B. Full Employment
The General Welfare: A Legislative Agenda for a Better American Future
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
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Full Employment
The primary justification of our market-based economy is its ability to create decent jobs at decent wages.
Markets only function with extensive legal and cultural support. In creating that support, government policy must be explicitly guided by the goal of ensuring that all who want to and are able to work can find good jobs at good wages.
As our economy and those of our international competitors become increasingly sophisticated, we require more and better infrastructure -- an educatedT and healthy populace secure enough to take risks, a functioning legal and regulatory system able to identify and prevent scams and crises and to assure that private efforts go towards building the economy rather than simply redistributing existing wealth to the powerful; support for the basic scientific research that underpins technological advances; transportation, energy and communications systems. Much of this infrastructure can be provided only, or most cheaply, by government. Good government, thus, is the first step towards a healthy market economy.
In our economy, the private sector has primary responsibility for job creation. However, when it fails to meet that responsibility, the public sector should pick up the slack. Condemning Americans to idleness and poverty when we could provide them jobs is cruel and wrong. Moreover, putting people to work can create a virtuous cycle, as they improve their skills and spend the money they earn, thus creating additional demand,encouraging the private sector to grow and provide jobs, and ultimately increasing both general prosperity and the tax base.
If the private sector shall at any time fail to provide sufficient jobs at decent wages for Americans, the Department of Labor shall
create a program to hire, or pay states to hire, Americans at the minimum wage to perform necessary, labor intensive, skilled and
unskilled jobs, including but not limited to street cleaning, park creation, landscaping and maintenance, providing security, teaching,
neighborhood beautification, arts performances and production, installation of insulation in public and private buildings, or other useful tasks.
Sufficient jobs means enough jobs to keep the unemployment rate below 5%.
Standard American corporate law states that the directors and managers of a corporation owe a fiduciary duty to the corporation to manage the corporation in its best interests. The statutes, however, do not define the interests of the corporation, leaving that largely to the discretion of each firm's board of directors.
In the last generation, corporate boards have come to believe that their primary duty is to maximize profits, regardless of the impact on society in general or their firm in particular. This view is indefensible.
First, the pursuit of profit, like the pursuit of happiness, is best done indirectly; firms that explicitly make profit their goal too often disregard their own long term interests, taking safety shortcuts, polluting or otherwise damaging the environment and society on which they depend, evading the law and exploiting their own customers and employees.
More fundamentally, profit is a tool, not a goal. Firms are not created to maximize profit. Instead, profit is a tool to encourage firms to fulfill their proper goals: to create useful and decent jobs producing useful products and services at reasonable prices.
This statute aims to remind boards of their true duties and to reduce the idolatry of profit.
Every corporate board shall have a fiduciary duty to the employees of its company to operate the company in such a way as to maximize the number and quality of jobs to the degree commensurate with the healthy functioning of the enterprise.
Every employee shall have a private right of action to enforce this duty.
This statute shall apply to all corporations having securities registered under the Securities Act or which engage in interstate commerce.
The Full Employment Federal Reserve Act.
The primary goal of Federal Reserve policy shall be to maximize the number and quality of jobs for American citizens.
The Federal Reserve shall use its powers to promote low inflation insofar as it is compatible with full employment.
The Federal Reserve shall use its powers to promote international exchange rates for the US dollar such that US industrial production is competitive with production overseas and the US does not run a current account deficit.
The States' Rights Protection and Automatic Fiscal Stabilizer Act.
Whereas, the increased expense of the US's unusually high rate of incarceration together with taxpayer resistence to paying for the full cost of local government have created fiscal crises in most states, and
Whereas, state fiscal crises contribute to low-demand driven recessions, and
Whereas, it is vital for the health of the economy to restore demand, and
Whereas, the Federal government but not the state governments can run deficits in order to support the economy in times of weak demand, now therefore:
A revenue sharing matching grant program is hereby established.
The total amount of the grant program shall be equal to one half the difference between national GDP and target GDP as determined by the Federal Reserve.
Each state shall receive an unrestricted grant proportional to:
(1) its population, times
(2) its average tax rate, defined as the sum of state tax revenues from whatever source, divided by total state personal income, times
(3) the percentage of its state budget spent on expenses other than incarceration.
The National Railroad and Economic Competitiveness Act.
The Highway Trust Fund is hereby amended as follows.
The Highway Trust Fund shall be renamed the Transportation Trust Fund.
The tax shall be increased by 50%. In addition, a tax shall be imposed on all shipping, by whatever means, in the United States, in the amount of $x per ton, with proceeds to the Transportation Trust Fund.
The Transportation Trust Administration shall prepare a plan to build an intercity passenger rail system covering the major cities of the United States at minimum speeds of 150 mph or the best available technology, whichever is higher. Preference shall be given to producers that will employ more Americans.
The Transportation Trust Fund shall be empowered to issue up to 5% of GDP in long or short term debt to fund building the intercity passenger rail system, on a revolving basis. Principal and interest shall be repaid from the Transportation Trust Fund, backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.
Transportation Trust Fund proceeds shall be allocated in the following order of priority:
Creation and completion of the high speed passenger rail system.
Building and maintenance of interstate highway, intercity rail systems, mass transit and other transit systems, and intracity dedicated bicycle paths, with priority based on the number of passengers expected to be served per unit of fuel.
Freight transport systems, with priority based on fuel efficiency.
The Fiscal Responsibility Anti-Cyclical Act.
If in any quarter, the annualized inflation rate exceeds 7% and the Federal Reserve declares a risk of increased inflation, for the following quarter a surcharge tax shall be imposed in the amount of 1% of all earned income above $100,000, 10% of all earned income above $500,000 and 10% of all interest, dividend and capital gains income over $20,000. Begining in 2011, these threshold levels shall be reset each year so that the 1% threshold is at the 95th percentile of wage earners and the 10% threshold is at the 99th percentile for earned income and unearned income respectively, using the most recent available information but in no case more than two years old.
If in any quarter unemployment exceeds 8%, for the following quarter, the employee portion of payroll taxes shall be suspended for all individuals earning less than 150% of the median individual wage and salary income as determined by the IRS, and all social security and social security disability payments shall be increased by 5%.
In each such quarter, the social security trust fund shall be reimbursed from general treasury funds for any FICA payments lost due to this provision, if any, as calculated by the CBO using dynamic scoring including the impact of reduced tax rates in increasing employment.
The Full Employment Recovery Act.
The National Employment Agency is hereby created.
The NEA shall sponsor research regarding the most efficient ways to create high paying quality jobs for Americans.
The NEA shall recommend such legislation or regulation as it may deem appropriate to encourage the creation of such jobs.
All proposed Federal legislation shall be submitted to the NEA for scoring as to how many jobs it will create or eliminate and of what quality.
The NEA shall have a budget of 1/4 of the "output gap" as specified by the CBO in each year, which it shall use to create productive jobs. It may fund jobs with demonstrated utility created by Federal or state governments or agencies and not-for-profit organizations. If insufficent jobs are created by such organizations, it shall create temporary or semi-permanent jobs directly along the lines of the WPA.
In creating jobs, the NEA is directed to give priority to transportation and energy infrastructure and conservation, preserving and enhancing the skills of the people for whom it finds jobs, and maintaining or enhancing traditional state government functions such as education, public health, public sanitation, parks and recreation.
The Energy Independence & National Security Research and Infrastructure Construction Act.
In the middle of a major recession, the national government can put unemployed people and resources to work with no threat of inflation. This, then, is the ideal time to work on the major infrastructure projects our nation needs to remain competitive and successful in the modern era, without destroying the ecosystems on which we depend. This Act addresses our major source of national security problems: our dependence on polluting fuels imported from unstable and unfriendly regions of the world.
The Congress hereby directs the Pentagon, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Science, to fund research on and development and distribution of
fuels that
are produced within the boundaries of the US,
do not contribute to global warming, and
do not generate toxic wastes or pollution,
and conservation methods that reduce the need for fuel of any variety.
One hundred billion dollars is allocated to such project for each of the next two fiscal years.
The Congress hereby directs the Pentagon to create and build a national distribution system and other required infrastructure for such fuels.
Funding shall be from the Pentagon's regular budget at the discretion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and any supplemental funding that the Pentagon may request and the Congress approve.
It is the intention of the Congress and this legislation, that at least 25% of US energy consumption shall be provided by such fuels or conservation within five years.
In order to assure that the US has adequate emergency supplies of coal and oil in the event of international shortages, national policy is to preserve existing stocks in situ. A moratorium is hereby declared on licensing or exploitation of any mine or well within the territories and possessions of the United States, to be lifted only when the EPA certifies that US energy use has dropped by at least 20% and 25% of energy used is derived from renewable sources that do not generate global climate change gases or other pollutants. This provision shall not bar the continued exploitation of any mine or well located entirely on privately owned land and otherwise in conformity with the laws of the United States and any applicable state or subdivision thereof.
The Minimum Wage Full Employment and Fair Competition Act.
High wages create and sustain an affluent society, by providing the necessary incentive for employers to find ways to increase productivity. Low wages, in contrast, lead to a reduction of productivity as companies substitute cheap labor for machinery or innovation, reduce training, and treat employees as disposable cogs instead of trusted members of the enterprise, and then suffer from insufficient demand for their products as underpaid employees are unable to purchase the products they create. Therefore, the minimum wage ought to be high and enforceable. Unfortunately, the United States has allowed its minimum wage to decline dramatically in the last generation. In order to prevent the export of jobs, US companies ought to be required to pay the minimum wage abroad as well and foreign companies should be held to US standards when importing into the US.
The minimum wage is shall be set each year by the following formula:
Effective immediately, the minimum wage shall be increased to the same level that it was in 1968, adjusted for inflation.
In twelve months, the minimum wage shall be increased by a percentage equal to the percentage by which average productivity in the US labor market has increased since 1968.
Every twelve months thereafter, the minimum wage shall be increased by the same percentage as Social Security benefits increase.
The minimum wage shall apply to all employment in the United States.
The minimum wage shall apply to all employment by United States companies. If wages are paid in a foreign currency, the minimum wage shall be the foreign currency equivalent of the US minimum wage on the date on which the US minimum wage is set, determined using the prevailing exchange rate on that date.
If any product or service imported into the US shall have been produced, marketed or transported using labor paid less than US minimum wage (determined using the prevailing exchange rate on the most recent annual set date for the US minimum wage), such product or service shall be subject to a tariff equal to 110% of the costs saved by paying less than the US minimum wage.
Any competitor may sue for damages resulting from violations of this statute, including but not limited to damages resulting from lost sales or profits.
In the US shall fail to impose the required tariff on products or services produced abroad using underpaid labor, any citizen may sue for an injunction imposing such tariff. If the lawsuit is successful, the private plaintiff shall be entitled to a bounty of a reasonable percentage of the tariff collected as a result of the suit.
If the minimum wage set by this statute shall create a measurable and proveable increase in the unemployment rate, the Department of Labor shall create a program to hire, or pay states to hire, Americans at the minimum wage to perform necessary, labor intensive, skilled and unskilled jobs, including but not limited to street cleaning, park creation, landscaping and maintenance, providing security, teaching, neighborhood beautification, arts performances and production, installation of insulation in public and private buildings, or other useful tasks.
The Save Our Schools Economic Recovery Act.
The Congress hereby allocates funds to each local school board, to be determined as follows.
One half of the total proceeds of the Estate Tax shall be distributed to school districts in proportion to the number of children served by each such district.
Each school district shall receive an additional grant in the amount of $50,000 x the number of children served x a percentage equal to the percentage of fair market value assessed and collected in real estate taxes for the benefit of the school district, but not more than $2000 per child or less than $500 per child.
Funds allocated pursuant to this Act shall be a grant to be used in the discretion of the local school board unless the state legislature shall direct otherwise.
The Union Reorganization Act.
We freely allow capital to unite and organize in order to collectively bargain through the device known as a "corporation." In order to assure that the benefits of growth go to employees as well as investors and top management, we must allow employees to collectively bargain as well. This is impossible under current law, which allows employees to organize only workplaces -- and then allows managers to simply shift investment to unorganized workplaces. Instead, we ought to allow employees to organize across industries with something approaching the flexibility permitted to employers. Clever unions will imitate the more successful European system of organizing industries rather than individual factories, or, perhaps, find a still better method.
Unions may choose to define the bargaining unit in their discretion.
The Illegal Employment Suppression Act.
Illegal aliens come to this country in order to earn wages higher than they could in their home countries. By agreeing to work for less than the prevailing US wage, they undercut the bargaining position of US labor, leading to unemployment, inefficient substitution of cheap labor for productivity increases, and other social ills. The solution to the illegal alien problem is effective reduction in demand: without jobs, there will be no cause for illegal immigration. Unfortunately, current enforcement mechanisms simply increase the profits that US employers can make by paying sub-standard wages to aliens who have no ability to complain -- the more we tighten border controls or seek to deport aliens present in the country, the more we reduce their bargaining power and the more profitable we make it for employers to hire them. This statute creates a simple, fully enforceable, scheme to eliminate the economic incentives for illegal immigration: allow any citizen to eliminate the profits from under-the-table employment of aliens.
No person or company shall hire any illegal alien for less than US minimum wage or without reporting such wages and paying the applicable taxes.
If any person or company shall violate this act, any US citizen may sue to enjoin such behavior. In the event that such lawsuit is successful, the plaintiff shall be entitled to a bounty, paid by the defendant, in the amount of 110% of the difference between the wages paid to illegal aliens and the applicable minimum wage and taxes.
This statute shall not be interpreted to create any right to work or residence for any illegal alien, or any right to employ such person, and shall be in addition to, not instead of, all existing restrictions on such residence and employment.