Would you like to work fewer hours for the same pay? You may think this is obvious, but it is a serious question that employees and employers are beginning to ask.
The following excerpts from an online article predict the 4-day work week will result from COVID-related burnout. We, however, believe the number of working hours will shrink, but not only from burnout but from factors even more fundamental.
“Burnout” is a state of mind. It represents a divergence from what is considered acceptable.
Dull, repetitive jobs, without a sense of accomplishment, plus pressure to keep up, error-free, can lead to burnout.
Years ago, more people worked 6-day weeks. They might not have enjoyed the experience, but they didn’t “burn out.” They just kept going, because it was seen as normal.
Today, many parents, especially single parents, work 6 or even 7 days a week caring for their children, caring for their homes and lives, and even have 2nd or 3rd jobs, just to survive.
They may not allow themselves to “burn out.” They just trudge ahead.
Some business owners work 7 days a week, building their businesses. If a business is successful, the owner probably will not burn out. But when the business struggles, burnout could come quickly.
That provides a clue to what burnout really is. It may not be related to hours, but more importantly to feelings of accomplishment, human relationships, or importantly, the lack thereof.
Consider your own situation. Do you work in:
*A relatively mindless, repetitive job, for which there is no “winning,” no sense of accomplishment?
*A job in which any error you make will be criticized, but if you make no errors, no one will notice?
*A job you never can finish, and you feel under pressure to keep up?
*A dreary job that has no “happy” days, only misery days?
*A lonely job where you have no friends or are unable to take time to converse with your fellow employees?
*A job where you are surrounded by disgruntled employees or disgruntled bosses.
If so, you may be ripe for burnout. Consider that as you read these excerpts:
People are burned out and quitting their jobs. Could a 4-day work week help?By Tracey Anne DuncanJune 24, 2021The pandemic changed the way many of us perceive our jobs. Working from home became the norm for people privileged enough to do so — and as a result, working in offices has started to seem burdensome and a bit nonsensical. Now that some businesses are starting to require people to go back to actual physical workplaces, a large swath of people are either quitting their jobs, or seriously considering quitting.
Keep in mind that the author is talking about people who had out-of-home jobs and were satisfied. Then they began to work at home, and having recently returned to their previous workplace, find themselves burned out.
To combat the resignation pandemic, Japan is proposing a nationwide four-day work week. Could a shorter work week help remedy people’s newly exacerbated disgust with the office?It’s pretty surprising that Japan is the country leading the way to more relaxed options for workers, because the country is known for its, um, intense work culture. There’s even a Japanese word — karoshi — that translates to “death by overwork.” To combat burnout, Japan unveiled a plan this week to make working 32 hours a week the new normal.It’s not just the Japanese government that thinks working fewer hours might be a solution to overwork. Kickstarter announced Tuesday that it is instituting a 32 hour work week without reducing pay, and the Prime Ministers of both Finland and New Zealand have also entertained the idea, reported the Washington Post. Also, Spain decided back in March that it would be experimenting with a three-year test run of the 32-hour work week.The four-day work week is an idea that has been floated off and on since the 1970s. So, what’s making both nations and big corporations reconsider the traditional 40-hour work week now? Well, firstly, working during a global crisis has led to widespread burnout for many, and some experts also think a more reasonable set of hours is a way to make themselves more attractive to a new generation of workers.“Younger people are demanding more out of their work environment than just a paycheck,” professor of business law at the University of Connecticut, told The Washington Post. “They want to work with someone who believes in their values — and the expression of a four-day workweek sends a signal that the company cares about work-life balance in a significant and meaningful way.”
Another clue.
The problem is not the workweek or the work hours.The problem is the “signal.” People want to feel appreciated.
People want to feel their efforts have meaning. People do not want to feel constant, unremitting pressure with no reward.
Most of the research about decreasing the number of hours people work doesn’t decrease their productivity. In fact, working fewer hours could make people more productive. Microsoft introduced the four day work week to employees in Japan in August of 2019, and they found that it increased productivityby 40%, reduced the waste the company created, and reduced the amount of electricity the company used. Plus, 94% of employees were happy with it, reported the Post.
There are issues beyond initial results. Burnout occurs over weeks, months, years, even decades and can be attributed to many factors.
One factor not mentioned is the effect of the research itself. Giving people an extra day off, or an extra hour-per-day off creates a change from the grinding sameness of many jobs.
Increased worker productivity can lead to reduced worker hours. Is this man’s job interesting and stimulative or dull and stressful?
The very fact of change, or the participation in an experiment, can provide an exhilaration that temporarily can offset feelings of burnout.
We do not know whether years of 32 hour weeks, either via a day off per week, or time off per day, would yield the same results.
The ordinary, the commonplace, the dull, the repetitive — all may be precursors to burnout, and mere change could prevent it.
Another factor to consider: Automation. Computers, particularly “smart” computers, can increase perceived productivity by allowing one human worker to accomplish more. Worker productivity is not so much a worker’s function as it is a tool function.
That means today’s interesting job could be tomorrow’s dull job if much of the interesting parts are handled by computers. There is a vast difference between analyzing data to make decisions vs. punching in data to read a computer’s decisions.
The former can be interesting and stimulating; the latter can be dull.
Yet another factor is global warming plus the use of the earth’s resources. The home-work-home roundtrip is inefficient. The use of fossil fuels along with transportation vehicles contributes very little to productivity while wasting our precious and limited life’s time.
I expect governments soon will begin to reward companies that encourage and implement work-at-home, while also rewarding employees who do the same.
And then, there is the spare-time factor, and what to do with it. Retired people work as little as 0 hours per week, and many of them struggle to find something interesting to occupy their hours — especially true if life spans increase.
They can experience a form of burnout from doing nothing.
And finally, the question: What is the purpose of work? For most working people, the purpose of work is to acquire money, i.e. to acquire security and pleasure.
But money is nothing more than a spreadsheet notation, which our Monetarily Sovereign federal government has the unlimited ability to produce.
Bangladeshi sewer cleaner. Unthinkable in America today.
Without delving into the complex argument, “should the federal government give everyone money,” there is no question that the federal government can give everyone money.
Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, poverty aids have reduced for many people the desperate need to labor at the most unpleasant jobs — the jobs most likely to lead to burnout.
SUMMARY
The topic of “burnout” is amazingly complex. No one factor is responsible, and no one action can prevent it. In fact, even the word itself means different things to different people.
The commonality may be feelings of negative exhaustion, futility, hopelessness along with the strong need for change.
There was a time when people were expected to come to central work locations and to work longer hours than today’s standard 40 hour week.
Thus, for the many reasons described above, the incidence of burnout may not necessarily correlate only to hours of work, either over the short or the long term, but more importantly, the nature of the work.
That said, average hours worked probably will continue to decline, mostly because improved computers and machine learning will transfer many jobs from human-skill to computer-skill.
The challenge for businesses will be to help enrich the working, and even the non-working hours, so that burnout becomes less likely an issue.
I suggest that the traditional 40 hour week will disappear as
People become more accustomed to, and manufacturers will provide, improved versions of distance communication (i.e. large-screen Zoom, et al)
Computerization and machine learning make distance working more feasible
Productivity continues to increase allowing people to accomplish more in fewer hours
The economy learns how to entertain people whose personal time is more flexible.
The federal, state, and local governments provide incentives to distance work, in an effort to combat global warming and to reduce resource usage.
Humans, perhaps uniquely among species, increasingly have focused on labor-saving.
That focus combined with advanced computerization can lead to a decline in drudgery and burnout — along with hours worked and working distance from home.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary SovereigntyTwitter: @rodgermitchellSearch #monetarysovereigntyFacebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
……………………………………………………………………..
THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”
Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics.Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:
Ten Steps To Prosperity:
The people who claim the USA isn’t racist are the worst racists?
When one member of a group fails, the bigots will hate the entire group for this failure? If a group succeeds, the bigots will despise it for its success.
Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.
It takes two things to put people in chains: The ignorance of the oppressed and the treachery of their leaders.
Hatred and fear are evil twins. It is impossible to hate someone without fearing them.
The brainless are too brainless to understand how little they know. The intelligent are smart enough to understand how little they know.
Dictators always claim that patriotism is obedience to them. Their disciples agree. Fake, hyperpatriots “love America,” but hate the Americans who disagree with them.
Loyalty, like obedience, usually is a one-way street. Divorce and dog leashes are proof.
A liar believes everyone is lying; a cheater believes everyone is cheating; a hater believes hatred is normal.
The more federal budgets are cut and federal taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes. No economy can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.
Many people expect the Federal Reserve to control inflation. But inflation is not a financial problem. Inflation is a scarcity problem that only Congress can fix.
It is easier to have sympathy than empathy. Actually, no one has empathy. “I feel your pain” is a lie.
We wish to distance ourselves from those below us on any social scale, while coming closer to those above. This is Gap Psychology.
Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor.
Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive always involves the Gap between the richer and the poorer.
The Gap is what makes the rich, rich. To widen the Gap, the rich can obtain more for themselves, or make sure the poor have less.
Everyone lies. Most of our lies are to ourselves.
No life form in the universe is less knowlegable than a voter.
Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
To survive long-term, a monetarily non-sovereign entity must have a positive balance of payments.
Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
Where reality differs from belief, those who question least choose belief.
The more we learn,
the more we begin to see,
if we were tasked with building a universe,
this is the only way it could be.
In politics, people tend to support those who most resemble them. Women tend to support women. Blacks tend to support blacks; Jews tend to support Jews; Evangelicals tend to support Evangelicals; New Yorkers tend to support New Yorkers, Latinos tend to support Latinos; and stupid, immoral, close-minded, bigoted liars tend to support stupid, close-minded, immoral, bigoted liars. Know yourself by whom you follow.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”
Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics.Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:
Ten Steps To Prosperity:
Senator Rick Scott is a Floridian. He is a Republican. And he is a Trumper.
Would this face lie to you?
He sent me a form letter telling me how he is going to improve my life:
(Republican) Senator Rick Scott led his colleagues in introducing the Federal Debt Emergency Control Act to rein in Washington’s out-of-control spending and provide a concrete path forward to tackle the nation’s nearly $30 trillion debt.
“Out-of-control” is a synonym for “Gosh, that’s a lot of money to waste on the poor.”
In fact, the “Out-of-control” spending is controlled by Congress, of which Republican Senator Rick Scott is a part.
This is the same Republican Congress that gave the rich a vast, over-budget tax reduction, without a whimper from Senator Rick Scott.
Suddenly, with a Democratic majority Congress and Presidency, the Republicans have re-discovered federal deficits. And they are “shocked, shocked I tell you.”
“Out of control” also is a synonym for “ticking time bomb,” about which we have written several times.It’s the bomb that for 80+ years, debt haters have been telling you is ready to explode.
Yet, here we are. No explosion. Economic growth. Decades of low inflation.
The Federal Debt Emergency Control Act requires the Office of Management and Budget to declare a “Federal Debt Emergency” in any fiscal year where the federal debt exceeds 100% of that year’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Why the 100% figure? There’s no reason for it other than ignorance. The ratio of federal debt to GDP has absolutely no significance regarding the health of the U.S. economy.
It’s a useless, meaningless ratio that gets fire-breathed with alarm by those who either know nothing about economics, or worse, want you to know nothing about economics.
If (Republican) Senator Rick Scott is right, you would expect the sickest, weakest economies to have the highest Debt/GDP ratios, while the healthiest, weakest economics have the lowest Debt/GDP ratios.
But what do we find? Here are some examples:
Based on the above ratios, which nations would you say have the strongest, healthiest economies, and which have the weakest, sickest economies?
Right. The Debt/GDP ratio tells you exactly nothing about the health or strength of a nation’s economy.
But Republican Senator Rick Scott wants to cut federal spending as soon as our ratio hits the arbitrary and meaningless number: 100% (which it already did way back in the 4th qtr of 2012 — blue line).
And by the way, inflation (red line), the current Republican excuse for cutting benefits for the poor, has averaged below the Fed’s 2% target.
This emergency designation would trigger several provisions to help control and reduce the federal debt to levels below 100% of GDP, including:Terminating any unobligated funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, and any previous stimulus bills, and sending it back to the Treasury General Fund immediately for deficit reduction.
He’s not specific about what should be cut. He just wants to cut “any unobligated funds,” no matter how vital to the economy and the people they may be.
Exactly what is supposed to happen in the Treasury General Fund for deficit reduction? What is the “it” he wants to send back? Which dollars are not to be spent?
The whole thing is financially senseless, but it is a classic right-wing approach.
The American Rescue Plan Act and the previous stimulus bills rescued America from the severe recession that was exacerbated by Donald Trump’s incompetent and deadly COVID denial along with his economically damaging trade duty war against China. Scott is silent about that.
Scott never says.
Why?
Because, being a Republican, he would cut all the spending that benefits the poor and middle classes, while falsely claiming that the rich are “job makers” who should be rewarded even more than they already are.
Requiring all legislation that increases the federal deficit, as determined by the Congressional Budget Office, to carry its own offsets.
This means running a balanced budget, perhaps the least intelligent idea ever to come out of any Congressperson’s mouth because:
A balanced federal budget is absolutely, positively guaranteed to cause a deep recession if we are lucky, or a deep depression if we are not lucky.
If you can find anyone on this planet who can demonstrate how running a balanced federal budget would allow for economic growth and/or prevent a depression, I would love to see the evidence.
Perhaps the same person also can prove that global warming is a Chinese myth, and that Donald Trump actually won the election — two equally nutsy claims coming from the GOP.
If it does not, the legislation shall be considered out of order and will require at least two-thirds of all Senators to vote to increase federal debt before even being able to consider the bill.
Wait! What if two-thirds of all Senators were, by some miracle, to vote to increase the federal debt, would that mean it then becomes OK? Suddenly it would be within the government’s “means”?
And, don’t we already have the ridiculous federal “debt limit,” that not only does the same thing, but is raised every time it’s reached?
And why is the debt limit always raised?
Because, Congress is well aware that limiting federal debt would destroy the U.S. economy.
Fast-tracking any legislation that would reduce the federal deficit by at least 5 percent over ten years.
Where did that 5% number come from? It surely wasn’t derived by any scientific method. Scott apparently thinks it’s a nice number, so he uses it.
It reminds one of dearly departed Herman Cain’s meaningless “9-9-9” tax plan. Just numbers with no real reason.
And where is the math that says reducing the federal deficit would benefit the economy in some way? Non-existent.
Senator Rick Scott said, “America is in a debt crisis. Our nation is barreling toward $30 trillion in debt – an unimaginable $233,000 in debt for every family in America.
It’s not that families owe that debt. The government does. But Scott tries to imply, falsely, that your family will have to pay for that debt.
It’s a crisis caused by decades of wasteful and reckless spending by Washington politicians. Now, President Biden is continuing this way of governing by pushing for trillions in wasteful spending, raising the U.S. federal debt by 60% to $39 trillion and the debt-to-GDP ratio to 117% in 2030, the highest level ever recorded in American history.
And what has been the result of all this “wasteful and reckless spending? Taxes are down and GDP is up.
But Scott wants to fix that, by raising taxes and/or reducing GDP.
Spending beyond our means has consequences.
The federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, has no “means.”
We’re already seeing rising inflation, which disproportionately hurts the poorest families, like mine growing up.
The “rising inflation,” which for decades has been below Federal goals, is the result of the pandemic, not the result of federal spending. It was the pandemic, and Trump’s atrocious handling of it, that led to the shortages of goods and services, that resulted in a thoroughly predictable inflation.
Someone, please ask Sen. Scott, “Where was the inflation last year and the year before, and the decades before, when deficit spending was massive?”
And yes, we caught that “I grew up poor” disgusting attempt at ingratiating yourself with the people you are trying to screw.
But hey, as long as you’re talking about your history, let’s get into where your calculations might have come from:
In 1987, after serving in the United States Navy and becoming a law firm partner, Scott co-founded Columbia Hospital Corporation. Columbia later merged with another corporation to form Columbia/HCA, which eventually became the nation’s largest private for-profit health care company.Scott was pressured to resign as chief executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997. During his tenure as chief executive, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs.The Department of Justice ultimately fined the company $1.7 billion in what was at the time the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history.
And this fraudster is the guy who suddenly has become so concerned about the federal government’s “means” and its ability to pay its bills.
No wonder this criminal is a Trumper. “Birds of a feather,” as they say. He must have envied Trump University.
I look forward to every fiscally responsible Republican and Democrat working with me to quickly pass the Federal Debt Emergency Control Act.”
Yes, do vote for good old “fiscally responsible” Rick Scott, who can hardly wait to cut benefits to the poor, while driving the economy into a depression, thus allowing his rich backers to buy up property and businesses at discount prices, while paying workers depression-era wages.
And, there are people who actually believe this guy! Strange.
Fortunately, with a currently Democratic Congress and President, this idiotic ploy has no chance to pass, and least not in the near future.
And it wasn’t meant to pass.
There isn’t a new idea in the entire proposal. It’s a rehash of all the discredited nonsense that has been floated by populists for decades. It was assembled in a half-hour as a political stunt to show how fiscally sound is the do-nothing, historically crooked Senator from Columbia/HCA.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary SovereigntyTwitter: @rodgermitchellSearch #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”
Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics.Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:
Ten Steps To Prosperity:
The 50 U.S. states each have a great many financial obligations, which they satisfy in one of several ways:
Income taxes
Sales taxes
Tolls and user fees
Borrowing
Lotteries
Cheating creditors by late or non-paying of debt
Take some. There’s plenty more where that came from.
It all is an unnecessary routine that has been foisted not only on the states but on the counties, cities, and the other political subdivisions of America.
All of the above-noted sources of money tend to be regressive, with sales taxes, tolls, user fees, and lotteries being dramatically so.
But a solution to the insufficient, inefficient, regressive money collection is available, and even has been tested successfully.
Flush states bask in fiscal sunshineBy David A. Lieb Associated PressJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Just a year ago, the financial future looked bleak for state governments as governors and lawmakers scrambled to cut spending amid the coronavirus recession that was projected to pummel revenue.They laid off state workers, threatened big cuts to schools and warned about canceling or scaling back building projects, among other steps.
States, counties, and cities are responsible for financing education, grades K through 12. Why is this a state responsibility?
The reason may be partly historical, with the original colonies each being entities unto themselves, and the subsequent federal government not understanding the power and availability of Monetary Sovereignty.
Unlike our current, Monetarily Sovereign, federal government, the states do not have a sovereign currency, and therefore do not share the federal government’s unlimited ability to create a sovereign currency.
The states can, and regularly do, run short of the federal government’s sovereign currency: the U.S. dollar.
This ability by the federal government to create unlimited dollars has been hidden from the general public for almost the entire 245 years of America’s life.
But no longer.
Today, many of those same states are flush with cash, and lawmakers are passing budgets with record spending. Money is pouring into schools, social programs and infrastructure.At the same time, many states are socking away billions of dollars in savings.“It’s definitely safe to say that states are in a much better fiscal situation than they anticipated,” said Erica MacKellar, a fiscal analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.Spending plans for the budget year that begins July 1 are up 10% or more in states spanning from Florida and Maryland to Colorado, Utah and Washington.In Oklahoma, pandemic uncertainties last year prompted lawmakers to trim $1.3 billion from their anticipated general revenue. That resulted in across-the-board cuts for public education and most state services.This year, the new budget is up nearly 18%. That includes money to reduce class sizes in kindergarten anid first grade, funding for a new children’s behavioral health center and new incentives for businesses to make movies in Oklahoma. The Republican-led Legislature even set aside money to cut individual and corporate income tax ratesand expand tax credits for a school choice program.“Last year: shaky foundation. This year: solid foundation,” said Republican state Sen. Roger Thompson, chairman of the chamber’s budget-writing committee.
Think of it. The states went from the impoverished cutting of education and building projects (roads, dams, schools, etc.) to spending for education, social programs, infrastructure, services, business incentives, along with tax cuts and savings.
How did this magic happen?
Many states experienced a similar turnaround. Fiscal analysts cite a variety of reasons.The federal government poured billions of dollars into state coffers through a series of pandemic relief packages. Federal aid also sent billions more to households and businesses that, in turn, pumped money into the economy.Consumer spending rebounded to shore up sales tax revenue, and state income taxes were bolstered by a strong stock market and high-wage earners who kept working remotely while others were laid off.The result is that states now face “a very promising fiscal and economic outlook over the next couple of years,” said Justin Theal, a state fiscal research officer at The Pew Charitable Trusts.
And there it is. The federal government is like the billionaire uncle; the states, counties, and cities are like his impoverished nieces and nephews.
In the last 12 months, the billionaire uncle finally opened his purse, and with no sacrifice on his part, took his nieces and nephews, and their children and grandchildren out of poverty.
The federal government has the unlimited ability to take the states and their residents out of unnecessary financial distress. As the former chairman of the Fed said:
The $212 billion budget enacted in New York is up almost 10% over the previous one. Federal COVID-19 relief provided the bulk of that growth. But state spending still is up by 3.8% in the new budget, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration.New York’s bigger budget includes a $1.4 billion boost in basic aid for schoolsand a $1.3 billion plan to overhaul Penn Station.Florida’s record $101.5 billion budget is up roughly 11%, with bonuses for teachers, police and firefighters, and new construction projects at schools and colleges.Lawmakers decided they had money to spare, expanding sales tax breaks for school and hurricane supplies and creating a new tax-free week to buy museum and concert tickets and recreational gear for camping, fishing and surfing.Florida is among several states that amplified their 2021-22 budgets with at least part of their share of a $195 billion state aid package from the recent American Rescue Plan Act signed by President Joe Biden.
All those worthwhile projects to improve the lives of Americans, and there is nothing to prevent them, except Congress and the President.
Many Republicans in Congress had criticized the Biden relief plan as excessive, especially in the amount of money going to state governments.
Why is it termed”excessive”?
One excuse often given by debt-scarers is that federal spending will cause inflation. In previous papers, we have shown that scarcity, not spending, is the root cause of all inflations.
Every inflation in history has been caused by a scarcity of key elements, most often food and/or energy.
While federal debt (blue and green lines) has risen massively, inflation (red) has risen moderately.There is no relationship between annual changes in federal debt (blue and green) vs. annual changes in inflation.There is a close relationship between annual changes in the prices of oil (blackand purple) and inflation (red)
Another excuse is that federal spending is “socialism.” It isn’t.
Socialism is government (or the nation as a whole) ownership and control over production, distribution, and exchange. Merely handing money to the states, would not be socialism. Not even close.
America does have some socialism. The development of the atomic bomb was socialism. The government owned and controlled every step. Federal benefits are not socialism.
Another concern is that the state governments will spend the money unwisely. But that concern merely expresses the desire for socialism, i.e. federal control.
Sen. Bob Rankin, a Republican member of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said he is concerned about how that additional $3.8 billion of federal aid will be spent.“I’m afraid that we are spending money and making commitments that we will not be able to sustain once that one-time federal money goes away,” he said.
But rather than worry about the federal money going away, the politicians should be pushing for the federal money never to go away.
The fundamental purpose of government — the only reason why people create governments — is to protect and improve the lives of the people.
Governments are formed solely to be the servants of the people. We do not form any organization with the hope and intention that we will be ruled. Quite the opposite. We want to be served.
If ever a government stops protecting and improving the lives of the people, that government should be replaced with one that does.
The U.S. government has all the power and tools it needs in order to improve our lives. We do not want the dubious pleasure of being taxed. Rather we should want to tax the federal government.
After all, the federal government has no need for our tax dollars. It has infinite dollars at its disposal. It is we who can run short of dollars.
The people and the states, all being monetarily non-sovereign, should levy a per-capita tax on the federal government, to pay for our protection and our life improvement.
If the people do it, we might want to call it Social Security for All.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary SovereigntyTwitter: @rodgermitchellSearch #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”
Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics.Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:
Ten Steps To Prosperity:
#Monetary Sovereignty - Mitchell 