It’s Friday, and this has little (okay, nothing) to do with ecommerce or Asia, but I have an idea I’d like to get out there. We can solve the budget problem, minimize lobbyist corruption in politics, and end the income tax in one fell swoop. Ready? Here goes:
- For the sake of keeping the math easily understood, let’s say there are 350,000,000 people in the United States
- Let’s also put the Federal Budget at $3.5 Trillion (for easy math)
- Divide the budget by the population and we get $10,000 each. It costs each person (you, your spouse, and each of your children) $10,000 each year to power the federal government. Ouch, but okay.
So, there’s the situation. Here’s my proposal:
- Give every person in that 350M population a vote, including the children (because we need to let the future people vote more than the dinosaurs on this stuff). For children’s vote (anyone under 18), the vote goes to the parent as a proxy vote. Mormons and Catholics will love this part. That’s 350M possible votes. These votes are handed out 1 vote per person for free. Kinda like how things are now, with the additional kids’ votes.
- Issue ANOTHER 350M votes, but not to the people. These 350M votes are FOR SALE, at $10,000 each. I don’t care who buys them: Google, the Teamsters, my rich uncle, Boeing, Jimmy Swaggart. Votes go for $10K each. Get ‘em while they’re hot.
- Abolish the income tax, because the feds don’t need it anymore (they’re selling things now, no more compulsory crap).
Insane, right? Maybe, but think about it. I still get a vote. At most, only 50% of the electorate is for sale, so sovereignty still lies with the people. If I want to participate more than my one vote, I am welcome to buy another (which I might, I just got a windfall bonus because I’m not paying income tax anymore). Large corporations will want to buy hundreds of votes, and they’ll open their checkbooks. In the new system, that money goes into the general fund, not some fat senator’s pocket. Speaking of whom, those senators and congressmen will suddenly need to switch roles: from gladhanders who dole out money that they didn’t make as favors to sycophants, into becoming salesmen huckstering for votes. Aha– how has the power now, Quimby?
Won’t corporations buy up all the votes? Yes, I hope so– tell me how that’s different from the current situation. Won’t rich people monopolize their power over the poor? Maybe, but again– how is it different from now? If anything, this would make things way more transparent. If you don’t buy an additional vote, then use your one free vote wisely. If you don’t like the government policies, then either pony up and buy a vote, or shut up and sit down– it’s free for you.
I kicked this idea to Scott Adams, and he said it was a good idea, but likely a tough sell. Help me spread the word.
I recently came back from an extended stay in my other home, Tokyo. While there ,we did the usual daily things: ride the train, buy groceries, get lunch, eat sushi, watch Godzilla movies (well, okay, just once). Here’s the thing: we only used a credit card maybe 3-4 times over 10 days, and used actual cash even less. Everywhere we went, we used our 
That last point is the killer. To buy anything, all we had to do was tap this thing inside a circle on the glass counter, as if we were beknighting the transaction, done. Meanwhile, a credit card requires a swipe, a printout, the hostess signing the receipt, and we (the buyer) countersigning. I know that some US places are just accepting the one swipe under a given amount (no signing required under $25 or so), but it’s still slower.
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