THE THIRD RAIL

Blueprint For An American Renaissance In The Digital Age

The proposed political program consists of ten main initiatives intended to establish an economic environment characterized by efficiency, inclusivity, and fairness for the American people.

Initiative # 1: Return political power to the people

How? By taxing individuals and \ or entities’ political donations at a rate that reflects donors’ level of donations.

Example: Donations up to $ 5,000 No tax

Donations from $ 5,001 up to $10,000 20% $2,000

Donations from $ 10,001 up to $100,000 50% $47,000

Donations from $ 100,000 up to $250,000 100% $197,000

Donations from $ 250,001 up to $1,000,000 250% $2,072,000

Donations from $ 1,000,000 up to $10,000,000 500% $47,072,000

Donations in excess of $ 10,000,000 1,000%

Initiative # 2: Eradicate corruption

How?

Mechanism # 1: Taxing lobbying activities at a rate of 500% to be paid by lobbyists

Mechanism # 2: Reinforcing with simpler language and stronger penalties acts of corruption for the three branches of government (certainly include what we have learned from the Trump experience)

Initiative # 3: Promote and implement mechanisms that ensure transparency

How?

Reinforce the IG laws

Ensuring that each IG is working in a collegial manner (100% independence from executive and legislative branches)

Initiative # 4: Thinking out-of-the box to resolve our national debt crisis

How?

Raising taxes or reducing taxes is not the solution

The combination of multiple economic realities is such that solutions based on 19 th Century economic policies (e.g., tariffs), as well as solutions based on 20th Century Page 2 of 2 economic policies (e.g., massive governmental investment in social services) are no longer capable of resolving current and future challenges.

Without getting in the details, the United States’ current challenges are: high debt level, divisiveness, below acceptable educational standards, below acceptable healthcare standards, financial and social inequities, strained international relationships and corruption.

Addressing all these challenges at once is impossible.

However, all these challenges have a common thread: individuals and societal fiscal imbalances.

1. Inequities:

- Most of the country’s assets are concentrated in the hands of a minority of individuals and corporations (“owners”) who will not accept being taxed as needed to resolve the country’s fiscal conundrum.

- Owners have the ability to move a substantial portion of their aggregated assets out of the reach of the Government. In addition, owners enjoy strong support throughout the government and the media, making the taxation model, if not impossible, certainly very difficult to achieve.

- Owners’ perception of taxation is as follows: Taxes = financial burden with little to no direct return.

- On a positive note, Owners’ extra assets (i.e. the assets that are not invested) need a reliable return.

- For a long time, owners were “parking” their extra assets in Treasury bills and bonds. It is no longer the case.

- Owners’ perception of Treasury bonds and bills is as follows: Tbills and TBonds = assets’ safe harbor with reduced yield.

- To create an alliance between owners and the US Government, the Government must create a new financial product with a yield greater than Treasury bonds and bills.

- Taxes affect people differently based on their social status.

- A new approach of taxation would consist on the one hand drawing sufficient resources to enable the Government to meet its mandates, and on the other hand “remunerate” the contributors based on their level of contribution.

- Practically, such a system must:

o Remove if not all, but most loopholes. Deductions should be capped at 10% of the total revenue,

o Actual investments in US businesses operating in the US (services & manufacturing) can be deducted up to 15% of the total revenue,

o Actual investments in US businesses operating in the US (services and manufacturing) over the 15% cap shall have the revenue from such investments immunized for a period up to 10 years,

o All types of revenue are equally taxed,

o Maintain current taxation levels.

2. High debt level:

The economic growth in America has been facilitated by the use of certain credit instruments.

The advantages of credit instruments differ depending on social status. Notably, credit deregulation under President Clinton led to a sharp rise in middle-class debt.

The US Treasury has mishandled the Federal budget through accounting tactics and state transfers, when transparent management could have offered greater benefits to Americans.

In conclusion it is fair to state that just as many people struggle with budgeting, the Department of Treasury faces similar challenges.

How do we address this challenge?

- For individuals, schools’ curriculum should include a module that covers finances. Such a module would be working with credit unions to promote financial populism and reduce the middle-class indebtedness. Programs sponsoring savings and entrepreneurship would be part of the package. (This is as important as learning English and \ or Math).

- For businesses, the US system is probably the best to provide capital to businesses, and nothing should be changed so far.

- The crypto currency issue. Crypto is based on a market value without any link to assets and / or asset performance. It is not even a derivative (products that ignited the 2007 recession). Crypto currencies should be capped to limit the economic risk linked to a loss of trust in one or more key crypto currencies. Such goal can be attained by limiting the use of crypto to transactions where crypto brings an actual benefit to the transactions.

- For the Government:

o No offer at cost + (such offers are acceptable if The Company’s profits are in line with industry’ standards.

o Budget and results to be published like public companies,

o Assets used by individuals / corporations’ licensing fees to be re- evaluate every two years

Initiative # 5: Eradicate institutionalized devising political mechanisms,

- End the Hastert rule,

- Reinstate 60% senate approval for appellate justices, budget,

Initiative # 6: Our representatives must live by example and convince by attraction,

- Annual report on activities to be published for constituents to assess their representatives’ performance. Such reports should be published through various media as public service requirement for licensing.

- Prohibition of stock trading in the field representatives / senators are working

Initiative # 7: The government and the legislature have 12 months to come up with a comprehensive immigration law and implementation plan

- Borders control,

- Path to citizenship,

- Comprehensive review of residency criteria,

- ICE reduction in force and budget by 50.00%,

- Amnesty + review of past actions unless agents’ actions led to physical damage and \ or death

- Deportation process codification

Initiative # 8: The clock is ticking: we need to prepare the country to thrive in the new technological environment created by computers and AI,

- Law protecting published information

- Law defining AI’s confines,

- Law against data cartels,

- Law promoting AI use by individuals,

- Law promoting self-employment supported with AI,

- Law protecting science, technology and data from distortions,

- Manual work revalorization

Initiative # 9: Ending the dispute over so-called rigged elections by offering free of charge to the entire US citizenry, identification cards that have multiple functions, including voting registration

- No centralized voting system: 2 voting systems: one Federal and one State run.

- Counting mechanism and discrepancies reconciliation processes to be clearly defined

Initiative # 10: Healthcare: minimum operating standards

- All governmental sponsored programs to benefit from global price negotiations with pharma and suppliers,

- ACA to provide for an option to enroll with government sponsored programs,

- Cost control goals and milestones

Return To Main page