The Fix Is In

Yesterday's Supreme Court decision on campaign spending is beyond disappointing. We seem to have entered (or perhaps re-entered) an era in which "the fix is in." Can so many people simultaneously behave in a wrong-headed fashion on some many issues? Yes. There is too much to sort out: Health Care, Retirement, Unemployment, War, Haiti, Terrorism.

Somehow we have lost the unifying message, the theme, to consolidate the issues and act as a guideline for our actions. Sadly the Obama Administration squandered the hopeful theme of "Change" on efforts toward conciliation, bipartisanship and compromise. They should have moved forward assertively and at every objection simply repeated: "You are standing in the path of 'Change'"

But national politics is not the back alleys of Chicago where everyone is impoverished and all the denizens, conservative and liberal alike, and must coalesce somehow to get anything done. National politics is where the amounts of money and resources are vast. And money is numbers, and numbers need math. Goldman Sachs earned $13.4 billion in profit for 2009. And they have set aside - get this - $16.2 billion for bonuses for their employees. This stream of big numbers is just overwhelming to the average person. Millions, billions, trillions are bandied about until the sense of scale is completely lost.

How much is one million dollars? Let's say you invested that much very conservatively, very well diversified, savings account, bonds and what have you. You could probably be safe to expect every year to earn 3% on that investment. That is $30,000 per year in income. What could you do with $30,000 each year? Right now family health insurance costs about $14,000 per year.  That is one way you could use that money. You could pay for health insurance. Hold that thought.

How much is one billion dollars? One billion is one thousand millions.
Or look at it like this: 1000 millions.
Or, in dollars:
$1,000,000 = one million dollars
$1,000,000,000 = one billion dollars

The current US population is about 309 million people. In numbers: 309,000,000. Mind you that is not one billion, it is much smaller than one billion.

Consider this: If we had $309 million dollars, and invested it conservatively, the annual return would be enough to pay health insurance premiums for every person in the United States forever. Remember, we figure on a return of 3%. We could even let Goldman Sachs handle the investments, they seem to be good at that.

Instead, however, we have somehow reached the conclusion that corporations are exactly like people and that their resources may be used without limit or control to affect the outcome of elections, legislation and social issues. So says the Supreme Court.

Remember that with just a small fraction of what just Goldman Sachs alone earned in profit (or pays out in bonuses) we could guarantee health insurance for every citizen. The same principle could be used to fund retirement and education. And, what is more, companies would still make great profits.

If we relieve our citizens of the worries of health, of retirement, of unemployment, of paying for education we will unleash an unprecedented flood of creativity. And it can be done at such a reasonable cost.