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My plan for the future.

austrianecon

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Since I've been highly criticized for being just a "nay sayer" who finds issues with others "economic" theory (MMT is not an economic theory, it's a finance theory).. I'll lay out a 3 point plan on how to fix the longer underlying issues within the US economy using a broad spectrum of economic theories.

1) Local Infrastructure rebuild/build.

1. This would include increasing the fiber optics backbone to support future growth in the 21st and 22nd century. Last mile (to the home via Coax) to support DOCSIS 3.1 which would bring 680/122Mbits to the home for everybody. It will also allow future upgrade to support in the doubling of the speed in the future.

To cover the costs in the long run (debt payment due to bonds) FCC will assess a fee of $50 a year ($4.16 per month). This would collect $6b a year and only used to pay for this debt and this debt will paid off in 24 years, 6 years earlier then the 30 year bonds issued.

Once the network is laid all ISPs can only charge $15 a month ($19.16 in total) for internet service. That collection of $15 a month is for upkeep of service.

Note: this does not include your TV cable costs which is where Cable companies would make their money.

2. Every school in the US gets labtop for every student and every two years that labtop is exchanged for a "newer" one.

This means there is no "homework" to take home and no excuses for missed school work. Every "homework" assignment will be upload on a website (school servers) to do.

Note: lost labtops will cost the parents $400.


3. The final part of Local Infrastructure is mass transit (light rail, metro, trams) in any metro area over 500,000 or expanding it. So for example.. NYC and Chicago would not benefit from it, but cities like Denver, Indy, KC, Columbus, Austin, Houston, Miami and so forth will.


2) National Infrastructure.

This is pretty simple.

1. Highspeed trains between major cities. So Acela line in the Northeast will have a dedicated line and extended down to Miami. Now the fun part.. Building highspeed lines along Interstate Highway system. For examples.. I-80/I-90/I-76(NYC to Chicago to Denver), I-94/401(Chicago to Detriot to Toronto), I-76/I-70 (Philly to Denver), I-25 (Billings to El Paso), I-5 (Vancouver to San Diego). Obviously Canada and US would have to agree to do this to extend it to Vancouver and Toronto but I don't see that as a major hurdle.

Note: I don't know how feasible it would be to build highspeed from Denver/Cheyenne to San Fran due to the Rockies.

This will create really 3 defacto hub cities ( Chicago, Denver and NYC) like it use to be.

2. Rebuild all the Bridges in the US.


3) The Desalination plants and wind plants.

This is specifically for the west coast. Up to 100 plants built for both from Seattle to San Diego. All 100 plants capable of providing water and providing energy along the coast. This is done hand in hand to A) reduce cost of Desalination and B) any excess wind power not used will hit the grid.

The size of the Desalination plant would be that similar to Carlsbad, CA now in operation. 50,000,000 US gallons per day (or 100,000 homes). So that would be 10m homes.


Now we can quibble over details.. but these are the 3 main things that always pop into my head of real shifts in the US economy. It's about lower costs to the public, boosting education and can fund itself via fees of which we already pay but actually don't get us anything.
 
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Unfortunately for you and me this nation is massively in debt, the national political system does not work, healthcare is bleeding the nation dry, families balance sheets continue to degrade, people are pissed, the global security system is getting worse fast and the global economy is on life support.

Oh, and Europe is either breaking up or is close to.

Unrealistic much?
 
Unfortunately for you and me this nation is massively in debt, the national political system does not work, healthcare is bleeding the nation dry, families balance sheets continue to degrade, people are pissed, the global security system is getting worse fast and the global economy is on life support.

Oh, and Europe is either breaking up or is close to.

Unrealistic much?

Actually, what I propose is NOT unrealistic. The Internet side is happening as we speak. Comcast just went live with DOCSIS 3.1 this year with all of it's price gouging. Those costs can be covered by US Government. We have the cable infrastructure for 1gig already.. and due to Federal law require digital signal and not analog (Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005) every home is set for it already.
 
I think the USA should step back and take a look at why we are being outgunned on the educational level by countries who spend 1/10th of what we do for each student.

I have my own ideas why this is happening, but it would fall on deaf ears.
 
Actually, what I propose is NOT unrealistic. The Internet side is happening as we speak. Comcast just went live with DOCSIS 3.1 this year with all of it's price gouging. Those costs can be covered by US Government. We have the cable infrastructure for 1gig already.. and due to Federal law require digital signal and not analog (Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005) every home is set for it already.

Do you understand that the national debt looks to be increasing well above 300% (non inflation adjusted) in just two decades by 2020? And that is before almost all of the boomer retirements are paid, and is doing nothing from your list??!!

Your plan is a feat of the imagination not connected to reality.
 
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I think the USA should step back and take a look at why we are being outgunned on the educational level by countries who spend 1/10th of what we do for each student.

I have my own ideas why this is happening, but it would fall on deaf ears.

I remember reading maybe 10 years ago that Cuba gets almost the same medical results as we do, for 7 cents on the dollar.
 
Do you understand that the national debt looks to be increasing well about 300% (non inflation adjusted) in just two decades by 2020? And that is before almost all of the boomer retirements are paid, and is doing nothing from your list??!!

Your plan is a feat of the imagination not connected to reality.

Actually yes, and everything I include in my list actually pays for itself.

For example... highspeed rail in the US in most of the areas I listed are already being built (which means the cost have already been added to the debt). Desalination plants and wind power plants collect fees from users. FCC already mandated Cable Companies upgrade their networks. It's the last mile they have an issue paying for. It'll cost $150b today to put 680Mbits in every home in the US because every damn Coax line laid in the last 30 years supports 1gig plus.
 
I think the USA should step back and take a look at why we are being outgunned on the educational level by countries who spend 1/10th of what we do for each student.

I have my own ideas why this is happening, but it would fall on deaf ears.

Oh I don't disagree.. but one of those major differences is computer access.
 
I remember reading maybe 10 years ago that Cuba gets almost the same medical results as we do, for 7 cents on the dollar.

Yes but a Cuban specialist gets about $25 a month and patients have to provide their own bed sheets, hypodermic needles, food and water
 
Actually yes, and everything I include in my list actually pays for itself.

For example... highspeed rail in the US in most of the areas I listed are already being built (which means the cost have already been added to the debt). Desalination plants and wind power plants collect fees from users. FCC already mandated Cable Companies upgrade their networks. It's the last mile they have an issue paying for. It'll cost $150b today to put 680Mbits in every home in the US because every damn Coax line laid in the last 30 years supports 1gig plus.

Rail never pays hardly any of the construction costs, and only rarely pays both ongoing operations and maintenance.

You are daydreaming.

Snap out of it.
 
Rail never pays hardly any of the construction costs, and only rarely pays both ongoing operations and maintenance.

You are daydreaming.

Snap out of it.

Acela says differently (most profitable line for Amtrak). Highspeed pays. Old fashion rail doesn't.
 
Oh I don't disagree.. but one of those major differences is computer access.

Computer access is fine and I support a computer based curriculam in schools, but only after a student becomes competent with the 3 R's first. (Readen-Righten-Rithmetic)
 
Computer access is fine and I support a computer based curriculam in schools, but only after a student becomes competent with the 3 R's first. (Readen-Righten-Rithmetic)

LOL, 3 Rs...

Well in today's age.. Math is done by computers anyways, more people read from tablets then books and we are typing a helluva lot more then old school writing (cursive). To put in context younger generations don't know cursive. My own kids aren't taught it.
 
Fantastic proposals, in general. I see other problems besides those, of course, but all wonderful suggestions as far as I'm concerned, and I think they're all very feasible, apart from politics.

It's a good plan.
 
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Acela says differently (most profitable line for Amtrak). Highspeed pays. Old fashion rail doesn't.

Correction: Amtrak says that Acela is profitable, which means that after they pay to keep the trains up and run them and pay what is considered their fair share of the NEC upkeep there is a little money left over. HOWEVER this does not account for buying those crap acelas to begin with, nor replacing them (and GOD they need replacing), and the NEC keeps breaking down because we have not kept it up, and HS trainsets cant run fast but for a few miles because what we really need to do is completely rebuild the thing while straightening it and getting all the commuter trains on there own tracks which would cost last time I heard $70 billion dollars and least and to do it right over $100 billion, That sure aint happening. This will not be paid for from those very expensive acela tickets, which I note are by the mile either the most expensive HSR tickets in the world or almost, for a line that only about 30 out of 455 miles has acela meeting european HSR speed standards.

Ya, I know all about it.

You clearly dont.
 
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Hawk is probably right that you are daydreaming here, Aus...but keep it up, because that is the only way we are ever going to move along.

I've got my daydream ideas also.
 
Hawk is probably right that you are daydreaming here, Aus...but keep it up, because that is the only way we are ever going to move along.

I've got my daydream ideas also.

Now you know I love ya Frank, we go back a long time, but I am a reality based guy.

I like to encourage an understanding of reality.






I hope the golf is good this year so far.
 
My daughters already do their work on laptops for school in 6tg grade. Specifically on Chrome books, which cost about ~$200. If the gov subsidizes any of the cost, it could be even lower. Since Chromebooks run on a browser platform, everything is installed on a central server so it's easy to manage. The problem is that, far as I know, the kids without internet/ WiFi are given time in school or after to complete their lessons.
 
As a matter of fact, it would probably cost lesss to provide laptops. If Dell, soon to be a $100 Billion dollar company after thier purchase of EMC and it's subsidiarys, provided netbooks at a massive scale, making that many laptops, they can make them at a loss because of the economies of scale. The sheer volume of parts bought from Intel hard drive and memory suppliers allows Dell to leverage huge volume discounts in the server environments where companies like Dell make profits. This is the reason Dell is in the PC business at all, is because of the purchasing at scale.
 
I think all federal governments are corrupt to some significant extent. And I think there is virtually nothing the government can do that the private sector cannot do far better and at far less cost.

Other then helping those who literally cannot help themselves to feed, cloth, house, protect, medically care for themselves; other then these situations (I.e. welfare), I don't think the federal government should be looked upon to do almost anything to stimulate an economy or maintain infrastructure.
It should be left to the states/private sector/charities and who (especially the last two examples) can do whatever is needed better, quicker and at FAR less cost to the average tax payer.

It semi-amazes me how people have so little faith in politicians (rightly) and yet when things are not good, they put an incredible amount of faith in these same corrupt people to 'make everything better'.
These people are like the gullible children of lousy parents. Sure they know they are lousy but when they have a boo boo they still run to Mommy/Daddy to kiss them and make it all better.
 
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Since I've been highly criticized for being just a "nay sayer" who finds issues with others "economic" theory (MMT is not an economic theory, it's a finance theory).. I'll lay out a 3 point plan on how to fix the longer underlying issues within the US economy using a broad spectrum of economic theories.

...(lots of good projects)...

Now we can quibble over details.. but these are the 3 main things that always pop into my head of real shifts in the US economy. It's about lower costs to the public, boosting education and can fund itself via fees of which we already pay but actually don't get us anything.

OK, so you have some nice infrastructure projects, and they are paid for by, I assume, the returns on increased economic output. All well and good. I assume that this goes hand in hand with a balanced federal budget, right? It must, or you wouldn't be touting the fact that all of the projects pay for themselves.

So, the problem remains - how do you deal with our normal demand leakages; a large trade deficit, and our normal net savings? We lose $500 billion of our income to trade deficits, and who knows how much more to domestic savings (maybe another $500 billion?), year after year; you make some of that up with growth of business investment, but without deficit spending, every dollar that sits idle in the hands of China and other dollar savers is bank-created money, and somebody is still paying interest on them. Do you really think that that is sustainable in the long run?
 
Correction: Amtrak says that Acela is profitable, which means that after they pay to keep the trains up and run them and pay what is considered their fair share of the NEC upkeep there is a little money left over. HOWEVER this does not account for buying those crap acelas to begin with, nor replacing them (and GOD they need replacing), and the NEC keeps breaking down because we have not kept it up

Amtrak has to submit a budget every year and it's audited every year. But Amtrak has never had long term capital funding from Congress.

Amtrak has four real profitable lines all in the NEC (Acela, Northeast Regional, Washington - Lynchburg, and Andirondack). They also have several lines in the midwest that are losing less then $1 to $2m a year as of 2012 but fall well within that magic 330 mile radius in which people favor trains over flying when high speed trains are involved. It's the long distance lines (longer then 330 miles) where it loses money.

Yes, those crap Acela Express trains have to be replaced but this is a byproduct of how half-assed Congress and doing it on the cheap up front in the 1980s and 1990s has now added up to bigger costs in the future. Congress told Amtrak they had to use lines that Freight used as well and so they needed trains that could withstand a crash with a Freight train. So that was the only train that met the standards.

and HS trainsets cant run fast but for a few miles because what we really need to do is completely rebuild the thing while straightening it and getting all the commuter trains on there own tracks which would cost last time I heard $70 billion dollars and least and to do it right over $100 billion, That sure aint happening.

And there in lies the problem. We pushed the issue of the running passenger trains on the same line as freight in most areas. Over bridges that were build 40 plus years ago, over lines laid 100 years ago. Bridges weren't designed to support back then for high speed. Ever hear of Portal Bridge? It's 105 years old. Trains have to slow down to 60 MPH over it. Massive delays due to the bridge and the tugboats that go under it.

This will not be paid for from those very expensive acela tickets, which I note are by the mile either the most expensive HSR tickets in the world or almost, for a line that only about 30 out of 455 miles has acela meeting european HSR speed standards.

HSR is considered 124mph over existing line. Acela could be 50% HSR in 5 years or less if it's pushed (like the Hoover Dam). It's about fixing certain areas now and having a long term plan to be fully HSR in 10 to 15 years with ability to be at 220 MPH with in 30 years. This isn't something that's hard to do. It just takes time, money and planning. We can tackle the congestion problems NYC to DC very quickly . But this isn't only for Amtrak or HSR. Eight commuter railroads and four freight operators use these lines as well.

Rather this improvement here.. our rail system is about what is needed for the future when you considered that the NEC (local transit, freight and Amtrak) is at maximum capacity in lots of areas. Longer you wait or ignore it like we did in the 1980s and 1990s, the bigger the costs are gonna rise. So that $100b total in 10 year could be $150b.
 
Hawk is probably right that you are daydreaming here, Aus...but keep it up, because that is the only way we are ever going to move along.

I've got my daydream ideas also.

This aren't daydream ideas. These are things that HAVE to get done if, to steal from Trump, want to make America great again. Our most of the rail in the NEC are running at max capacity already and we sure as hell are gonna fall further behind in education if we don't start embracing the 21st century.
 
My daughters already do their work on laptops for school in 6tg grade. Specifically on Chrome books, which cost about ~$200. If the gov subsidizes any of the cost, it could be even lower. Since Chromebooks run on a browser platform, everything is installed on a central server so it's easy to manage. The problem is that, far as I know, the kids without internet/ WiFi are given time in school or after to complete their lessons.

I know she does.. have a friend who is a teach in that SD. Government does "subsidize", it's just the SD that does it.

Which is why Cs I call for the broadband speeds of 680Mbits to be brought to every home in the US by US Government or 3 parties paid to do it and be paid for by $4.19 monthly charge to "home owner" until the debt is paid off. That all ISP can only charge $15 on top of that for upkeep of service and future upgrades (to boost to 1gig) since the backbone and Coax to the home upgrades will be covered by the people.
 
OK, so you have some nice infrastructure projects, and they are paid for by, I assume, the returns on increased economic output. All well and good. I assume that this goes hand in hand with a balanced federal budget, right? It must, or you wouldn't be touting the fact that all of the projects pay for themselves.

Actually, I never touted transit infrastructure would pay for itself. It will over time due to economic output increases but no user fees will pay for it.

So, the problem remains - how do you deal with our normal demand leakages; a large trade deficit, and our normal net savings? We lose $500 billion of our income to trade deficits, and who knows how much more to domestic savings (maybe another $500 billion?), year after year; you make some of that up with growth of business investment, but without deficit spending, every dollar that sits idle in the hands of China and other dollar savers is bank-created money, and somebody is still paying interest on them. Do you really think that that is sustainable in the long run?

Personally, doesn't matter to me as the world is gonna wake up to a shock in the next few days if the rumors are true that China is gonna do a Yuan gold benchmark and prevent US dollar convertibility into it.
 
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