# Principia Oeconomia *introduction* ## Definitions <dl> <dt><strong><a id="productivity">Productivity</a></strong></dt> <dd>The total number of individuals whose needs an individual or company meets.</dd> <dt><strong><a id="income">Realized Income</a></strong></dt> <dd>Money received into a checking account or equivalent that is used or can be used to spend on goods or services. Not a retirement or pension, money market, or investment account etc.</dd> <dt><strong><a id="fake-jobs">Fake Jobs</a></strong></dt> <dd>Jobs created with employment as the means and the end. Jobs whose productivity is soley their existance provides to their superior.</dd> <dt><strong><a id="AND">AND</a></strong></dt> <dd>Two goals where incentives may be at odds but both are necessary to reach a goal better than the two considered on their own.</dd> </dl> *(e.g. A tech manager who uses his number of subordinates to boast at dinner parties. A factory manager who receives benefits from the government to create jobs that are not needed.)* --- ## Table Of Contents [ToC] > Note: The first ten points are an exercise in reframing the Bill of Rights as duties a good society should provide for its people. # The power of the state Penultimate power belongs to the state. ### Pyramids - an Example - Operate on a scale incomparable to any other - Do anything the state sets as a goal - Can meet a few peoples need (The Ruling Family), or needs of the many - When the state uses its power to protect and provide for its' people, the state benefits as a whole. # Duty of the state to the people ## Uphold the Law No one will follow the law without a punishment that is known [AND](#AND) enforced. Punishments need to be sufficient to deter the behavior, but not excessive or unreasonable for the crime. ## Duty to process legal matters of the citizens quickly AND correctly. Delaying court processing is an indirect punishment with no recourse for the people. Without checks this can be targeted for unjust or targeted enforcement. ## Duty to protect personal property and ownerships. ## Duty to protect the ability for self-defense Our duty is to ensure that all men and women, regardless of size, age, or stature, are enabled to protect themselves on equal footing, without risk of being overpowered by physical size, strength, or stature. Firearms are the great equalizer of lethal force. *Additional Working List* Duty to provide a future. Duty to care for the past. Duty to be good stewards of our land and resources. --- # Foundational Essays ## Material Needs can no longer support the economy #### There is not enough work required to support the world's material needs to supply all of the world's jobs. Why now? And, why never before now? > Before the Industrial Revolution, between 80 percent and 90 percent of the world’s population worked in agriculture. - (Source) Pre industrial revolution, to feed 1,000,000 people it took 800,000 to 900,000 workers. In 2022 it is estimated 26.2% of the population works in agriculture, so today it would take 260,000 workers. Where do the other 600,000 workers go to make a living? To another industry, another industry where technology enables fewer people to meet more people's needs. A cycle that has repeated since the industrial revolution and has not stopped today. ![Growing Gap](https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/e/2PACX-1vSSadDEQ-3H2d4iW_kKwvlCwvuKs5sXjyVkeVy1dtmrI66BgOuD2DQx7Q_jf2UZyMZUn0sUXCHqbR6L/pub?w=1440&h=1080 =100%x) As technology improves we require fewer and fewer workers to meet the global material needs of the population. Population growth is exponential and so worsens at an increasing rate. As the gap grows: 1. More people fighting for fewer jobs resulting in higher competition and lower wages. 2. Tensions increase as people are unable to find work to sufficiently meet their material needs. 3. Global destabilization and depopulation, fundamentally limiting the growth of the economy even for the already wealthy. This will be our future unless we choose another path where we support the population and give individuals the time and freedom to find new ways to be [productive](#productivity). #### Material Needs vs. Immaterial needs. Material needs are those related to physical survival and well-being, while immaterial needs are related to psychological and emotional fulfillment. Work to meet the non-material needs of a population is not well understood and in most cases takes even fewer people. (e.g. How many people did it take to write The Lord of the Rings compared to how many people have read it?) | | Material Needs | Immaterial Needs | | --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Consumed | **Consumed**<br>Food you eat is consumed and can not be eaten by someone else later. | **Non-consumed**<br>- Although people have limited friends, you can keep the same friends for a lifetime. They are not "used up".<br>- Purpose in life isn't consumed. | | Rivalrous | **Rivalrous**<br>- Two people can't wear the same shirt to keep warm. <br>-A limited number of people can live under the same shelter | **Non-Rivalrous**<br>Reading a story does not prevent someone else from reading that story.<br>- Digital representations of entertainment are so low cost to replicate they are functionally non-rivalrous. The bandwidth of the internet is such the entire population of the world could watch the same movie at the same time at marginal cost. | Historically, as jobs have been lost in one sector the answer given by economists is for populations to move where jobs are needed. For example, the move from the South to the Midwest to work in factories in the 20th century. Unfortunately, we are running out of places and job sectors to move to. > In the United States, the manufacturing sector employed just 15 percent of the workforce in 1880. Manufacturing employment peaked at 38 percent in 1944. By 2019, it fell to 8.5 percent. - (Source) Potential Solutions 1. We can let people die out until reaching an equiliribum. 2. Mass create [fake jobs](#fake-jobs) that although support people does not contribute meaningfully to economic growth. 3. Pay to support all who need it, bolster population growth, and grow the economy for the rich and the poor. We need better systems to support future growth and future improvements to technology. There has never been an easier in of all history time to meet a populations material needs than today. We are at a unique turning point in history, post-material, where guaranteed income for the majority can be provided through the economic output of the [productive](#productivity) whole. #### Not Everyone will be productive, okay One realization that all of us will need to come to terms with is that although not everyone will be productive, that is okay and expected. It is better a few people create real value than to mass-create fake jobs in order to assuage the public. It has never been cheaper to feed the world, and we do not know who will be the next most productive people. Our best bet is to bet on us all and count on a few outsized returns to more than balance the cost. Give people freedom to choose to be [productive](#productivity) and let the market reward those who choose the best. *end article* ----- ## Inherent Economic Value of Everyone. #### Economy is limited by the size of the population. - Half the population. With all else equal. What happens to the size of the economy. Population is the determining factor. #### Duel Value = (Individual Needs + Freedom). - Every person has needs - They have the capacity to choose, but that needs to be allowed. ## Who doesn't like a Meritocracy. - The winners - Lawfar is the end game. ## Economic freedom of choice scales. Who can better meet your needs and how fast can that information spread to others. - 12,000,000 vs 120 cognitive free hours. Free choice scales. 1 million people have 12 hours per day to find ways to better meet their needs and find ways to better meet the needs of others. 12 people can spend every day and not spend as many cognitive cycles as 1 day of 10,000 people. - This works even better as the population scales. - We are well connected. New ways to better meet your needs can travel fast to others. Why central planning an economy is always worse than a free population that can choose for themselves. ## Crime is a Tax. - Locking up things on shelves increases the cost to deliver them. - Stolen inventory is simultaneously a realized cost and lost revenue. - Not being safe during at night removes time a store could make money. (Late night gas stations) - Those costs are passed on to the customer. ## Artificial means overcome natural ends 9/10 - Implicit guidance. Nature gives us guides in the right direction. For millions of years, this has worked. We need sugar to think. Sweetness guides us to sugar. - Explicitly, we can build things to meet those goals and miss the substance of why they exist in the first place. Processed sugar tastes better than anything in nature but lacks nutrition. Artificial sweeteners on their own are even sweeter than natural sugar. - The fake thing will always beat out the real thing when instinct is left on its own. - Social media + generative A.I. is about to show us what feelings are nature-driven and how easy it is to hijack those mechanisms. ## What you feel is real is disjunct from what is real. - What you feel about someone is always different from what is real. (Explains being wrong about your relationship. If what you believed was real.) - We used to fall in love over letters. 1) If someone intercepted the letters and rewrote them, how would the experience be different for the reader? 2) If the letters are fabricated out of thin air with magic, how would the experience be different for the reader? 3) What if a large language model wrote the letters. - A.I. is about one-shot our relationship circuits, and if we are not careful, will drive down birth rates to unsustainable levels. ## What you believe to be true is your most true choice. - The man and the room of keys thought experiment. - Dirty dish thought experiment. - Animals don't get stuck in delusions like we do. They receive the present and act in it. It is the sorry state of almost all men to continue the existance of whatever they are given, and pass that onto the next generation again, and again. ## Social norms iterated, tends towards extremism, unless... - Some objective bounding force is applied in balance. - Religion is everywhere. Without objective means towards goals. - It happens so often in so many places it has to be built into our natural state. - e.g. Extreme Environmentalism # Supported Policies ## 11. 60/40 - Negative Income Tax A guaranteed minimum income above the poverty line, equal for all nationwide, paid directly into participants' accounts. For every dollar earned while receiving NIT individuals will keep 60% until no support is provided. This results in tapering off assistance gradually and rewards individuals who through diligence find any additional income sources. #### Defining Principles - Support who needs it when they need it -- not higher income earners. - Paid out when you are paid (monthly/biweekly/etc) or bi weekly if unemployed/self-employed. - Based on your average [income](#income) over a rolling 365 day period. - Incentivise all who can make more income to make more income. - Smooth transition out of assistance. - The majority of what you make you keep (60/40 rule) - No change in benefits if married or living together. (Calculated using married income levels / 2) - Benefits are calculated individually based on [income](#income) and paid out individually, even in the case of marriage or cohabitation. <iframe width="100" height="350" seamless frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQGB57k418HGxe5OYRwT3Teg3xP9Q352M6ZNCxc4PIXBRYJ3VUrJaxmRakS9GPETFNLsRgkuRPHy46y/pubchart?oid=1975275665&amp;format=interactive"></iframe> <iframe width="200" height="350" seamless frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQGB57k418HGxe5OYRwT3Teg3xP9Q352M6ZNCxc4PIXBRYJ3VUrJaxmRakS9GPETFNLsRgkuRPHy46y/pubchart?oid=503548516&amp;format=interactive"></iframe> <iframe width="200" height="375" seamless frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQGB57k418HGxe5OYRwT3Teg3xP9Q352M6ZNCxc4PIXBRYJ3VUrJaxmRakS9GPETFNLsRgkuRPHy46y/pubchart?oid=2087671296&amp;format=interactive"></iframe> [60-40 Rule NIT Calculator and Chart Source](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13_6jZ4IP27R8h-LogfEXBKPOgqR9DYSjmps707iolF4/) #### 11.1 Beyond Self-Care For individuals who are unable to care for themselves or live independently, for any reason. Care providers may receive participants' NIT on their behalf. - Including but not limited to mental health, physical or mental disability, substance abuse etc... #### 11.2 Prison or Jail While in prison or jail, participants receive no NIT. The incarcerating facility may receive the NIT in lieu of the individual. #### 11.3 Requirements All individuals receiving NIT must receive all income into a single bank or institution. This is to enable efficient distribution and calculation of payments directly to individuals. The government should make no stipulation or oversight on how distributed funds should be or are spent. If someone is wholly unable to manage their finances and cannot care for themselves see `11.1`. #### 11.4 Distribution Distribution is on an individual basis. No one may interfere, spouse, parent, or otherwise with the receipt or control of spending received funds. #### 11.5 Children Parents (or Legal Gaurdian/s) receive children's NIT starting at birth until the age of 18. At the age of 14, children start to receive their benefits, increasing gradually, until fully distributed directly into the child's account. #### 11.6 Increased total employment and the rise of part time work NIT allows people to live off part time work, increasing how many can be employeed. NIT allows an encourages people who can work, even a little, to work, and does not require people to overwork in order to survive. ### 12. Remove Minimum Wage Minimum wage is not required with the adoption of NIT. Companies lose leverage against employees because they can leave at any point if sufficiently are mistreated or underpaid. ### 13. Abolish Unions Unions serve to protect members from mistreatment by companies and establish collective bargaining against the power of corporate interests. A company's leverage is obtained through threat against job security combined with the necessity of earning income to live. NIT provides a guaranteed minimum income outside of employment and therefore removes corporations' leverage and power. Unions are no longer needed as people are supported directly and so can be abolished. Any dues should instead remain with the employees to do as they see fit to prevent rent-seeking behavior from redundant organizations. *end article* --- ### 14. No bailouts or subsidies for Corporations Companies should live and die by their success in the market. Securing jobs is a means to secure income. When you secure income you no longer need to protect corporations. You protect the individuals directly. - Exemptions for issues of national security, although taxes and tariffs should be preferred and ruled out before pursuing. ---- ## 15. Affordable Healthcare Removing all costs from healthcare removes the reward for being healthy and encourages wasteful use of healthcare resources. It should cost something to receive healthcare, to encourage appropriate use, but not beyond what is affordable individually. Cap expenditure on health care to a monthly maximum of 10% of the rolling average of expenses over a year. For example, if you made $10,000 per month over 12 months your cap would be to spend $1,000 during any given month. After $1,000 the state would step in to cover the rest of the costs. - Private insurance can and should exist to both provide additional coverage and reduce costs for higher spenders. #### 15.1 Requirements All citizens enrolled are required to connect and or report all expense accounts. Including, but not limited to checking accounts, credit cards, etc... >Requirements for companies are to report the amount spent to the government, not the contents of the spending. Only receive the minimum information required to calculate the necessary benefits. #### 15.2 Enforcement Individuals found to be missreporting spending are removed from the program for an exponentially increasing amount of time per previous incidence at the rate of `2^n`. `2^0 = 1`, `2^1 = 2`, `2^2 = 4`, etc... #### 15.3 Open Questions - How to qualify what is costs are covered and what costs are not covered? - Not everything should be covered. - Where do you draw the line? Some things are obvious to cover, while others are obvious not to. How to handle the transition point in a way that grows with our scientific understanding of health and wellness. - What is fair and unbaised? - If the recipient decides that is ripe for mistreatment - If a group of individuals decide that is ripe for corruption and capture. - Preventative care? - How far should this cover? What is the financial incentive regarding cost-saving measures? My intuition is that there is a hand-hold here to explore. ## 16. Land Value Tax Encourage [productive](#productivity) land use. Inescapable through the offshoring of accounts. The fairest and best tax on wealth and its' accumulation. ## 17. Remove Income Tax Tax disincentivizes behavior. Incentives income, growth, and savings. Give no reason to claim or put wealth out of the country. Keep it here and keep it productive. ## 18. Two-Strike Rule for Convicted Rape Recipients of sexual assault often face significant and long-lasting consequences, impacting their physical and mental health, relationships, and overall well-being. > [“Nearly 1 in 5 women (18.3%) and 1 in 71 men (1.4%) in the United States have been raped at some time in their lives, including completed forced penetration, attempted forced penetration, or alcohol/drug facilitated completed penetration.](https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics/statistics-depth) We have never been more capable of proving or disproving cases of rape through medical tests, mobile location, mobile cameras, DNA, etc. The two-strike rule gives one chance for an individual to learn their lesson and defend against the possibility of a false conviction. On the second conviction of rape or attempted rape, individuals will receive capital punishment, promptly with no possibility of release or parole. - 18.1 Victims who are under the age of 14 are considered two strikes. - 18.2 False accusations of rape, due to the known severe possible consequences, may be considered attempted murder if proven malicious. # Government ## 19. Established Fair Pay All representatives receive a living wage according to their state or district. Calculated as 150% of the [average annual income before taxes for two adults (1 working)](https://livingwage.mit.edu/). Recalculated as needed. ## 20. Additional financial incentives > Elected officials are typically elected by their constituents to *do something* or *meet a need* of those constituents. This is an unbalanced incentive that results in continually adding more to budgets and projects with nothing to counterbalance. All representatives who find a way to save the local, state, or federal government money are entitled to receive a portion (20%) of those savings. Rewarding efforts to make processes more efficient and reduce redundancies. Representatives who cut too much or too deeply would lose public support is balanced with their incentive to do the will of their constituents. ## 21. Self-Contained Bills Bills must be self-contained and voted on one by one. #### 21.1 Open Questions - How to quantify self-contained? - Too far, and there will be useless separation that creates busy work. - Too little and we return to the omnibus bills we have today. - It should be reasonable and expect reasonable actions from reasonable people. - Incentive alignment will keep a good balance? - What are the incentives that lead to big bills, and how can we remove those? - People who oppose a bill should not be able to use this process to delay or stagnate progress on something they don't agree with and have majority support for. ## 22. The Sunset Doctrine - Procedure of Expiring Laws Laws after some time (25 years) are automatically retired unless at least but not limited to one representative makes a public motion to continue the law. Laws that have been retired need to be reintroduced and voted in as laws again. - Laws previous to this rule in place are considered (mod 25) from the year the law was enacted, starting some time after approval to give lawmakers and the public time to prepare. ## 23. All government entities are required to follow the same rules and regulations as Public Companies. If requirements are too onerous then change them for Public companies as well. It is fair to require the government to live by the rules it makes. ## 24. Term limits of 20 years To prevent long-term entrenched political self-interest for both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The maximum time allowed served is 20 years. - 25 years for the sunset doctrine, and 20 for elected representatives prevent one person from "doubling up" on to keep the law through two cycles. # Disincentivizing Predatory Behavior Preventing individuals sufficiently motivated to pursuing potentially self-destructive behavior is impossible without total restriction of their freedom. Instead, what is possible and preferable is to prevent groups from taking advantage of those individuals through unfair and predatory practices. ## 25 Provably Fair Gambling All online or computerized gambling must be proven by the provider to be fair with mathematical and irrefutable certainty. This is possible with but not limited to using zero knowledge proofs and cryptography to verify the fairness of the entries and the results of gambling. ## 26 Sports Betting > Betting on the outcomes of sports or any other real world outcomes. All companies that facilitate this behavior (through betting pools, prediction markets, or otherwise) may not refuse service to any individual unless they are under 21 years of age. This prevents companies from selecting players in order to gain an unfair advantage (e.g., by banning players who perform well). Individuals under 21 must be banned from participating. ## 27 Decriminalize Sex Work Any victims of sexual assault should be free and feel free to immediately go to authorities without worrying about consequences from the law. ## 28 Decriminalize possession and consumption of Drugs Individuals suffering from drug addiction should be encouraged to seek help and not be pushed into isolation due to fear of legal repercussions surrounding their drug use. With the addition of NIT, individuals who are unable to take care of themselves should be provided with care and housing as specified above. > Manufacturing and Selling Drugs illegally remains illegal.