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Nobel Laureate Gary Becker proposes fixing global immigration problems by turning to the market: auction work visas. Economist.com http://bit.ly/9q0oqj
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Prisoner's votes are currently counted based on the location of the prison, not their home residence. This dilutes the voting power of urban, minority prisoners. Miller-McCune http://bit.ly/bgshbh
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Via active monitoring, thorough investigation and stiff penalties for employer noncompliance and immigrant nonregistration, have the immigrant's employer pay the Dept. of Immigration or a like dept. so they can deduct taxes, auto and health insurance, fines, etc... then THEY can pay the immigrant his/her net pay. Imagine the legitimate jobs it'd create (nationwide) AS WELL AS the financial burden we'd be relieved of: unwarranted immigrant emergency room visits, uninsured immigrant motorists just to start. Hell, the immigrants would realize a greater America AND be an asset, not a liability. Lots can come from it down the road.
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a local shop in social housing projects, where goods can be bought in bulk and supplied profit free, to low income families, as a direct result actual payments by the state via the benefit system can be reduced.
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Advocates of Supreme Court reform call for a number of changes, including term limits for the Chief Justice and mechanisms to identify justices who are no longer performing adequately. Boston.com http://bit.ly/bjDjri |
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The Seasteading Institute of Palo Alto plans for self-sufficient, deep-sea platforms which become independent countries. NY Times http://nyti.ms/9EMMEk |
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Current Senate seats give way too much power to small states. One proposal suggests basing Senate seats on demographics such as income, age or jobs figures. Washington Post http://bit.ly/aGVbJm |
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The Dutch government has established "no copyright" as the default on government web sites. Creative Commons: http://bit.ly/bB9QWB |
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Transparency. Everywhere. It builds credibility and trust.
Let's start with our government (schedules, contributors, bills, riders, etc), but then to opaque markets (like that for the CDOs and CDSes that brought about the global near-meltdown).
Finally, let's give more business to businesses that are highly transparent. Let's reward them, the way CarrotMob rewards merchants for being green.
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By an historical accident, corporations enjoy the privileges of natural persons, but don't have the same responsibilities. The recent SCOTUS decision eliminating constraints in corporate campaign donations is one of the many ways this plays out in our lives.
If we pass an Amendment to the Constitution specifically resetting corporations as artificial entities with greater responsibilities, it will have a cascade of beneficial effects through other reals where people have failed to change the status quo.
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"Alternative Voting", such as employed in Australia, allows voters to designate their first and second choices. If the first choice loses, your second choice gets the vote. This favors third party candidates and competition. Thomas Friedman NY Times http://nyti.ms/aLX6de |
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A politically neutral redistrcting commission, such as California's Citizens Redistricting Commission, will make Congressional races more balanced and Congress more centrist. Thomas Friedman NY Times http://nyti.ms/aLX6de |
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Well, we have a new health care law, but we still don't have any good way to cut health care cost inflation. Here's a serious idea to do this which is simple common-sense, but potentially very effective. What's more, I think it's truly non-partisan!
In a nutshell, I propose that health care providers be mandated to provide consumers with a written cost estimate for any proposed care that costs over $X. This estimate should be itemized and indicate total cost and cost to the consumer. Ideally, this should be coupled with an increase in high-deductible health plans (HSAs), but it would have a significant impact even with the number of HSAs that are held today.
There is precedent for this idea of mandating cost estimates. First, practically every state in the US has some sort of consumer protection statute stating that a car repair shop must provide a written estimate prior to performing a repair. Imagine that - numerous laws mandate that you get a written estimate when you have your car repaired, but it's practically impossible to get an estimate when you have your own body repaired.
Second, the State of California requires that a health care provider give a written estimate if it is requested by the patient, and if that patient is uninsured. (See 1339.585 in http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=hsc&group=01001-02000&file=1339.50-1339.59)
Many states like Minnesota are beginning to require that providers disclose costs in some way (e.g. see http://freemarkethealthcare.com/Transparency.pdf), but I find these approaches lacking because they put the onus on the consumer to understand all the treatment services being proposed by a provider, and then to look them up online.
You may be wondering if providing these estimates is technically feasible and practical for all health care providers. I've come to believe that it is feasible and practical. A startup in San Francisco called Ventana (http://www.ventana.com) has developed technology that is very well suited to solving this problem.
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Locking homeless in shelters with other homeless people doesn't help them progress. Better to let them use coffee shops into the evening, surfing the web or working online. Reason Magazine http://bit.ly/bGWs3E |
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Historians argue that major legislative reform rarely happens, but legislation involving many effective small steps does. Salon Magazine http://bit.ly/91O3gX |
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Avoiding gerrymandering (with its districts with long tentacles), require that all Congressional districts need to be rectangular (dimensions depending on population). Boston.com http://bit.ly/aGoHa6 |
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The First Lady of the United States spends countless hours in public service. She should receive a salary. NY Times http://nyti.ms/aeF9fV |
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Every town in the US (the world?) will have problems budgeting for years to come. But figuring out what to do about budgets is tricky. An infrastructure that would support collaborative decision-making could improve both decision-making & buy-in. The infrastructure will provide historical data about the town budget as well as comparative data across towns. It will help facilitate contributions to data collection, data analysis, and preference identification. All we need is someone to build it.
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There are many ways to support nonprofits, not just a check. There are many people out of work who can and would like to volunteer for nonprofits. Currently, there is no tax deduction for volunteers. To stimulate the economy and inspire volunteerism, the government can provide tax deductions for the value of volunteered time (or a portion of it).
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A new website called Give Your Vote allows British citizens to seek input for their votes on issues which impact developing countries. http://bit.ly/b5LnW0 |
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All federal agencies are now using ideas sites to get public feedback on how to become more transparent. Best summarized on the OpenGov Tracker: http://www.opengovtracker.com/ |
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A three-day public review of public spending bills would bring transparency and accountability to the process. An OpenGov "top five" idea. http://bit.ly/5BcRLs |
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The national "War on Drugs" does more damage than good. A top 10 "OpenGov" best idea. http://bit.ly/72OxwY |
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Votetocracy allows you to vote for current bills in Congress, contact your representatives, and pool your influence. http://ow.ly/jqdU |
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France is starting to track and report "happiness" as part of GDP calculations, based on recommendations from the Stiglitz Commission. http://ow.ly/ppjK |
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