|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Social Capitalism with the variable Schmid-Tax
Economic System of the Next Generation
By: Mark Schmid
Version: 2009.12.29
|
Part 5: Applying the Solution to the World
|
As much as the Schmid-tax system might seem like just a few small changes to existing capitalism, I believe the effects of those changes will be vast and decisive. Considering how everything is interconnected in our globalized world, I think the positive changes brought about by implementing the Schmid-tax-system sufficiently and responsibly can very well be bigger and more positive than anyone can imagine. Here's one scenario:
Initially employers might not be too happy about the Schmid-tax itself, but when it's introduced both with a small enough percentage, such as only 2-3% for full-time jobs, as well as with the total removal of all per-head taxes and fees on labor, they should see an advantage for themselves as well and agree. This should make it possible to introduce the entire Schmid-Tax-System democratically. When that happens and the Schmid-tax starts to work, what will happen is that instead of just valuing money as current capitalism does, the value of humans will start increase. When employers can make a financial profit with spreading their paid-for work on as many shoulders and part-time jobs as possible, instead of on as few as today, much more jobs will be created and the excessive competition between people will be reduced, at least a little. Although there will still be competition between people for better jobs, just like in today's capitalism, and people who work harder or more efficient or have special, valuable knowledge will still be worth more to employers and thus earn more, there will not only be a competition for jobs, but more and more a competition for employees, for humans.
The higher the Schmid-tax is raised, the more jobs will be created and the more competition there will be between employers to have as many employees as possible. When there is more competition for employees, naturally, the working conditions of all jobs will increase. If an employer is in competition with other employers for employees, he will increase the working condition of his employees on his own accord, without having to be forced from outside or by strict laws. As a result of the Schmid-tax, employers will be interested to create the most attractive jobs in order to get as many employees as possible and thereby make more profit thanks to the Schmid-tax. Because employers will be interested in making their jobs as attractive as possible, unions will become superficial and an unneeded relict of the past. Jobs will be much more appropriate to the species for humans, will be better paid and will seek to please those taking them much more. And all of this without any force or fixed laws, all out of employer's own accord, thanks to the Schmid-Tax.
Because there will be so many jobs, everyone will be able to work, even if it's just a few hours a week. This will eliminate unemployment and therefore also almost all poverty. It will also drastically reduce the money needed for disabled and retired people, because they too will be able to work and earn their own money as they see fit. Because of the competition for humans among employers, jobs will become so attractive and employers so willing to adjust to people and their needs and wishes, just to get them, that they will do anything they can to employ even elderly people and people with a disabilities, etc. This will drastically increase the value of human beings in our society. Instead of being something which nobody wants if they cannot exploit them, they will become something very valuable, first to employers, then to everyone else and society as a whole.
The direct effects of this are that the money spent for welfare, unemployment, disability rents and retirement pensions, etc. will be reduced most drastically. The money saved thereby can then be used to reduce many other taxes whish slow and harm social capitalism and make the economy even more efficient. The indirect effects are that because people become more valuable, there will be much more respect for people's needs and differences throughout society. Because of this increased general respect for people, their needs and differences, people will be much more content and happy. This will lead to less unnecessary consumerism for reasons of substitution and therefore less environmental destruction, it will lead to a lower reproduction rate and therefore to a reduction of overpopulation, which in turn also drastically reduces environmental destruction and finally it will also lead to a drastic reduction in crime, which in turn, once again saves the state and the economy a lot of money.
The Schmid-tax is not an end-all solution for the fluctuations caused by the stock marked and by mass psychology, but it's an extremely efficient shock absorber which makes any ups and downs so harmless that people will hardly need to notice anymore. When people know that they will always have a job preventing them from getting poor, not matter how slow the economy gets, consumption will fall a lot less during times of recession or depression and this in turn will stabilize the economy and actually prevent the strongest depressions. Because unemployment and poverty will be eliminated and jobs will become much more species-appropriate for humans and what employees want, I think the introduction of the Schmid-Tax-System will create the kind of economic system and society which we all, the entire human race, have been wishing for a long time.
In the long run, I think everyone will profit of the Schmid-Tax-System. I think it will create so many good jobs and eliminate poverty so successfully, that nations which introduce it will become great to live in, that they will become most wanted immigration countries by people who live in nations which do not have an equal economic system. This will put a lot of pressure on all nations to introduce the Schmid-Tax-System. Eventually I hope the Schmid-Tax-System will be used by all countries of the world.
Further Enhancements
There is one other important enhancement which comes to mind in connection with the Schmid-Tax-System. Although the Schmid-Tax-System should almost eliminate unemployment and therefore poverty, there will probably still always be some humans who really can not or for whatever reasons do not want to take any job. In today's capitalism there are many different institutions for such people: Welfare, unemployment, disability, retirement, etc. Thinking about it consistently, even prisons. If someone is on welfare, is unemployed, has a severe disability, is very old or committed a crime requiring isolation from society, he will usually not be able to take a job. Even with the Schmid-Tax-System and the abundance of jobs it should create which bend over backwards to suit people, there will always be at least a few people who can or will not take any job. Instead of managing such people and their survival in multiple separate institutions such as welfare, prison, disability, retirement, etc., there should be only one single institution for all.
The reason is, with multiple institutions, there is competition between them. Every separate institution in capitalism is under pressure to save money, so they all try to push people away. Welfare tries to push people into disability and vice-versa, prisons try to push people into welfare by releasing them early to save money, even if they know the released inmates will not be able to fit society and a job. If one looks closely at the social institutions of capitalist countries, one will find countess examples of such people, people which simply cannot earn their own living, being pushed around, simply because every institution tries to save money and therefore to have as few people as possible. It's obvious that this is extremely counterproductive, causing extreme suffering and a lot of crime and in the end, for the total economic system, for the entire nation, therefore is much more expensive.
Just to name one example: Here in Switzerland a former prison inmate, a young man killed a young woman shortly after he was released from prison. He lured her into his apartment by telling her he was a fashion photographer. When asked why he did it, he bluntly said the truth: "To be able to get back into prison."
Some people just cannot compete in our competitive society and job-market. And although the Schmid-Tax-System will drastically reduce the number of such people, there will always be some. The young man who killed just to get back into prison knew he had no chance of making the young woman his wife. He knew had no chance of competing in Switzerland's competitive capitalist society, he knew he would never be able to generate an income and he knew he would be harassed by welfare so severely, that he would rather be back in jail.
All this happened totally needlessly, just because welfare and prisons don't work together. If they would, welfare could have said, O.K., even if this young man will never ever have a job, or even try to get a job, we will simply pay for him and his living and we will not harass him in the least. But unfortunately that's not how things are. Welfare in Switzerland tries to save money and thus harasses people to take even the worst and most unfitting jobs. And some people know they just cannot function in such jobs. To them, the harassment of welfare which often directly threatens to stop all payments if one does not do this or that, such as taking jobs which one knows will not work, is a direct threat to their existence. In the case of the young man released from prison, that threat resulted in the death of another human. For welfare this is good, they reached their goal because now they don't have to pay for that man's livelihood anymore. Prison does. And because prison and welfare are separate institutions, that's worth it for welfare and that's how things run in our current system.
This is only one example just between the financial competition between welfare and prison. The exact same competition exists between disability institutions, unemployment institutions, retirement pension institutions, welfare and prisons, etc. While the competition of such individual institutions might be good to save money for every separate institution itself, the total effects for the subjects, the humans, as well as for the tax payer and a society as a whole are catastrophic and horrendous. People literally die because of it and nobody even charts and keeps track of these effects.
This should make it more than obvious that all social institutions which pay for people's livelihood which cannot pay for this themselves, including prisons, especially prisons if one wants to reduce totally unnecessary crime, should be combined into one single institution which as zero, absolutely no competition within itself to push and move people from one kind of support to another. Doing this, especially in combination with the Schmid-Tax-System will save tremendous amount of money and further improve the system greatly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
