Short Notice

On Monday, October 12, 2009, in my blog "Health Insurance Premiums Rising?" I questioned the penalties for not buying health insurance and wrote "Premiums have to be paid, but where is the money coming from? For most of us, money to pay premiums comes from a job."

Times have changed. I have to correct myself.
Now we see a recovering economy, but our society is still loosing jobs.
There is enough to do, but seems to be that no more paid jobs are coming.

So I may write again "Premiums have to be paid, but where is the money coming from?"
But now we need a new answer.

Did you know - or let's say, did you ever realize - that we live in a capitalist country?
I hear your outcry "Of course I know, and I am proud of it. It is the best system ever".

Depends.

Depends what's happening next.

I guess nobody told you that a worker or an employee is an expense for a company. Don't take it personally. Production cost always have to be as low as possible. That's the main reason for outsourcing and automation. When I was young, my idea was to invent automation to reduce the burden of heavy work. That worked. But there is another effect. After a while automation reduces the cost of manufacturing. And automation is done easy with easy jobs. That's why easy jobs are disappearing first, because automation is cheaper. More and more jobs are disappearing, because of automation, and because of less request for goods. It brings goods in abundance and the latter brings prices down to a level we never did know before. But the jobs are gone.
And they may never come back.

What now?

Our teacher told us, if you don't know how to proceed, step back from the blackboard, get a better overview.

That's what we need now. A better overview.
Let's look at our country as a whole. Let's look at our natural resources, let's look at our production, let's look at our people. Wasn't there somebody who told us we should move on to become an ownership society? Think about it!

Isn't it true, that we, the citizens of this beautiful country, are the owners of this country?
If we put the right things together, we are allowed to say citizenship of this country equals ownership of this country, true? Who else should own this country if not this country's citizenship as a whole. If you really think about it, you will agree. We all share this beautiful country. It is a free country, and we are sharing it.

And there is the point:
Companies are paying dividends to their shareholders.
And there is the solution:
Our country pays citizen dividends to US citizens.

Look at it!
Suddenly all problems are solved. Everybody gets enough money each month for food and shelter. This is a rich country. And it doesn't need to raise taxes to do so. On the contrary. We can get a flat tax rate, everybody pays the same percentage. We don't have to pay subsidies any more. Suddenly everybody who likes to be self employed, may do so. People are starting to make inventions for a really better life. People are working voluntary on a lot of places who need help. Mothers have time to care for their little ones. And so on, and so on.

You may say "Who will work, if everybody gets money every month without doing anything?"
I will ask you then "What about you? Are you giving up your good paying fulfilling job?"
I guess not. But if your job is not good paying, you may look for a better one. If your job is not fulfilling, you may look for a better one. If you leave your job, somebody else will come to take over, somebody who did not have a chance before to get a job in this time we live in.

Things will move forward. When we start to be a ownership society getting our citizens dividend, the new millennium really begins.