To be frank and honest, I've been afraid to add to this blog for the last 4 years. The rabid dog mentality of Trump supporters, their absolute failure to grasp that the made up outrage of the Faux Entertainment channel is no more news than the National Enquirer was, their frenzied hatred of liberal principles and democratic norms in favor of the irrational ramblings of a narcissist terrified me.
Today we have elected a sane man and a sane party to lead our country.
I don't know where we're going to go, but at least it will be away from the precipice.
I'd like for us to have a conversation. Let's get some ideas on the table. How do we make it easy to be an entrepreneur? What are the roadblocks?
My dad had his own business. He ran it by himself mostly. He made good money in the 1950's and 1960's. Things went downhill in the 70's with his health. I know a little about the back end of running a business.
The biggest drain on the cash accounts is the 'burden' based on the wages paid the workers. The entrepreneur pays a portion and the worker pays a portion, though often the boss pays more.
What if the insurances were covered out of a mutual fund sourced by all of the workers and all of the business owners? Make the costs relate to income, so no one (owner or worker) pays more than he can reasonably handle.
Now the mutually funded insurance would cover everything the individual insurances covered. Social Security could be augmented to handle temporary unemployment due to injury. Worried about the SS fund balance? Slide the limit upwards on the payroll tax. Include unearned income in the pool for the SS tax.
Unemployment insurance should be equivalent to the living wage for the area. The duration should depend on the unemployment rate.
Or... we could have a basic income with the caveat that anyone drawing the basic income must be working to improve our society. Maybe they're musicians. Maybe writers? Or the volunteer to help the needy. Provide a basic income as long as useful people need it and are contributing.
Why would anyone with a real job want to support these liberal blue sky nonsense?
People with a little money spend it. They spend it on food and rent and transportation, beer and whisky and drugs (legalize pot). And the people who supply goods and services to these contributors pay taxes and make profits. In turn they hire people, paying their salaries to make more money.
The point being that, quite the opposite of the trickle down economic fiction, money spent at the lowest economic level fuels the engine of the economy.
These are the things we should talk about. And energy, and climate change, and treating everyone with respect and caring. But first we need a functioning economy where the rich still get rich but they have to let the money pass through the rest of our hands first.
Where do we go? As long as its forward, I don't really care.
