Larry: I have some new and better approaches to problems of our society, and I call them NABA.
Barry: Ok, hope some of them are practical and possible. What’s the first NABA?
Larry: What about abolishing the federal income tax for people earning less than $50,000 annually? Many, if not most, do not pay a significant amount, if any at all. Inflation which is likely to be a fact of life for many years, if not forever, aversely impacts the poor and benefits many of those having assets.
Barry: Well, first the amount of lost income for the government must be studied. It might not be a lot, especially if the concept ended consideration of universal payments, money for doing nothing, as is currently being proposed by some.
Larry: The next NABA is for the federal government to provide bonus payments to those who were tested and determined to be truly superior, and who became involved in teaching in areas where many residents are of, a to be defined, lower income. Improving the education of our poor, so that they can compete for jobs in the new world, is the only good, long term, solution to one of our society’s most important of problems.
Barry: What would you do with those presently employed to teach in these schools? Also, what would you do to improve the facilities?
Larry: Those presently teaching would be tested and if meeting the measure of superiority to a norm would be retained and if they passed the test, they would receive the federal bonus. Teacher retraining would be necessary in many cases for teaching skills to be improved and these programs should be government funded. Ultimately, the goal would be that all of those teaching our poor were superior to the norm. Facilities of public education should be equal, on a per student basis, in poor areas to those elsewhere in the local system.
Barry: Am I to assume that the federal government would condition financial support on some level of curriculum minimums, certainly including business economics.
Larry: Of course, even though many of the teachers would have to be educated as to the financial realities and the working of businesses and most importantly, the benefits possible from capitalism. Profit can no longer be a bad word and the enemy of the students. In all too many cases, the teachers themselves are antipathetic to capitalism and see employers as enemies, rather than as providers of pathways to prosperity
Barry: Next? So far, the NABA ideas seem worthy of study and consideration.
Larry: The next NABA is going to be misunderstood, even though it is realistic.
Barry: What’s so difficult to understand?
Larry: I suggest that the minimum wage law be suspended for those living in areas of defined economics. This would allow those living in those areas to compete for jobs and allow employers to compete for sales. Of course, there would have to be some form of profit sharing between the employers and employees. Also, perhaps the employers would have to be required to make some level of payment to employee benefit and retirement programs. There would have to be some form of supervisory organization protecting the interests of the employees.
Barry: So, if there were existing, or could be trained, residents of defined economic areas willing to work for less than what had been minimum wages, employers might be able to compete with lower wage, international, competitive employment areas?
Larry: Yes, and products which we have been importing could be produced in this country, by American workers and benefiting American companies and their owners.
Barry: Ok, so if all the NABAs you suggest are feasible and implemented, the teachers and schools in poor areas would be improved and the students would be better equipped to compete and do better for themselves and for all of us? What can go wrong?
Larry: It will take time, and money the government doesn’t have will have to be invested. Some of those living in these areas will still not be directly benefited, as the focus of the NABA ideas is on benefiting the young and our society generally. Perhaps, some level of federal taxes paid by the very wealthy could be directed by the taxpayers to provide some level of sustainability for the irretrievably impoverished. There are tax-deductible organizations currently existing which could be used.
Barry: There will probably be some overly aggressive employers who will try to game the system and take advantage of both the government and the employees. However, the education of students destined to become employees can and should include an understanding of the law and they will be able to report possible employer overreaching.
Larry: There is one more societal problem I have been thinking about and yet to have good NABAs for it.
Barry: What is the yet to be addressed problem?
Larry: What to do with and about our country’s growing aged population? The aged are both expensive to maintain and in many cases non-productive. They also vote and frequently control the accumulated assets of the family, making them politically powerful. Although they have the experience which could enable wisdom, should those in the last years of their life be influential in terms of future rules and regulations?
Barry: Anything else worrying you?
Larry: One more thing is a concern that it is not logical for a government to be controlled by citizens having a vast range of personal assets, personal tax payments and personal knowledge of current events. Is it in the best interests of all citizens, for the vote of a uniformed person, having little or no wealth, paying little of no taxes, having the same voting weight as a citizen who is well-informed, has an asset-base and pays a great deal in taxes? It seems to me that some form of voter weighting is worthy of consideration.
Barry: Ok, congratulations on your creation of NABAs. Perhaps, they will be found provocative by some and after due consideration, possibly result in some form of implementation
Arthur Lipper, Chairman
British Far East Holdings Ltd.
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