said, “hope is not a strategy” so Obama better have a lot more substance up his sleeve. As I said this is not bandaid and aspirin time but major surgery time and since the most needed actions will have major impact on those most responsible for where we are today, it remains to be seen how much real, transformational change will ultimately take place.
We must all get involved and let our voices be heard and take action in every way possible to turn this out of control battleship around for the good of all Americans, not that elite minority that seem to control everything. If not now, when? If not me, who? Let’s get to it!
[...] yes, I am off to Washington D.C. I am trying to get a certain Senator to support the 1% Percent Solution. Let’s create jobs by unleashing our entrepreneurial energy toward socially strategic [...]
Well thought out, Will…as always. Although it may be a fruitless exercise, I often wonder how we got here. Our parents certainly never taught us to consume, to borrow, to cheat, to excess. My mother freaked out when we used those new “disposable” diapers. What’s wrong with cloth diapers, she’d ask. She was aghast at the volume of paper towels we used. What’s wrong with rags?
That generation who endured the depression and wars practiced re-cycling long before there was such a word. To this day, I own saw-horses my dad made out of the moldings he removed as he remodeled our first house built in the early 20’s. As a child, it was my job to remove the nails from every board, and straighten them for re-use. I still have some.
As for credit, my dad didn’t own a credit card until he was in his 70’s and my parents were going on a trip to Hawaii and he needed one to rent a car. For years, when he remodeled that old house, he’d come home with his pay envelope and put aside some cash, which he took to the lumber yard to buy material the next day. That house was remodeled one door at a time it seemed. In the 70’s when a CD at a bank could earn 16%, he couldn’t wait to pay off his 5% mortgage. “I don’t want to owe anyone anything” was his logic.
So where did we learn all these consumptive bad habits? Native Americans, Eskimos and other indigenous tribal communities world-wide are famous for using every part of an animal they slaughtered. Nothing went to waste. And we call THEM savages, uncivilized or backward?? Yet they lived more in concert with their environments and the earth than we’ve ever dreamed of. They would never eat the golden goose which provided for them.
Somewhere along the line, American manufacturers “discovered” the strategy of “planned obsolescence.” Rumor had it that American cars (and everything else) were built to last a pre-determined length of time (<10 years). With the age of electronics, it became less expensive to replace an appliance than repair one. Consumption at it’s finest.
Along came political correctness and earth day which claimed an old idea as a new one: Recycling. We’ve again reached the point that we collect more recyclables than we can remanufacture. Again, it’s cheaper to make things from scratch than from recycled material. Lest we be accused of disregarding the environment, we now PAY to dump recyclable materials in landfills. More waste.
As for suggestions, let’s eliminate one of the most detrimental practices in our litigious society: excessive damage awards. In my mind, Americans use the courts like a lottery. Find an unscrupulous lawyer (paid on contingency, of course, at rates approaching usury) and sue for every possible “injury” or slight imaginable. As one such lawyer once explained to me: “I try to sue in Manhattan court. The juries there want to stick it to big companies and usually award two or three time MORE than was asked in the suit.” As if there were no “cost” to all this.
I fully understand and accept the principle of making someone “whole” i.e. putting him back to where he was before the incident, to the extent possible. While this still breeds some outrageous and seemingly unfair awards, it has some logic to it. That’s why if you hit a pedestrian, hit an old one….so you don’t have to pay for all future earnings. And of course, every person it’s assumed will have made some incredible contribution to mankind, but for the accident.
The icing on this nauseating cake is something called “punitive damages.” “The purpose of punitive damages is to punish a defendant and to deter a defendant and others from committing similar acts in the future.” In reality, it’s an add-on bonus used to get rich because of some unfortunate injury. After the injured party is made “whole,” legal, medical and expenses covered, and let’s throw in future income, why is the injured party and all his heirs and assigns entitled to untold wealth???? If the punitive damage is to punish a defendant and deter others from committing some act against the public, why doesn’t the punitive damage belong to the public??
To wit: A jury returned a unanimous liability and compensatory damage verdict on August 6, 2008, for more than $138,000,000, for fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process, breach of confidential relationship, and invasions of privacy. On August 12, the jury unanimously determined that FTB’s conduct warranted punitive damages. On August 14, the jury rendered its verdict assessing $250 million in punitive damages against the Franchise Tax Board.
OK, so why is this a big deal? In today’s world in the U.S., there’s a whole industry built around “insuring” one against possible damaging events. You can’t run a little league without insurance, or a church or a soup kitchen. I work part time in catering and the amount of food WASTED at one banquet could feed all the homeless in my city for a week. But no! The risk of liability in giving away food is so great, it all gets thrown out. Hundreds if not thousands of dollars…thrown out at every event. Because of insurance.
Liability has attached itself to every single endeavor and activity you can think of. So much good is not being done for fear of that one incident or lawsuit. This fear translates to huge insurance rates which raise the cost of everything we eat, touch or see. Doctors are fleeing the profession because of ridiculous malpractice insurance rates. Is this a good thing???
We can substantially reduce the “cost” of every product and service included in the GDP by simply limiting awards and “punitive damages.”
Take that to Washington.
Will,
One third of our taxes is wasted but we can’t find the money for universal health care, free college education and worker benefits. Take a look at the Michael Moore film “Sicko” not so much to see just how broken our society is, but to see how other countries have resolved these issues over fifty years ago, at the end of the second world war when they had nothing to work with. Americans have no love for the French, but the citizens of France have had a better response to this economic crisis than Americans. They held a strike and warned the government not to even think of digging themselves out of this economic hole by taking away the hard won rights of the workers. If you pay close attention to the people in this movie, you will see that those in other countries are happier, more relaxed and kinder than the Americans. Our society is violent in so many very subtle ways and this movie demonstrates that. The response of many Americans to this crisis has been to take more and more shit from their employers because they are afraid to lose the pathetic jobs they now have. I have worked for thirty five years and watched as working conditions, pay, benefits and simple human considerations have been steadly chipped away until you have people who should be enjoying retirement forced to return to work so they don’t starve. How shameful! I would rather have my tax dollars go to a government that takes the profit out of important necessities like health care, education and retirement benefits. I live in Arizona and work in higher education. Our Democratic governor went to Washington and was replaced with a rebublican governor whose solution to the budget crisis is to cut education first.; higher education and public schools. Way to go Janet Brewer. Take an already failing school system and gut it. Again, take a look at this movie and realize that the government could employ doctors and teachers and provide pay incentives based on measurable improvements in the health and education of the people they serve. Realize that thousands of people would lose their jobs distributing and collecting money but could be retrained to do more staisfying, productive work that would really get the economy going.
Irresponsible government. Irresponsible corporations and irresponsible people who cannot manage their own lives. There is plenty of blame to go around. Each and every one of us has a responsibility to get our own lives in order without asking for someone else to correct our mistakes, but demanding the things that we should get as a matter of course from being productive citizens and paying taxes. Each business entity has a responsibility to maintain their workforce, become more efficient and cut the salaries of those at the top before cutting workers because they are the ones who made the decisions that resulted in their current situations. Goverment officials are responsible to reshape their own thinking back to public SERVICE and away from personal profit. Lobbists of all kinds should be eliminated. If a politician cannot research an issue on his own with all the tools now at our disposal and make a decision without someone putting money in his pocket he should not be fired, but shot.