Them: (Some of our newly elected Democrat Representatives) I tell you we can make a better America! We start with health care—Medicare for all! We’ll nationalize the insurance companies. That way we get all their “reserves”. That is the money they have allegedly stashed away to pay future claims. As a government, we do not need reserves. We will operate on a pay as you go method-like Social Security. Now, here is another key element; we get rid of the competing insurance companies. We decide which one is the best, and shut the others down, freeing all those workers to fill the other job openings. We eliminate all the duplication—tremendous savings! That alone may pay for universal healthcare.
In addition, we can do the same thing to improve other bloated inefficient industries. For example, just think of all the waste because of duplication in the auto industry. Duplicate factories and work forces –and high paying executive jobs. Because there are so may different cars, we are very wasteful when it comes to repair and service. The person who works on a Ford isn’t trained to work on a Lexus for example. And, if you want to know why electric cars have not taken over like we want—it is because our resources are locked into the gas and diesel side of the business. The sensible thing to is get rid of the wasteful duplication. We pick one company, decide on one standard model—make it electric. That’s is what everyone will drive. We lower costs. We free up resources and labor to invest elsewhere. With smaller electric cars we also get a bonus—their small footprint means we need less road space. Especially, if we can cut down on the number of trucks and we have some great ideas for doing so. We can take part of those roads (one lane from of every Interstate, for example) and dedicate it to bicycles and walking. People will be healthier. We can finally solve the obesity problem. Cars will be only for trips of ten miles or more—for shorter distances people will walk or use their bicycle.
Me: Will people really give up their favorite cars for bicycles and the new electric car standard?
Them: Sure, they won’t have a choice. But your question brings up the media issue. They are not exempt from the capitalist model—wasteful duplication. Think how many different news organizations there are—yet, they are all supposed to be doing the same things. We can clean that up, and while we are at it, we get everyone in the country on the same page. That way we pull this country together to accomplish great things—unity instead of discord. We settle on one national newspaper, one news network and a single news website. We will get rid of the duplication and freeing resources and enormously talented people to invest in other areas.
There is almost no area exempt from the waste caused by the duplication of effort and resources. That is the real challenge for the future. We are consuming the flesh of Earth! We are using up all the natural resources and contaminating the rest. It is not sustainable! Capitalism is wasteful. So called competition is nothing more that duplication that spreads our resources too thin—we need more concentration not duplication.
Think about this for a minute. If you really want to tackle the income gap, then eliminate the benefit of having more income and wealth than someone else. There is no reason for me to drive a cheap car while you drive a Bentley. We get rid of Bentleys, 5,000+ square foot homes, first class air travel, etc. Get rid of the distinctions and there is no reason for anyone to have substantially more than anyone else. Just think of how much more there is for everyone when you get rid of the billionaires and millionaires and free all that money to circulate!
Me: But what about all the people who will reenter the labor force? Aren’t you concerned that there might not be enough jobs?
Them: No, that is the beauty this. Men (and women) aren’t meant to work their lives away. Once we have gotten rid of duplication and eliminated profits that only go to the very few rich people, the rest of us will not need to work as much. We will be freeing people to enjoy life more. We will reduce the work week to thirty hours, add more holidays. Everyone will get at least four weeks of vacation plus maternity leave.
Did you know that as much as 50% of motel and hotel rooms in this nation go empty at times? In other words, half of the investment in hospitality goes unused. And hospitality profits are some of the highest. We have most of the population just trying to enjoy themselves while their hard-earned incomes are drained away to the pockets of real-estate tycoons who own our hotels and resorts. We can do better than that. One of the things I have in mind is free vacations for everyone at government owned nonprofit resorts. We can build them in our national parks and forests. They will not cost us anything. We already own the land, and we can use our Army Corps of Engineers and military personnel to build them.
Me: That sounds good, but how are you going to attract the best and brightest to run things—to make this work?
Them: We save the perks that the millionaires are enjoying now for our leaders. But we are not going to let Wall Street greed drive things. We will elect our leaders. Our best and brightest will want leadership positions because that will be the new path to the kind of perks that today only rich people enjoy by exploiting people and accumulating wealth. We will have taken wealth out of equation. The only way you have those special benefits will be by serving the people—not through economic greed!
It will be a wonderful world····Would you like some more Kool-Aid?
Me: No thanks; I’ll stick with what I’ve been drinking!
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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. Audio versions of The Claret Murders and Diversion are available from iTunes, Audibles and Amazon. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com.
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