Saturday, November 14, 2009

Summary

Summary
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What we discussed are all inter-related. The change in one affects the other aspect of the Economy.
For e.g. Instead of paying a CEO $75Million a year as pay and compensation, if the pay is $2Million then the remaining $74 Million can be used to pay 20 employees with $100,000 for 37 years which is life time employment for 20 individuals.
Similarly instead of paying the CEO another $75Million the next year as pay and compensation, if the pay is $2Million then the remaining $74 Million can be used to pay the 20 employees with $100,000 for 37 years as pension which is life time pension for 20 individuals. This is economic stability and will not CAUSE RECESSION and individuals can happily retire at 60 years!

Similarly if a company is not rated on its quarterly profit but on its yearly profit and based on the safety reserve cash to survive/pay employees for the next 3 to 5 years then there will not be huge fluctuation in the stock worthiness of a company.
If purchasing and selling stocks on same day (single day trade) is stopped and if a retention period of 3 months to 6 months is mandated then there will not be artificial swings and collapse of companies because of happenings in Stock Market (Wall Street)


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-Suresh

Miscellaneous and New Paradigm Shift

Miscellaneous and New Paradigm shift
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Work
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Is work to earn a living or is for fun/love?
In general work is for a living for the poor and the middle class but fun for the rich and upper middle class! Why is it so? When you do something with an expected outcome and if what you do promises or gives or will give what you expect in the near reasonable future then you love doing that but if you do something with an expected outcome and if what you do DOES NOT promises or DOES NOT GIVE or WILL NOT GIVE what you expect in the near reasonable future then you DO NOT LOVE doing that! Most often the poor and middle class have to do a job to have a living so they do not love what they do.
Before technology can produce thing in mass and in excess humans worked to get food, shelter etc so work was for a living but as with modern technology we still have retained the concept of work to earn a living. With technology when we can produce in excess than what we need with less physical intervention do we still have to work for a living?

Can we make work as fun by providing the basic needs to everyone and let people choose what they want to work in and for less number of mandatory work hours so work becomes fun for the poor and middle class also rather than the current economy in which only the rich and upper middle class can choose to work for fun/love?

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-Suresh

Interest Rate


Interest Rate

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Economy and money are human made and not a natural choice. So the outcome is based on the laws. There is no invisible hand to protect any down swing or prevent huge upswing (This is once again a misleading theory to hide the wrong games played by rich lobby). The Economy goes in cycles because of change in regulation. Usually in America the Republicans remove regulations and favor Business and the rich. So extremely rich Business men and rich CEOs do things to their favor (rather than in the interest of the company/industry or employment) such as increasing interest rate for credit loans (Banks), reduce workforce (So the CEOs can take more money to their pocket), increase prices (making reasons of supply and happenings elsewhere in the World that really does not have any impact etc). So unemployment goes high, interest rates go high, people are unable to meet needs which triggers a recession. On the other hand Democrats bring regulation to fix the problems and create public sector jobs and public sector investment, which brings a turn around and the economy picks up but unfortunately when people get money in their hands they forget the hardship and recession and get carried away by the alluring of making quick money and vote Republicans who in turn deregulate and after a few years the after effects triggers a recession. this is the cause of the Economic cycle; not by any invisible hand!

So what the government enacts is what we get (Similar to where there is a will there is a way; garbage in garbage out; in contradiction to what Bank lobby claims as interest rates are driven by inflation and vice-verse).
So it the interest rate for education loan is set to 1%, first time home purchase loans to 3%, all personal loans and credit card loans to less than 7% and mortgage period/duration not to exceed more than 15 years, the economy will be much stronger and people friendly
rather than having uncontrolled/unregulated interest rates that swing with uncertainty (and help increase CEO salaries ) between 9% and 29% and mortgage duration to 25 to 35 years which enslaves people to work for paying them instead of living a good life!


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-Suresh

Friday, November 13, 2009

Free Market, the invisible hand, Market Cycles

Free Market, the invisible hand, Market Cycles
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Let us take the Interstate Highway as an example. If someone proposes let us have a Free Interstate Highway that can regulate itself, you can realize how dangerous such a proposal will be - A highway without lanes, no speed limits no police to monitor...What will happen to all the cars against the strong and powerful SUV s and Trucks in such a highway!
An Economic Highway without regulations and monitors - so called Free Market is dominated dangerously by the rich and powerful that smash average middle income workers in the form of job cuts, no job guarantees, ever demanding uncomfortable work environment and unfair advantage. Hence there should be strong regulations to control everyone and especially the Trucks and SUV s in an Economic Highway!
Proponents for low taxes for the rich claim that if low taxes are given for the rich, they will invest the extra money in business which in turn create employment. This is a conspiracy played by the rich lobbyists'. Why should a person that has say $10 Million ($100,000,000) look upon the extra say $2Million (Or even a richer person that has say $1 Billion -$1000,000,000 look upon the extra say $10Million) that he/she receives from low taxes to reinvest? Should he/she have $1010,000,000 instead of $1000,000,000 to invest in a Business to generate employment? This is a game played by the rich lobbies so when they get low taxes they invest (as a gamble) in the process create some employment and project through NEWS MEDIA that low taxes to the rich is good for the Economy but when the taxes are increased for the rich (though a rich individual may have $500Million instead of $900Million because of the high tax of say $400Million) the rich is not ready to invest part of the $500Million still he/she has! The rich hold to it and want unemployment to go high (as the rich are least affected by unemployment) which will cause unrest among the remaining (middle class and poor) population and will not VOTE for the government (generally Democrats in US) that increased taxes for the rich as the common population do not see increase in jobs from private companies/investments'. In order to prevent this conspiracy from the rich lobby Government employment should be good percent (say 50%)
of the job market. If Government employment has a good percent of the job market the rich lobbyist cannot play their game - 'low taxes for rich creates more employment' hence they advocate small government!

Also to prevent Black money and unpaid Tax money to come out to circulation (which is the essence of a sound economy) the currencys' base color should be changed every 25 years and the old currency should be invalidated. (For e.g. the US Dollar has a base color of green after 25 years the US Dollar should have a base color of say Blue and the green Dollar should be invalidated. A 3 year overlap period should be given for everyone to convert their green money to blue money through Banks with proper IRS documents. After another 25 years the blue money should be changed to say red money and so forth (After a 150 year cycle the same color can be brought in). In this way unpaid tax money, money hidden for long time, useless un-circulated money, counterfeit etc can be reduced to a great extent.
Note: Crooks will always find new ways to evade tax and hide excess money. New techniques like this should be adopted to beat the new ways crooks invent to evade tax and hide excess money. This is one of the reason to have the dynamic Constitution as proposed in the Dynamic Constitution section.


A free market that operates on demand and supply ironically does not incorporate high profit-low price and vice-verse dynamics (But it operates one way - Low Profits leads to increased prices but high profits DOES NOT lead to low prices - The excess profits are pocketed by CEO s and few top players). This is shown again and again in e.g. were Insurance companies, Banks, Oil Companies making $40,000,000,000 profit every year during the profitable years. This is another reason to have regulation. Mere competition will not improve service nor reduce prices. Only health competition with regulation and monitors/watchdogs will improve service and reduce prices and prevent companies from dying (because of unhealthy competition that happens in the US now).
Like how average income and mean income for individuals was proposed as a measure (base) for tax calculations and income limits for CEO, the average income and mean income, average profit and mean profit of every sector of Business (Say Commercial Bank, Personal Banking Banks, Oil Companies, Insurance Companies, Pharmaceuticals, Retail Chain stores, Car Manufacturing etc) should be used as a mechanism to dynamically (based on regulation and monitors) lower prices by certain formula.

For e.g. Profit by sector for Extra Large Companies
Oil Sector by Oil Chain stores - Profit $40Billions/year
Insurance Companies - Profit $45Billions/year
Commercial Banks - Profit $45Billions/year
Retail store Chains - Profit $50Billions/year
Car Manufacturing - Profit $20Billions/year
House Building - Profit $10Billions/year
Technology - Profit $15Billions/year
...
In the example of 7 sectors we have taken the average profit comes to $32Billions/year.
So the companies that have more than $32Billion profit/year should either pay a special tax to bring their profit to $32Billion or lower their prices, for the next year, by an amount to target the average profit value.

Note: This special tax can be like a special tax credit (similar to the proposal given under personal income tax for the extreme rich) so that the amount given in excess can be obtained during years of loss (rainy days).

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Where is the free market in modern Economy?
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Before mass manufacturing the manufacturer and consumer came face-to-face in a market and product/service was rendered through a negotiation process and the outcome was based on supply and demand and so a real free market existed but with the current economy with huge manufacturer and suppliers the actual manufacture and consumer do not have a direct change for negotiation. E.g. If you want to fill gas for your car you do not go to a gas station and ask if you can get a gallon for $1.5 instead of $2.00 not do you go to Walmart and get ask if you can buy a Shirt for 3$ instead of $7 so the actual negotiation for a supply/demand/necessity has disappeared hence the free market does not exist. The current market is driven by a group of suppliers (say Shell, BP, Exxon Mobile in gas), (say Walmart, Target, K-Mart in retail), (say CitiBank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo in Banking) etc and the actual consumer DOES NOT HAVE ANY NEGOTIATION POWER but the business lobby has cleverly covered this truth as competition is way for free market and regulation as a killer of free market! In reality with the regulation removed and the consumer having NO NEGOTIATING POWER it is a market controlled by large suppliers! So you can know the natural outcome of this is high interest rate, low paying jobs, high prices. With the current mass manufacturing and chain store/supplier Economy as the end consumer is out of the negotiating picture only regulation and strong consumer protection power and transparency (in accounting, profit, revenue, income etc) can ensure a real free market!

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-Suresh

Education and Health Services

Education and Health Services
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Is it fair to let a healthy strong man to run a race with a handicap with one leg or no legs?
Immediately we may think you should be out of your mind!
Being without money is similar to a handicap. So is it reasonable for a person without money to get education that may cost about $100,000 to $500,000 and pay for health care another $3000 to $5000 a year ($90,000 to $150,000 over a period of 35 years) when he/she can earn only $1.5 to $2Million his/her entire life time compare to the rich who have Millions or Billions of Dollars (>$10,000,000 or >$1000,000,000) who has advantage to pay for education, pay for Health care and all the luxuries! Is this not similar to asking a handicap to compete against a healthy strong man .
So education up to one PhD or Masters Level and Health Care should be available for everyone for free.

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-Suresh

Insurance

Insurance
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Insurance is a safety measure to recover from unexpected events. Hence there should not be any conditional classes in Insurance! As insurance is a safety net it should not be under Profit sector but under public non-profit sector.
Home insurance public non-profit corporations should be operated on State level.
Life, Health and Car insurance public non-profit corporations should be operated on National Level.
Small and Medium Business insurance public non-profit corporations should be operated on State level.
Large and Extra Large insurance public non-profit corporations should be operated on National level.

For personal property (Home, Cars, Life etc ) insurance there should be 4 levels of insurance and the revenue and payments for the 4 levels should be separate and never mixed. This will prevent premiums in one level from raising/falling because of happenings in the other level.

The levels are Base, Average, Luxury and Extra Luxury.
From/For the 4 levels there should another 4 levels for high risk namely
High Risk Base, High Risk Average, High Risk Luxury and High Risk Extra Luxury.
These 4 High Risk levels should be separate and never mixed.
So totally there will be 8 different types of insurance coverage and the revenue and payment from each coverage type will be kept in its own fund and should not be mixed with the other type in order to prevent raise in premiums of a type because of high claims in another coverage type.

E.g.

Home insurance in the State of Florida (Home Insurance as proposed operates at State level)

1. Base Level (Say all homes less than $100,000)
2. Average Level (Say all homes between $100,000 to $500,000)
3. Luxury Level (Say all homes between $500,000 to $5Million)
4. Extra Luxury (Say all homes above $5 Million)

6. High Risk Base Level (Say all homes less than $100,000 at high risk areas)
7. High Risk Average Level (Say all homes between $100,000 to $500,000 at high risk areas)
8. High Risk Luxury Level (Say all homes between $500,000 to $5Million at high risk areas)
9. High Risk Extra Luxury (Say all homes above $5 Million at high risk areas)

Note: The State has to declare every year specific areas/boundaries that are at high risk locations due to fire, hurricane, lake overflow, high tide based on statistics and incident happening in the last 2 years. Homes in these boundaries will come under the 4 High Risk insurance coverage types and within that will be under a specific category depending on the price of the home.

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-Suresh

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation and Benefits
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The extremely rich, the middle class that has to work for a living to keep going and the extremely poor live in almost 3 different worlds and one from one container cannot understand the problems, activities of the another from the other class. Even a person that became extremely rich from extreme poverty but staying rich for a long period of time cannot understand not appreciate the problems of the poor.

Often time the example given in support of Capitalism is "A poor woman who has to go to work for that day's bread will go to work even if she has fever but with socialism when she has mild headache, she will stay home because of welfare benefits. Hence socialism induce laziness"

The example hides the fact that the rich have many benefits, sick leaves and over excessively compensated that when they get sick they have the luxury of not working for weeks or months.

Once again the argument to the rich's support is so what - They earned it! But the truth of the matter is most often the rich robbed it from the poor and middle class by having so many laws and benefits in their favor (Like extremely high compensation, larger corporate tax benefits and subsidy in land, infrastructure facilities, almost free technology transfer from government research works worth Billions of Dollars, Patent laws in Corporations favor, Tax benefits on expenses and so forth)

Through out the years the rich have brainwashed everyone through all forms of media that it was ok and just and lawful to get a extremely large share of the pie (Of Business profits to be taken away by them (as they take risk or use their Brain). By hiding profits and income as confidential information business owners / CEO s made it easy for them to walk away with extreme large share of pie without anyone questioning on noticing them.

In order to address these issues the following laws are essential.

1. Everyone takes risk in some form or other everyday so taking risk should not be a criteria for the amount of compensation as the laws are not about aiding gambling but to ensure a safe and meaningful way of life for everyone.

The average American income for individuals is about $40,000

and the mean income for individuals in America for 2008 is $43,000

and on an average 90% of American earn less than $2 Million in his/her entire life time.

So why let one individual take more than that amount in once single year?

(Counter Argument for everyone that states the person earned it because he/she brought about the profit hence deserved it:

If free market is operated on demand and supply then by the same token when profits go high, prices should come down and vice verse but in the business controlled markets when profits go down, prices go high and when profits go high the prices DO NOT COME DOWN but the excessive profit goes to the CEO and a selective few individuals. So in reality free market does not exist!)

CEO is not a ONE MAN SHOW. Without others a company does not exist. So when ever there are profits, the excess amount should go to a safety fund (for rainy days) and not to the pockets of the CEO. With these principles the following laws needs to be enacted:

1. No individual should be paid more than 35 times the average income of individuals in a company/corporation.

E.g. If the average salary of individuals in Corporation A is $50,000 per year then no one should be compensated more than $1.75 Million per year (All compensations put together like stocks, vacation pay, salary, Bonus etc)

The amount $1.75 Million per year was derived by 35 * $50000.

35 times is derived as reasonable value as most individuals work for about 35 years in their entire life. So this CEO or who every that gets the highest salary gets in one single year what an average American earns in his/her entire life time! Is this compensation not fair enough!

So if a person is CEO for 12 years with those 12 years he/she would have earned what an average American earns in 12 lives (Avathers if it exists!)

All medium and large corporations / companies * should have a safe fund (for rainy days and losing years) so that they can pay salary for all its employees for a period of 5 years ).

Note if the current laws have this safety fund then CEO s cannot / could not walk away with the huge compensation as well as there will not be any unemployment problem!

* That have either more than 50 employees or has revenue more than $10Million.

Justification: 50employees at $50,000 = $2.5 Millions. Multiplied by 4 to take care of other expenses hence $10Millions.

2. The full work day should be 7 hours per day for 5 days a week for ages between 21 to 45;

The full work day should be 7 hours per day for 4 days a week for ages between 46 to 55;

The full work day should be 6 hours per day for 3 days a week for ages between 56 to 60.

Note:

As people grow older their social responsibilities are more hence the need for gradually decreasing work hours but at the same level of salary/compensation.

3. Every individual should be able to retire at age 60 with a pension for next 20 years.

(If this law existed now and companies have to carve a budget for pension funds then CEO s could not have claimed efficiency and taken away huge (Tens of Millions every year)).

4. Every individual should be eligible for 24 days (2 day per month) of paid vacation per year apart from National holidays, individual birthday and marriage day.

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-Suresh