Support for the old can be seen as relieving individuals from the necessity of paying for the upkeep of their parents and older family members. Similar arguments can be made for the unhealthy. By making such liabilities a community based one individuals are assured that they will not be suddenly cast into a situation where their own long-range economic plans are jeopardized.
Support for the young can be seen as an investment for the future as well. When the young are properly provided for they grow up to be more productive members of society. This improves the wealth base that will be the source for our own support when we, in turn, become old and infirm. In addition, better cared for young are less likely to become anti-social. This reduces the crime rate and the costs associated with it and thus lowers the expenses which we implicitly bear through taxes.
We currently provide between 70-90% of these costs through a variety of mechanisms. Bring this up to 100% is not that expensive, and will be partly offset by expenses now incurred from the current inefficiencies and program overlaps. The issues of whether these expenses should be community based, or depend on programs for individuals, should not be clouded by false appeals to Libertarianism. There are certain costs associated with living in a modern society and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous. We can choose to have the programs administered by private, government or quasi-government organizations. If we choose private then we must be willing to acknowledge that we are deliberately increasing the administrative expenses to provide for the profits expected by private firms. As long as society makes a deliberate choice that funds are going to be recirculated via this mechanism it can be a viable model.
Support for the old, young and infirm has long been a measure of a society's maturity. With wealthy countries implementation is not a question of availability of resources, but one of allocation. If we assume that a mature economy is not going to change much in size we must fund such programs by taking funds from elsewhere. The opposition to giving up wealth for this purpose has already been discussed. To achieve this goal requires adopting an economic model so those required to sacrifice feel that they are being compensated in some other way. The implied value of social stability must be made explicit. Then the costs associated with health support will be seen to be appropriate.
Requiring everyone who is able to receive a full secondary education will incur additional public education expenses. It appears cheaper to dump the hardest to teach from the school system as quickly as possible. The extra programs required teach those with weak educational accomplishment may seem expensive. The lack of success in implementing these programs so far is due to the fact that the educational costs are paid for locally, but the societal costs of having undereducated people leaving school are borne indirectly. A school teacher and a policeman cost society about the same, but a criminal keeps costing society while an educated worker contributes to the overall wealth. So, ultimately, the school teacher is a better investment. Lower education leads to anti-social behavior and poorer ability for self support. Schooling should be funded from general revenues. The desires of certain communities to provide richer programs can then be a local option. Funding from general revenue does not have to imply non-local control, although minimum standards should be made more uniform. Recent attempts have been too broad brush. In an attempt to prevent localities from shifting difficult students into less rigorous programs real allowances for handicaps and intellectual differences have been ignored. A series of alternative programs meeting basic goals should be offered. Careful monitoring can limit the problems that arise from excessive "special education" programs.
As the world becomes more complex the need for advanced education is more important. State schools already enroll the majority of college students. The basic costs for this education should be shifted to the overall society. Those who feel that since they or their children are not attending college should not have to pay must be accounted for. Large colleges and universities now perform many other functions besides teaching undergraduates. If a typical high school student now costs the state less than $8,000 per year there is no reason that the educational costs of college should be significantly higher. Schools that wish to host other functions, whether they be sports or research, should have to find other sources of revenue. Students who wish to avail themselves of optional services should also have to pay separately.
The basic resistance to all public services is grounded in the narrow belief that an individual needs only to pay for the services they desire. It overlooks all the implicit services that people receive. Some people drive on federally funded highways every day, but those who walk to work still pay for this. Not everyone gets the same services and realistically some people do get a better deal than others.
Food support does not necessarily imply government handouts, food stamps, or other direct support. Much of the malnutrition is a result of economic disparity. When better programs for the old, young and infirm are in place, better nutrition will follow. Likewise, when worker's rights are discussed below the achievement of that goal will also help achieve this one. There is a need for a transition mechanism to support those in need as well as those who "fall between the cracks" because of some temporary situation. Resistance to this goal can usually be tracked to an implicit "slacker" belief. With the amount of surplus food available the associated direct costs are minimal and the indirect benefits of reducing malnutrition's side effects should be sufficient to make the program viable.
To eliminate hardship in the 10-20% of the population that is underserved is well within the capabilities of our present economy. Modest degrees of reallocation of resources are all that is needed. The benefits to society in improved productivity, lower health, and policing costs will easily exceed the expense and the psychic benefits in the form of less worry and stress are immeasurable.
The government must redirect a steadily increasing amount of research and development money to efficient transport. Innovation in transport, in the recent past, has been underwritten by government subsidy. For air transport this takes the form of paying for military air development which keeps the industry viable and also allows the research results to be transferred to civilian purposes. The same scenario holds for space development. The satellite industry would not have arisen if it could not have built on the developments of NASA and the military.
For domestic, land-based, transport the picture has been less successful. There have been no dramatic changes in either the automobile or railroad industries in decades. The small steps with hybrid- and hydrogen-powered cars have had no impact on the overall industries. Road building pressure continues as always, and the decline of the railroads is continual. What is needed is sponsorship of research in radical new transport schemes. The existing firms with high degrees of technological expertise can go after these new contracts and develop into new areas with long-range potential. The existing automobile manufactures can bid as well or can partner with others to do the R & D and reserve the manufacturing to themselves.
Coupled with this must be changes in living and land use patterns. While "urban sprawl" has been criticized for decades, nothing has been done to alter the pattern. New or dying communities must be given incentives to develop mixed use arrangements where housing, retail and commercial uses are blended in such a way that the need for long distance travel for daily living is reduced. Building use zones which are arranged in parallel, rather than in the hub and spoke pattern as now, can change travel patterns so that most travel is along the short dimension when going from home to shopping or work.
The implementation of this goal follows from the prior one. By having communities built in a linear, compact design the surrounding land can be put to better use. It can be reserved for outdoor pleasure, left in a natural state, or used for agriculture as appropriate. The natural landscape can be facing the housing zone while the commercial and industrial sectors are "in the back". Community planners have to not only set land use policy, but must also establish tax schemes which benefit the entire community, rather than playing off one sector against another. As mentioned under education, the local tax collected for education should be broadened so that the moneys raised are not just used locally, but are comingled to provide a regional source of funds. This eliminates the current condition where one community is forced to bid against another to attract business or development.
Most of the developed world is faced with the paradox of simultaneous over- and under-employment. Those that have jobs are pushed to produce more so that the fixed employee expenses can be amortized over a larger output. At the same time we have unemployment rates of five to fifteen percent in these countries. The work week needs to be restructured so that firms have a negative incentive to overwork their present staff. This will induce them to hire more workers and raise the standard of living for the entire work force. The excess work disincentives can be stronger overtime pay adjustments, limits on the class of "exempt" employees, and changes in the tax costs of each employee. If community costs such as health care and retirement were assessed as a function of overall business activity rather than on a per employee basis, the present economic incentives would change. This can be done, for example, by creating a universal health fund and a universal retirement and disability fund. These funds would be financed by an alternative tax not tied to each individual employee. There are lots of such schemes in developed countries to use as proven models. Common ones are a value added tax (VAT), a universal sales tax, or a gross receipts tax. Coupling the taxes collected to overall business activity in this way reduces the incentive to exploit the workforce and also captures tax revenue that is currently avoided by shifting expenses to low tax regions. Companies don't mind paying their taxes if they feel that it does not put them at a disadvantage to their competitors. It is not just the level of profit that drives companies, but also the relative performance compared to their peers. By universalizing the social costs of employment they are relieved of the pressure of having to deal with local dislocations due to prior employment liabilities or changing business patterns.
Companies that "outsource" part of their business would not stand to gain relative to their local competitors since the level of taxation would be based upon the volume of business and not upon explicit employee expenses. If it is felt to be wise public policy then cost savings from use of external labor and supplies can be compensated for with the appropriate adjustments to the tax rates. This does not have to take the form of a tariff, but can be in the form of "social cost avoidance equalization" taxes.
In the real world rights are won by struggle. While companies may feel that their untrammeled ability to use their workforce without restraints is the best policy, this has not been borne out by the historical record. A well represented workforce leads to improved working conditions, more stable labor costs and a wealthier populace. This situation ultimately benefits industry; their potential customer base expands, and their labor costs are better managed. A dispirited, underpaid, unhealthy workforce is less productive. Turnover is higher leading to lower productivity and increased training and recruitment costs. By extending worker rights to developing countries the cutthroat competition which is threatening many regional businesses is lessened, benefitting everyone. Governments and industry can take the lead in promoting sane labor policies and avoid the kind of historical strife that has happened in the past, or they can risk civil unrest and economic disruption. Poland is an example of what can happen when the ruling elite disregards the demands of the working class. For a decade the economy was in turmoil and eventually the entire political system was replaced. In this case things worked out for the better, but there are many other examples where harsh anti-labor policies have essentially paralyzed a society. Why take the risk?
Implementing change that depends upon changes in a person's behavior or core feelings is mostly futile. Once people reach a certain age, they tend not to change much. Thus to make progress in this area is more a function of changing the environment so that such attitudes are no longer acceptable to most people. In addition, the next generation has to be taught tolerance and understanding for "the other". In local communities this can lead into battles over proper curriculum, however with the increasing pervasiveness of global media, there is more exposure to differing cultures and less parochialism. Progress is slow, but judging by the 20th century, steady. Popular culture, not government, may be the leader in this area.
The perpetual battle between restrictive mood-altering drug policies and the disregard by much of the populace will probably never end completely. What can change, however, is the consequences for disobeying the rules. The US has one of the most harsh policies while being one of the least effective. Other societies have adopted policies of treatment, education and tolerance that have kept the abuse to a reasonable level and left many to continue to lead productive lives even when breaking the law. The irrational attitudes toward drug abuse lead to a contempt for the law, increasing police presence, and a profitable underground economy financed by drug money. There are no big breakthroughs needed to make the problem manageable, just careful adoption of successful programs used elsewhere. Since the younger generation seems to be more tolerant of drug use, policies may just change over time as the young become the political group in power.
Drug use, mentioned above, is a "sin" that has already been discussed. This leaves the broad class of "victimless" crimes. It's clear that activities of sexual exploitation are almost always the result of economic forces. Fixing these causes will remove the disadvantaged pool that provides the labor force. Other "sins" such as gambling and non-standard sexual affinities are already undergoing a change in attitude. Gambling has become a revenue source for government and is becoming acceptable and wide-spread with increasing oversight. The excesses will be managed like any other addiction, with modest success. Personal sexual and life style activities are also undergoing a change in attitude as the younger generations take over. The best that can be expected is that the forces for social change will keep up their demands and that the transition won't fall into intolerance and repression. This usually happens when a theocratic group gains control of a society and institutes doctrinaire policies. Iran and Afghanistan are two recent examples. In these cases the results are catastrophic. Economic activity declines, the standard of living drops and civil unrest becomes inevitable. Eventually, the populace rebels against the regime with bloody results. Even enlightened societies can fall prey to this cycle. The rise of the Puritans under Cromwell being a good example in a western society.
The US has not had any national public works projects since the creation of the interstate highway system during the Eisenhower administration. This long period of under investment has led to severe regional dislocations as local regions try to cope with environmental and population changes. This is inefficient, some areas are over developed and become too costly and some suffer depopulation and economic collapse. The government needs to develop large region plans and solicit private collaboration in the design and implementation of such projects. As with other areas mentioned above, encouraging companies which are not currently involved in these areas to branch out can aid in the transformation of our industrial base towards more socially productive outcomes.
China, for example, has several large water distribution projects underway which will transform large regions of the country side. The approach taken by a centrally directed government has produced undesirable ecological damage, disruption of a large amount of local population, and unprecedented graft. In a democratic society there is less risk of such forced development. What is needed a desire to improve our infrastructure, thus providing improved living conditions, a more competitive international environment, and a boost to the economy.
Most of the conflict in society seems ultimately to be based upon control of raw materials and land. Lots of other reasons are offered to sway the populace to support war, but beneath it all is a desire for more, or a more secure source of supply. In the past fifty years this has meant access to oil and gas. As supplies become scarcer the rewards of war become greater when the objectives are met. So the way to best reduce discord in the world is to find replacements for much of oil and gas as quickly as possible. The detailed analysis that have been done currently point to only two viable options: coal and nuclear. Coal is expected to last two to four hundred years and nuclear up to 100. Both these options have very high environmental costs, however. What is required is a "Manhattan Project" type of effort to solve the energy problem. The only technology which has not been properly explored is controlled fusion. The US funding for basic fusion research is on the order of $300 million per year. Compare this with the $146 million users spent just on cell phone ringtones. Obviously the US can afford to spend much more on research than is now being done. Also note the impact that rising oil prices are having on inflation and balance of trade in the developed world. As commodities become more expensive the economic impact is multiplied.
There is no guarantee that controlled fusion can be made to work, or made to work economically, but without undertaking the program at a realistic level we limit our options. As with other large scale implementation projects already discussed the management is best done by a government directed program which accepts bids from those entities best able to do the work. Other programs, especially solar power, must also be funded at the same time. One area that is also neglected is superconductivity. With the separation of the generation and transmission functions of electric power there has been an increase in the long distance transmission of electric power. While the techniques have been improved there is still a loss of 10-15% just due to energy transport issues. Creation of viable superconducting power transmission would eliminate these problems and allow generation to be sited where it has the least adverse environmental impact.
Modern transportation and communications make it less important for people to be brought together in compact communities for economic efficiency. Rather the migration causes the rise of poverty and slums as people leave the land and lose their ability to be self-sufficient. Governments must factor in the societal costs of displacing people and encourage, or subsidize if necessary, the maintenance of local and regional economies. Factories can be placed in the countryside and peasants can be helped to supplement their agricultural lifestyle with local employment. This will result in an improvement of the rural standard of living without creating the problems caused by excessive urbanization. Sensible land use policy can be formulated when the total costs of urbanization are included in the equation, not just the employer's labor savings that arise from creating a local excess of labor.
For much of the history of the world societies have existed where the values most cherished concerned family, tradition, artistic expression and ceremony. With the rise of mass production these goals have been deemphasized and replaced with the pursuit of material wealth. Most people have very little in their daily lives that represents their own personal expression. Much effort is expended by advertisers to equate purchasing with self realization. With the continual increase in population and the rapid exhaustion of key raw materials this paradigm will not be sustainable. Many have turned to organized religion as a way to add some meaning and community to their lives, but many of the most successful of the new denominations appeal to material wealth as a goal as well.
If we can expect an increase in the amount of non-work time, society will need to develop fulfilling activities for people to participate in. While this probably should be a privately sponsored goal, it is clear that government can play a role as well. Most new sports and cultural centers are built with public assistance, either in the form of tax rebates, loans, or contributions of infrastructure development like roads. Deliberate policies such as funding of national arts endowments can foster the rise of new organizations that will improve the quality of life without as much dependence on the purchase of physical items. Perhaps electronic distribution of intellectual property will become a dominant avenue. Ray Bradbury in "Fahrenheit 451" envisaged personalized soap operas playing in the home in which the characters seemed to be members of one's own family. Online communities, personal publishing and the like may allow for self expression and satisfying communities without the expenses previously associated with print, video and audio distribution.
Recent projections have made the risk of over population even greater than previously thought. Some are now projecting a rise from six to ten billion people within the 21st century. This is not a sustainable level, if people are to have an adequate material existence and normal life span. As populations become more educated and women become emancipated the birth rate drops rapidly, usually within a generation. Thus, the most obvious steps to take concerning population increase have to do with improving the education and fiscal independence of women. The resistance of institutions dominated by men can be overcome by simultaneously improving the economic status of men so that they also feel that their lives will be comfortable without the need for large families to help support subsistence living. Steps mentioned above that are concerned with keeping families from migrating to population centers will all be necessary to achieve this goal.
The principal cause of armed conflict in the world is the presence of armaments. Historical analysis have found that when societies accumulate a large stock of weaponry and a military sector they are much more likely to engage in hostile actions. The world now spends much more on militarism than is needed for rational self defense. Not only is this a diversion from useful activities of a society, it is a waste of natural resources and youthful manpower. When finally used in combat this material causes great physical and environmental harm and the portion of the national wealth that had been devoted to creating the armaments is destroyed with no residual public benefit.
In the US, especially, the government-armament alliance has become so entrenched that no realistic planning on how to transition from this situation even takes place in the halls of power. Many of the proposals discussed above have suggested that this state of affairs can be altered by setting new goals and encouraging the private military sector to bid and develop the skills needed to carry out these goals. No child has a goal: "When I grow up I want to make things that kill and maim people." With proper government sponsorship, transition assistance so that people don't feel they are at risk of losing their livelihood, and changes in people's perception of how much militarism is needed for "defense", the climate can be made to change.
Because of the inefficient way in which the military sector is supported we must be prepared for expenses above what a project without transition would cost. We must just accept these added costs as being offset by the gains to society from moving from military hardware to more productive tasks. We must supply substitute sources of socially useful income to the military suppliers so that they no longer need to sell their output abroad as well. The US and other developed countries must stop supplying "excess" armaments to others and stop lending them money to buy these armaments. We have not seen a single instance where tanks and fighter planes prevented neighbor to neighbor conflict in Africa, Asia or South America in the past sixty years.
The collapse of the world ecology may not come from some widely discussed trend like global warming, but from poorly managed local land use policies. The deforestation of much of the world may reach an unexpected tipping point and cause sudden, catastrophic, changes. We don't know enough about the balance of forces in nature to be taking such chances. We have many examples of what the results of poor planning have been. Prominent examples include the destruction of the cod population in the Atlantic, the deforestation of the North East US in the 19th Century and the ongoing destruction of the Amazon region.
Because the costs of wise land use policy are local while the benefits may be global there is little incentive for localities to undertake the changes needed. We must establish international funds which compensate localities for the expense of restoring the landscape. Perhaps the revenue for this can be raised by establishing a global tax which is based upon the amount of implicit expense the developed world forces on undeveloped societies. A society which uses more lumber than is replaced would pay a tax equal to the cost of regenerating the resource. A country that extracts more from the sea than it replaces in other areas of the biosphere would be similarly taxed. The exact mechanism is not as important as the acknowledgment that we can no longer get something for nothing.
If the programs listed above are implemented, then there will be funds available to improve the lot of the poorest. Once it is understood that the rich must pay the true global cost of the resources they use, then international mechanisms can be implemented to improve the lot of the under served. If this is not done we can expect a rise in conflict, discontent and disease. And with no assurance that these problems can be kept away from the developed societies. The cliches about a shrinking world are true: one can not hide from SARS, AIDS, BSE or other epidemics. Nor can one hide from global climate changes, rising sea water levels or pollution carried in from rapidly-developing, under-managed economies.
Either we implement changes in a controlled manner now or we will bear the costs later without being able to decide how they should be incurred. Sensible planning, taking on necessary expenses, and modifying our lifestyles will ultimately benefit everyone including ourselves. Do we wish to take the risk of letting events overtake us?
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Copyright © 2005 Robert D Feinman
Feel free to use the ideas, but the words are mine.