Safety Net

                                                                           

Twenty-first century. That's what it says on the calendar, although there are times when I don't think that's the way we're carrying on business. And America is a business.ⁱ

But America is losing money. Our debt keeps going up as we spend more than we have, and look for ways to trim the costs of those individuals and organizations that can deliver votes and the companies and lobbyists who make large contributions to our politicians. And, maybe, our own costs as well.ⁱⁱ

For, unfortunately, the same problem of increasing debt exists in our homes as well as in our government. Part of the hit on our personal budgets stems from the monthly cost for our various electronic devices. Paying for the internet, for television and for our cellular televisionsⁱⁱⁱ and other portable devices can take a large chunk of change. (So can our taxes. And so much of that is for services we don't need or want.^iv)

Is it possible to deal with both our national and personal problems simultaneously? I think so. In fact it might even be possible to help our own bottom lines while raising money for the government. And as an added bonus, perhaps we can bring joy to the hearts of both liberals and conservatives.

Pie in the sky? No. Satellites.

What we need is a nationwide internet system that would provide “Wi-Fi” service every-where to everybody. Everybody!^v

To begin with, the placing of satellites with geosynchronous orbits over the United States with a network of telephone transmission towers would allow instant communications for all our citizens. Wherever, for one reason or another, communications are spotty,^vi the construction of additional towers or underground^vii wiring systems would be undertaken. While this might be expensive initially, it would provide jobs for the unemployed improving our work statistics and allowing the collection of taxes from the newly employed, while lessening the need for the payment of support for large segments of the population.^viii The budgets for entitlement programs might be reduced.^ix

Let's use the Postal Service as an example of how we might benefit. That service would be completely overhauled with mail self-generated and delivered over the internet. Even if this didn't make money it would cut down on the annual losses by this “non-governmental” service, but by charging a small fee – much lower than “forever stamps” – this service could function “24/7” and not require as many mail deliverers.^x Postage for any remaining mail would be printed (at a slight additional cost) using the computer, and there would be advertisements^xi on the stamps.

Packages – which certainly can't be transmitted over the internet – could be farmed out to existing carrier services like UPS or Fed-Ex, who would benefit greatly,^xii even if they paid a fee to the government for permission to carry all packages.^xiii Alternatively, packages could be delivered by the remaining Post Office deliverers and the costs paid by competitive prices, with advertisers supplementing the income.

The Postal Service was only given as an example of how the internet might contribute to diminishing the National Debt, but there are numerous other ways, and I shall explore some of them next week. However it's important that we rid ourselves of old ideas. A good deal of the Founding Fathers' philosophy is as applicable now as then, though much has changed since then. While we should continue to be guided by the past, it would be wrong to ignore the possibilities of the present and future because “we've always done it that way.” The new safety net is all around us. And up in the clouds.

Maybe we can profit from it. Or, at least, lose less.

Next episode (tomorrow): “Net Profit” – The national robber baron.

 

 

i      “After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these the moving impulses of our life.” January 17, 1925. President Calvin Coolidge. (Often stated as “The business of America is business.”)

ii      Of course the taxpayers aren't that high a priority for our representatives.

iii     And our land lines if we still have them.

iv     I'll have more to say on that subject at various times in the future.

v      How “everybody” will be able to participate is part of next week's discussion.

vi     For example, any place I go seems to have poor cellular telephone service or, if I'm in a four bar-location, the other party's transmission cuts in and out.

vii   Less unsightly and less susceptible to damage than overhead wires.

viii  This should please liberals and conservatives alike. In fact everyone, except those who would prefer not to work, should consider it worthwhile.

ix    Remaining entitlement payments should be given as a single payment, reducing the bureaucracy needed to make a plethora of often uncoordinated payments. It would be worthwhile to present a course in money management over the internet for those who require it to husband the single payment properly. (Whether there should be a deduction from the single payment for those using the course is a matter for discussion elsewhere.) Those who misuse the payment will, in all likelihood, eventually learn budgeting skills.

x      Some people will want hard copy or proof of date of mailing. If their printers are faulty or if the don't trust the date stamp on their computer, some delivery will have to remain.

xi      An additional revenue source.

xii    More business for business.

xiii   Payments to the government by private industry should please the liberals.