Economics
Our quantification of value needs international coordination. There are few things that can do so much good (and also so much evil), than economic forces put to work. Some challenges we see pertain to the unequal access to financial markets, capital growth, education, and benefits of free-trade.
Guiding Principles:
General
- We don’t believe in “invisible hands” or “central planning”
- Capitalism should not be based on greed, debt, and blind growth
- Communism destroys humanity, while unrestrained capitalism has the capacity to destroy the planet
- Economic policies must be sustainable and scientific
- Promote meritocratic circulation of wealth
- Prevent idleness and unearned wealth
- Entice ambition and punish sloth
Free Trade
- Promote free-trade, if it’s fair
- Discourage protectionism
Competition
- Always stimulate healthy competition
- The “Pareto principle” is descriptive, but should not be normative
- Protect small companies from hostile big companies
- Prevent the “winner-takes-all” trend in cyberspace
- Encourage more opensource software
- Immigrant workers should play by rules equivalent to natives
- Discourage employers from exploiting immigrants
- Integrate the sharing-economy into overall economy
- Require highly competitive “call for bids”
Entrepreneurship
- Make it safer to be an entrepreneur
- Support both general and social entrepreneurship
- Especially support those who want to solve critical issues
Investing
- Public and private sector should focus on ROI
- Increase international investing
- Encourage a shareholder culture
- Ban high-frequency trading (HFT)
- Require biometric authentication to engage in markets
- Limit the robotic takeover of financial markets
- Robots for scanning and execution is okay, but there should be a human middleman
- Limit the robotic takeover of financial markets
- Incentivize longer-time investing
- Fund managers that are not able to beat benchmark indexes (over a set period) should not be allowed to manage money
- To get back licence, they must demonstrate improved abilities
Debt
- Enforce debt registries to discipline credit card providers
- Ban usury
- Fight lax attitudes towards debt (public and private)
- Against reckless federal government borrowing
- Critical of fractional reserve lending system
Nature of Money
- Be self-aware that money is a human social construct
- Work for a practical discontinuation of cash
- Explore potential of blockchain
- Cryptocurrencies must not be safe-haven for criminal commerce (e.g. hacking, pedophilia, etc.)
- Study viability of a global currency
- Develop a currency backed by more than ink
Banks
- Demand full transparency
- Regular audits (incl. of central banks)
- Measure and authenticate world gold reserves
Macroeconomic Planning
- The economy cannot depend on population growth
- Control level of dependents through demographic plans
Public/Private Cooperation
- More cooperation between government and business
- Discourage parasitical elements in consulting industry and law
Entitlements
- Must be sustainable, meritocratic, and legitimate
- Reform system to fit a mobile workforce
Pension and Retirement
- Increase use of hedging in retirement portfolios
Taxation
- Make sure all taxes are legitimate
- Determine various taxes and fines by income
Invention and R&D
- Encourage innovation
- Incentivize this through tax incentives
Financial Literacy
- Put personal finance in educational system