The Third Option

Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands

The Seven Essential Needs Departments

executive branch

Coupled with a National Public Bank (by way of the Department of the Treasury), the US Government can do the job of providing Certainty, Fairness, and Inclusivity to its citizenry, in The Third Option’s bid to prove Democracy could be a real thing.

Table of contents

Department of Health and Human Services 

seven essential departments for the government

(Old Budget = $790 Billion / 300,000 FTE’s) *

* These numbers represent the old HHS and Veteran’s Department Budgets combined

PLAN:

HEALTH CARE

This is where we would Administrate our Universal Health Care. When we did something well (or not well), all communities would know about it, because we would all be connected to a new National Health Information Grid and Database.

HUMAN SERVICES

Every year over 600,000 citizens walk out of jails and prisons and go back into the general population no better off than when they entered our current Incarceration System. It is time for a new strategy here as well. (This Department will also take on the task of providing services to the current Homeless population.)

STRUCTURE:

  • ONE EXECUTIVE TEAM (Secretary of Health + Staff) in Washington DC = $2 Million
  • ONE HEALTH CARE TEAM (administrative) per 100,000 population (Cost: $1.5 Million per TEAM X 3,300 = $5 Billion
  • OFFICE OF REHABILITATION (One EXECUTIVE TEAM in Washington DC + 8 ADMINISTRATION TEAMS, one at each Rehabilitation Facility means 9 TEAMS X $2 Million = $18 Million

MISSION:

The goal is to eventually extract 800,000 currently incarcerated citizens from State and Federal Prisons, and instead sentence them to 2 years of learning a trade (Associate Degree in one of our Federal Business trades). Meanwhile, they will receive Health Care and Counseling, and work a job to help pay for the cost of their incarceration (basically some “on the job training” in whatever Federal business they choose to join).

PRICE TAG: 

During the incarceration time of any citizen, their yearly retirement investment will be confiscated in order to help pay for their rehabilitation. The projected yearly retirement investment is $6,000 per year X 2 years X 100,000 residents per facility = $600 Million in capital to build each facility, which will be located on federal land. Translation: COST TO TAXPAYERS = $0

NOTE:The Yearly Mortgage Payment on a $10 Billion Bank Loan is well under the $600 Million we will receive from confiscating $12,000 from these citizen’s retirement accounts. From this investment, we would each profit, when our monthly retirement checks start rolling in.

Homelessness STRUCTURE

  • OFFICE OF DISENFRANCHISED (1 million Homeless) One EXECUTIVE TEAM in Washington DC + 8 TEAMS on the Village sites X $2 Million = $18 Million

Homelessness Mission:

Plan A: 

Some of our Homeless would respond positively to the New Health Care and Counseling and Affordable Basic Needs being offering to every citizen, and our hope is that they would begin to pick up an oar and start rowing again along with the rest of us.

Plan B: 

When a Community can no longer help an individual, this Federal Office would step in. We would build Villages right beside our Rehabilitation Facilities. Part of the job of the incarcerated citizens would be to play the role of “Brother’s Keeper” and help build these villages. Health Care and Agriculture and all the necessary utilities would already be in place, and if these homeless citizens ever wanted a second chance, there would also be Educational facilities already on site, too.

PRICE TAG:

The $6,000 a year Retirement Investment of each individual would be confiscated in order to pay for their continual care. If some amenities beyond simple Basic Needs can be offered without further Federal Tax dollars being spent, this of course would be entertained.

SPECIAL NOTES: 

  • This same deal would be offered to any citizen who wished to “check out” and not contribute to the whole of society. For any length of time a citizen chose to go “off grid”, we would confiscate their retirement investment, and set aside some land in close proximity to the Rehabilitation and Homeless Village Facilities, where we could still offer access to Health Care, basic utilities, and food growing opportunities. 
  • There would be a place for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) within our Health Network, in order to dispense the data needed to improve the quality of our new Health Care arrangement. 

New Budget = $14.7 Billion (Maximum cost *)  

* Set Costs = $5 Billion for all of the Department’s Administrative salaries

* Other potential Costs: $7.2 Billion for Office of Rehabilitation STAFF [$4.8 Billion from teacher / counselor salaries + $2.4 Billion in Health Care Staff ($300 million Health Care cost per facility)] + another $2.4 Billion for Homeless Health Care costs. These costs will only occur if Education and Health Care taxes cannot cover them.

* There will be an $80 Billion Bank Loan needed for the 8 Rehabilitation Facilities, and another $9.6 Billion Bank Loan to cover housing costs for 8 Homeless Villages. The confiscation of Retirement Investment will cover these loan payments.   

Health Care is an essential need, and therefore we must provide this for our citizens in exchange for them working to better protect their own health and not hinder the health of others. By tying our fates together, each person’s health becomes everybody’s concern. The more we harm ourselves or others, the more it will cost us, in a measurable financial way, and in an immeasurable mental and emotional and spiritual way. 

Notes on the OFFICE OF REHABILITATION (Incarcerated)

Currently 2.3 million citizens are incarcerated – Quick Stats:

State System (1.32 million)

  • Substance Abuse (200,000)
  • Violent (718,000) [180,000 Murders, 168,000 sexual assault, 174,000 Robbery, 18,000 manslaughter, 138,000 assault, 44,000 ‘other’]
  • Property (237,000) [fraud, burglary, car and other theft, etc.]
  • Public Order (152,000) [drunk driving, weapons possession, etc.]

Federal System (225,000)

  • Substance Abuse (100,000)
  • Violent (13,000)
  • Property (11,000)
  • Public Order (66,000)

Youth System (48,000)

  • Person (18,100)
  • Property (10,400)
  • Public Order (6,000)
  • Substance Abuse (2,600)

Jail System Convicted (150,000) [Not Convicted – 465,000]

  • Substance Abuse (35,000)
  • Violent (32,000)
  • Property (37,000)
  • Public Order (46,000)

TAKEAWAYS:

Number incarcerated (1,318,000) equal to entire San Diego population (1.407 million)

  • 316,320 have mental issues (24%)
  • 738,000 have drug / alcohol dependency (56%)
  • 148,000 are women
  • 106,500 of those are victims of sexual abuse
  • 30,000 Youths can be helped right now
  • 884,000 relatively non-violent offenders can be helped right now
  • 335,000 Substance Abuse Adults
  • 285,000 Property Infraction Adults
  • 264,000 Public Order
  • 400,000 may be considered “too violent” to help (but this remains to be seen)

Every year: 

  • 626,000 walk out of prison gates
  • 150,000 are convicted, but will be out within a year
  • 465,000 sit in jails, yet to be convicted (poor remain in jail, rest get out on bail)
  • 10.6 MILLION are put in jail (constant churn)

Jails = “Incarceration’s Front Door”

PROPOSAL: 8 Facilities of 100,000 (equal to a regular-sized ‘Community’)

  • Youths could be interspersed with less dangerous offenders
  • 1 school would hold 100,000 hand-picked “violent” offenders 
  • they would be interviewed, need letters of recommendation
  • they would have go back to their previous situation if they violate our pre-determined rules of engagement 
  • We would also lobby for a “life without parole” facility to see if an experimental hand-picked group could be productive, and the rest of us could learn how to help them do that

Price Tag:

2-year Program, residents will lose 2 years of retirement dividends to pay for their incarceration.

100,000 residents X $6,000 / year = $600 Million

Examples of Costs

  • Complete Health Care for 100,000 – This is already figured into the Health Budget, we would have to add more Mental Health / Substance Abuse Counseling, but this could come out of other funds like Memory Care, Hospice, etc, that would not be needed
  • Housing for 100,000 – 5 residents occupy one “Equinox-style” House (a zero energy off-grid do-it – yourself home that resident would build themselves, with supervision)
  • $200k per house (5 residents) X 20,000 houses = $4 Billion
  • Ikea Queen Beds are $800 X 100,000 residents = $80 Million
  • Furniture-making and other skills could be part of Education, while providing residents with products they could use
  • 4 Hotels / Residences (2 for visitors, 2 for residence of Rehabilitation Staff)
  • Average Hotel is $22.2 Million for 115 rooms. We would need 2,000 rooms for visitors, this would mean $371.4 Million to pay for hotels
  • Education for 100,000 – This means 4,000 classrooms with 25 students per room. 10-classroom Buildings would cost $3 Million each or 400 Buildings X $3 M = $1.2 Billion
  • Staff Costs: 4,000 Classrooms means 8,000 teachers (2 per classroom) – The entire grounds would be their education training

Landscape Maintenance

  • Solar / Wind Power (Facility is off grid)
  • Health Care will be a teaching facility for Counseling, Nursing, Tech Jobs, PT’s
  • Green Construction (housing, commercial) – HVAC, electrical, plumbing, waste, Furniture
  • Vertical Agriculture, Food Prep, Regenerative Farming
  • Computer Tech 

8,000 Teachers X $75k (plus free room / board) = $600 Million X 8 Facilities – $4.8 Billion

‘Residency’ Strategy: we would offer a chance for a counseling / teaching / health care “residency”, in essence paying one’s dues before going on to jobs in the communities or schools, which would justify a smaller initial paycheck.

Hope: Health care workers would be their teachers, 4,000 of the other teachers would also be counselors, and the remaining 4,000 teachers could help residents to build housing, vertical farms, green energy tech, etc., and learn skills that the Federal Government would pay them for once their 2 years are finished. 

  • Food for 100,000 – Columbia University professor Dr. Dickson Pommier calculates $100 Million just to build something big enough to feed 100,000 people. Some calculate $140 – 168 million. We will figure $200 Million X 8 Farms = $1.6 Billion

BOTTOM LINE: Already we have spent $7.25 Billion for some of the basic infrastructure and have at least $4.8 Billion in Salaries and Expenses. Our goal is to build each Facility with $10 Billion, Because A Bank loan of $10 Billion yields a $567.4 Million Yearly Mortgage. 100,000 residents would yield $600 Million a year from “confiscating” their $6,000 in yearly retirement dividends (The 2-year penalty for getting incarcerated – now, we can think of incarceration as an intervention, which is what it should be. One of our fellow citizens is struggling and needs a “time out” or a “re-boot” or a “do-over”. It’s in all our best interests to get them back on track if possible.

NOTE: Each resident owes us some actual labor while they are still in “time out”. We need cheap labor to install our country’s green energy, our transportation, and our affordable housing. We need furniture makers and food growers and teachers and counselors who will stay on once their two years are finished, taking over the jobs of our first wave of volunteer teachers and counselors. Whatever new technology we are using, we would train at these facilities, so these people would come back to valuable jobs that help us move our country forward (and put money into our Federal Bank for all of us to share). 

Notes on the OFFICE OF DISENFRANCHISED (1 million Homeless)

There are 306 Homeless people for every 100,000 population, although it is more complicated than that, as the Homeless are more densely populated in some of our larger cities and urban areas. Homeless that can be productive (at some point) would be given every opportunity to stay within the Community. Homeless people living within our Communities and getting all their basic needs for “free” (without contributing anything of value to the Community) is not an option.

Homelessness needs a proactive strategy. We the People have made a pact to take care of anyone who also contributes [or has the potential to contribute] to the rest of society. We have a provisional $6,000 a year “Basic Income” at the Federal Government’s disposal for anyone who wishes to reject this pact, with a promise to receive as many basic needs “goods and services” as $6,000 a year can provide, but to stretch this money into an adequate “safety net umbrella” would take Economies of Scale, as well as tapping into Federal Land and Resources, cheap or sometimes free labor, and the voluntary charity of other citizens.

NOTES:

Three General scenarios could occur:

  1. This person could be helped. They could stay within their ‘community’.
  2. This person is up and down. They can stay, but possibly will bounce back and forth from Rehab Village to Community to get cleaned up, get intensive health care, get closer supervision, training, possibly education, etc., then go back to the Community where a bed would be waiting, a job, counseling, affordable housing, etc.
  3. This person cannot be helped. They will not take meds, will not stay clean, will not stay in their housing, cannot control their behavior, cannot stop begging or stealing (and the Community cannot stop empowering this behavior).

PLAN DETAILS:

  • The Rehabilitation Facility and the Global Schools would be building Tiny Housing (or possibly affordable or off-grid zero energy housing) where our homeless would stay. 
  • Promise: From now on, our Incarcerated, our homeless, and the other disenfranchised would not be isolated and “out of mind”. We have to bring all abuses out of the shadows, wherever they are occurring, in order to mitigate the cycles of suffering. 
  • One million homeless means we could potentially have 125,000 individuals located next to each of the 8 Rehabilitation Facilities. Health and Counseling expenses are already covered through the National Health Care System, and staff will already be on site (though we will need extra staff for counseling, observation, etc.) Also, we will need housing and food for them.  

MATH: 125k X $6,000 [Retirement Confiscated] = $750 Million potentially for each facility to pay room and board expenses. 

  • Vertical / Regenerative Farming = $200 Million Loan
  • Housing [125,000 – 250sf Tiny houses at $100 per sf] = $3.125 Billion Bank Loan
    • A $3.325 Bank Loan means yearly payments of $190.5 Million, leaving $559.5 Million 
    • $559 Million could help fund the Health Care for everyone in the area, plus staff for growing the food for the entire area. Perhaps the Farming for Rehab and the Homeless can be done together and bring price down from the current $400 Million cost.

Department of Education 

(Old Budget = $68.6 BILLION BUDGET / 4,200 FTE’s)

PLAN:

We cannot have a similar vision unless We all have access to the same knowledge. Perhaps a little Fear is a good thing, but ignorance is never helpful when making important decisions. We need to believe that it is NOT better to be lucky than good, but rather that by being good we can make our own luck. We are going to double down on Education.

STRUCTURE:

  • ONE EXECUTIVE TEAM (Secretary of Education + Staff) in Washington DC = $2 Million
  • ONE EDUCATIONAL TEAM (made up of Educator / Administrators) per 100,000 population
    • (Cost: $1.5 Million per TEAM X 3,300 = $5 Billion
  • GLOBAL SCHOOL TEAMS (Administrators): there could be as many as 600 Schools within the US, and eventually 200 more Internationally. 800 National / International TEAMS X $1.5 Million per TEAM = $1.2 Billion

New Budget = $6.21 Billion

We are going a different direction in Education, and to ensure that each child gets the same deal, We feel it best to bypass the States and take sole responsibility for the implementation of this Program. Also, much of the new Education relies on interaction between students at both the national and international level, so there is a time factor in getting these programs up and running simultaneously. See Education 4.0 for more details.  

Some Light Reading

• https://slate.com/business/2013/08/tax-private-schools.html
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/02/21/student-loan-debt-statistics-2017/#2b67d5135dab
• https://hmcarchitects.com
• https://www.health-connected.org/natl-sexuality-ed-standards
• https://www.k12academics.com/sex-education#.WoKGzyOZOjQ
• https://www.futureofsexed.org/nationalstandards.html
• https://www.scarleteen.com
• https://www.uua.org/re/owl
• https://citiesandschools.berkeley.edu/uploads/21csf_CC+S_School_Facilities_Cost_Calculator_User_Guide.pdf
• https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-01/title-i-rich-school-districts-get-millions-in-federal-money-meant-for-poor-kids
• https://www.npr.org/2016/05/01/476224759/is-there-a-better-way-to-pay-for-americas-schools
• https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-esea-title-i-part-a-funding-can-better-serve-the-most-disadvantaged-students/

Department of Housing and Community Development 

housing and community development

(Old Budget = $41.3 Billion / 8,500 FTE’s)

PLAN:

This Department is building all the New Infrastructure located at the Community Level.

STRUCTURE:

  • One EXECUTIVE TEAM in Washington DC (Secretary + Staff) = $2 Million
  • One CONSTRUCTION TEAM per 100,000 population (Cost: $2 Million per TEAM X 3,271) = $6.6 Billion
  • One Housing Management TEAM per 100,000 population (Cost: $1 Million per TEAM X 3,300) = $3.3 Billion

NOTES:

Construction TEAMS represent the Management (Contractor) positions. TEAMS might consist of:

ENGINEERS

  • Electrical Engineer = $96,000
  • Architectural Engineer = $139,000
  • Materials Engineer = $86,000
  • Structural Engineer = $82,000
  • Mechanical Engineer = $88,000
  • Civil Engineer = $88,000
  • Project Engineer = $85,000
  • Industrial Engineer = $86,000
  • Environmental Engineer = $87,000
  • Mining & Geological Engineers = $101,000
  • Nuclear Engineer = $105,000
  • Chemical Engineer = $120,000
  • Waste Management Engineer – = $90,000

SCIENTISTS

  • Physical Geographer – $90,000
  • Geologist – $90,000
  • Ecologist – $75,000
  • Hydrologist – $120,000
  • Chemists – $80,000
  • Biologist – $90,000

OTHER EXPERTS IN

  • Urban Mixed-Use Development
  • Urban Agriculture
  • Communication Technology
  • Zoning Ordinance
  • Transportation

BOTTOM LINE: We could easily get 20 of these brainiacs in the same room for $2 Million. These Teams would need to coordinate logistics between our various Materials businesses, our local Construction Sites, and the local Administrators in Health, Education, Affordable Housing, Transportation, Energy, Water, and Waste Management, who would be benefitting from these services. All the actual Sub-Contractors (builders) would be paid from the Bank Housing Loans. To Ensure Best Practices, all 3,300 Teams would be connected and share information constantly (via our new Communication Grid). 

New Budget = $9.9 Billion

Bringing the National minimum wage up to $15 an hour would still not adequately cover the currently exorbitant cost of Housing for minimum wage workers (who are still 50% of the population). The cost of Housing has got to come down, but to do this, we would have to lower the cost of building materials, control management costs, and employ Economies of Scale to offer our goal of $100 per square foot to build, and $1.20 per square foot to rent.  

  • People in Affordable Housing would also need Affordable Communication services, Affordable Energy, etc.
  • We should look at the old ConnectHome Initiative, and the Choice Neighborhoods for ideas

NOTES:

Through the Community Housing Management TEAM, housing will be dispersed based on specific rules:

  1. Need to be currently working, preferably within the Community 
  2. Minimum Wage Workers get top priority.
  3. Much like University Admission Policies, diversity among residents is mandatory, although certain common-sense considerations may be utilized, like grouping people by age, or whether they have small children, etc.

We are shooting for 8,000 affordable apartments on potentially 1,000 different properties per each Community. People would have the freedom to rent at the rate of $1.20 per square foot in all areas, and could be put on waiting lists for any Community, although anyone seeking to live outside their neighborhood of employment would likely encounter an interview process to determine what is best for the individual and the Community.  

We need Diversity. We need citizens to seek work all over. Any Federal Business would also be all about diversity, and Affordable Housing, when possible, would need to follow suit.

If Citizens want to refinance through our Bank, they would get a fixed 4% loan, options to pay interest only for fixed periods of time, and know that all the interest paid would be going into everyone’s Retirement Dividend.

Finally, once the Affordable Housing project is finished (or at least after it is well on its way), we could use our $100 per square foot Construction Team building costs to fashion some Affordable Single Family Houses wherever we could get a good price for land, either through a Community Land Trust, pre foreclosures or REO properties that our Bank can purchase.

Some Light Reading

https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/28761/412121-The-Resident-Choice-Option-Reasons-Why-Residents-Change-from-Project-Based-Vouchers-to-Portable-Housing-Vouchers.PDF

Reinventing Real Estate: The Community Land Trust as a Social Invention in Affordable Housing, by James Meehan.

Department of Energy 

science labs

(Old Budget = $28 Billion BUDGET / 100,000 FTE’s)

PLAN:

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is an emergency fuel storage of petroleum maintained underground in Louisiana and Texas by our Department of Energy. Currently, the “SPR” has around 665.1 million barrels of crude oil [258 million barrels are sweet crude and 406.2 million barrels are sour crude]. We are going to sell this off before it is worth nothing. We could sell 520 million barrels and still have 30 days of reserve left at today’s consumption rate. These reserves are there in case we are cut off from getting any imports, but we are no longer going to import any oil. Whatever our future oil needs are, we already produce enough within the US. to cover it.

If we sold off 65 million barrels a year between 2020 and 2028 (as part of our “8-year Plan”), we would make a $4 Billion credit each year, and this is basically all we would need to spend on our New Department of Energy.

STRUCTURE:

OFFICES OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY (8 Teams X $4 Million = $32 Million)

  • NUCLEAR TEAM
  • SOLAR TEAM
  • HYDROELECTRIC TEAM
  • WIND TEAM
  • POWER GRID TEAM
  • TRANSPORTATION ENERGY Administration TEAM
  • HYDROGEN FUEL TEAM
    • Production
    • Distribution (Fueling Stations)
  • ELECTRIC BATTERY POWER TEAM
    • Production
    • Distribution (Charging Stations)

One LOCAL TEAM per 100,000 population (Cost: 3,300 Teams X $2 Million = $6.6 Billion) 

These TEAMS would run the distribution of Energy to their Community. All costs for Labor involved in building the Grid will be factored into Our Bank Loan, and all costs for Labor to maintain and distribute Energy to each Community will be factored into the cost of electricity per kWh that each of us incurs on Our Electricity Bill.

NOTES:

Nuclear Power is allegedly efficient and clean, except for that slight problem where it produces massive amounts of radioactive waste with a ten-thousand-year half-life. We are rooting for scientists to bring us Nuclear Energy that recycles all the nuclear waste we have already created, while simultaneously lowering its radioactive threat. But the “Atomic” clock is ticking, and if Nuclear Scientists want to be in the Energy conversation, they better get any kinks worked out ASAP.

The story of our Federally funded Laboratories is a very familiar one. When We funded these labs ourselves, the costs were very reasonable, and everyone worked well together, as it was not about making a buck but about making a difference. Once the private sector was allowed into the mix, costs ballooned, trust between scientists and contractors eroded, security got sloppy, and then even more money got spent to mediate a problem that never should have existed in the first place. The private sector is out. We are opting for cost effectiveness, quality, and happy well-paid employees, with no middlemen taking a cut of our money. Welcome back to Our Team, smart people. We have a long list of stuff for you to do. Let’s get busy.

First, Meet our Dream Team:

17 National Laboratories, including:

  • Argonne National Lab (ANL)
  • Brookhaven National Lab (BNL)
  • Idaho National Lab (INL)
  • Lawrence Berkley National Lab (LBNL)
  • Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL)
  • Los Alamos National Lab (LANL)
  • Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL)
  • Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL)
  • Sandia National Lab (SNL)

Some Highlights:

  • The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) holds the record at 40.8% conversion efficiency in solar panels.
  • Our Labs developed the lithium-ion batteries that power our electronics and electric cars. The Chevy Volt runs on a battery that includes a groundbreaking cathode technology developed at Argonne National Lab. 
  • A team of labs called the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research is working to transform the Energy Grid and Transportation with Battery Storage Technology
  • R&D at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory also brought wind power into the mainstream by reducing the cost of wind power by more than 80 percent over the past 30 years.
  • Syncrophasers developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) give power grid operators a near-real-time picture of what is happening within the system. These technologies are lowering energy bills, allowing for more energy choices and resulting in fewer and shorter power outages.
  • Researchers from 14 of the National Labs are working to ensure the grid can handle ever increasing sources of renewable energy and remain safe from cyber-attacks. 
  • The National Energy Technology Laboratory developed an electrochemical process that recycles CO2 into fuel. 
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory invented microcapsules that absorb CO2 using a simple and inexpensive baking soda solution. 
  • Scientists at Oak Ridge, Idaho, and Argonne National Laboratories are developing a new generation of nuclear technologies including advanced reactors and small modular reactors. 
  • The Department of Energy recently established the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) to provide the technical, regulatory and financial support necessary to move new nuclear reactor designs toward commercialization. Led by Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, GAIN integrates and facilitates efforts by private industry, universities and national laboratories to test, develop and demonstrate innovative nuclear technologies to accelerate the licensing and commercialization of these systems.

Conclusion: We are investing $3.9 billion in these people, and we are all going to retire clean (as opposed to filthy) rich.

NEW BUDGET = $6.5 Billion [$6.6 B + $3.9 B – $4 Billion we would get by selling off the Strategic Petroleum Reserve]

  • We need to eliminate Carbon from our Energy diet, but our Energy Grid is owned by so many different entities that we would never be able to work things out with everybody. For this reason, we must bypass the current Energy Grid, and build our own. Like the current grid, we would charge for the Electricity in order to pay the Infrastructure bill. 
  •  There are hundreds of power plants located throughout the country. These plants are connected to transformers that step up the voltage of that electricity so it can be transmitted. Transformers are connected by high-voltage transmission lines that carry the electricity long distances across the country. There are more than 450,000 miles of these energy lines throughout the country today as well as 160,000 miles of overhead transmission lines.  
  • There are three separate grids that together make up the United State’s Energy network: the Eastern Grid, the Western Grid and the Texas (ERCOT) Grid. The Eastern Grid is the largest. While all three grids are connected, they also operate independently. 

Nuclear Energy

WHAT’S GETTING CUT:

  • Science Department ($4.5 Billion)[We have this money somewhere else]
  • Energy research and development, the Petroleum Reserves, and the Energy Information Administration ($2.2 Billion)
  • Office of the Inspector General ($49 Million)
  • Current Administration already eliminated $2.4 Billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy program, the Title XVII Innovative Technology loan guarantee program, and the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program.
  • National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ($12.5 Billion) [This is getting moved to Defense spending (Department of Security)]

List of DOE National Laboratories and Technology Centers:

The United States Department of Energy currently operates seventeen national laboratories:

Technology Centers

* GOCO (Government-owned, Contractor-operated)

** GOGO (Government-owned, Government-operated)

Other Energy Projects that need scrutiny:

  • Titan laser = produces positrons, or “anti-matter”
  • Pantex Plant
  • Southwestern Power Administration
  • Y-12 National Security Complex

Department of Transporation

department of transportation

(Old Budget = $76.5 Billion / 55,000 FTE’s) 

PLAN:

We need to restructure our unsustainable Transportation System. We will “nudge” people toward the future by making them pay the true cost of driving, meanwhile offering them a more sustainable way. If ‘rational self-interest’ is really a thing, then this plan should work. New Transportation will include:

  • Heavy Freight off the main roads, on rail or hyper-loop [or using unmanned aircraft tech)
  • Citizens using versatile light vehicles that can maneuver on road or rail systems (possibly even within the hyper-loop technology), and are electric or hydrogen fueled, driverless, and can be owned or hailed or shared.
  • New Smart roads that collect energy, allow traffic to flow non-stop through roundabouts, rails, and even multi-tiered option.
  • Road Space freed up for walking, biking, etc., as mixed-use Communities can be traversed in a 10-minute walk from one end to the other. To do this requires a trade-off where parking is moved off the street, along with larger transportation systems, and in some cases, manually driven vehicles.
  • Driverless Taxi-like services that are so affordable, they take heavy buses and other larger public transportation options out of the equation.
  • If there is any future for transportation that flies, it needs to be quiet and unobtrusive [possibly even out of sight]. Our proposal is to make this technology the property of NASA (as a way of funding them) and limit it for now to emergency services (Security, Defense, Fire Fighting, Law Enforcement, possibly Patient Transport / Life Flight]. Another possible first step could be to fly freight in unmanned aircraft using a designated corridor away from manned aircraft and populated Communities [with no chance of cybersecurity breeches – good luck]. In this emerging future of ours, we must try to remember that ‘Just Because We Can Do Something Doesn’t Always Mean We Should.’
  • The Government is bleeding money flying all its people around the world. We would also need to fly some of our Global School children around to national and international destinations. The task is to build a Federal Airlines that:
  • Flies on Electric Power whenever possible
  • Fills planes to only 75% capacity (to leave room for these Government / Global School VIP’s)
  • Helps pay its share of the FAA Tax

STRUCTURE:

  • One EXECUTIVE TEAM (Secretary + Staff) = $2 Million
  • One Local TRANSPORTATION TEAM per 100,000 population (Cost: $1.5 Million per TEAM X 3,300) = $5 Billion – Each Community would have its own vision for transportation, although there needs to be a general consensus for how to accommodate all the currently acceptable forms of transit within the US.
  • FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION and Air Traffic Control would be paid through its own usage Tax. We would go in and clean it up, making it viable and sustainable as a business, whose mission is to provide safe air travel; this involves both air traffic control and airplane safety – The tax would be on ticket purchases and based on destination distance (per mile) and luggage freight weight (per pound). If less people travel by air (demand), the FAA would get less funding (supply). Projected Budget = $10 Billion (but we could do it for less)

NOTES:

  • We would manufacture these new road / rail transportation vehicles ourselves at first, hopefully through existing American Companies (if the price is right) or by forming our own manufacturing plants (we would already own the metal and plastic materials to make things inexpensively), but either way we would share the specs with everyone, so that all transportation could conform to this new model.
  • The cost of revamping the Transportation Grid (roads, runways, rails, etc) would be large, but by funding it through the Bank, we would only need to pay 5.724% of the total cost each year for 30 years (when we would probably have to re-do it again, as the future keeps evolving). The new model would require a usage tax on everything that moves us, built into purchases, rentals, tickets, package deliveries, and fuel. Spread out this way, it would be more agreeable to our pocketbooks, and still allow for the freedom of choice.
  • By using Federal R & D and handing logistics for our new air and road vehicles over to NASA and Security (Military), it could give them a chance to fund themselves more fully.

New Budget = $5 Billion (Administration)

[Plus several Federal Business, covered under a massive Bank Loan]

The current Transportation Model is not sustainable. We need to lower the costs of infrastructure, accidents (which affects Health Care costs), carbon emissions, theft, etc., and meanwhile navigate the difficult transition from the old way of doing things to this newer, more sustainable model.

Some real finesse would be needed. The gap between where we need to get and where we are is very wide, which indicates a “bridge” is needed: a middle way of allowing the old model to exist alongside the new model, but without wasting money having to re-do any of the infrastructure. This would take great vision and big-picture thinking that can only be done at a nation-wide level, because in the end, We would be footing the bill for all of it—through our taxes—either way.

Important components of this new model:

  • Accident and Delay-free transport between home and local destinations
  • Accident-free space for pedestrians, bikes, and other new micro-mobility transport within Communities
  • Room for eventual driverless systems
  • Development of high-speed transport between Communities, Regions, and States (speed that rivals airplanes)
  • Roads that can store energy, house communication and energy transmission, and facilitate water and waste management
  • Avenue for delivery of heavy freight from source to eventual destinations
  • Everything Electric or Hydrogen fueled. Any Carbon is too much Carbon in transportation, because there are so many other carbon-producing practices that may not be so easy to eliminate. 

Other considerations:

  • “People desire to live in villages again”.
  • “People would prefer mixed use communities no more than 0.4 miles (or a 5-minute walk) from Community Center to outer perimeter”.
  • Cars need to be light and be able to transition from street to rail to some high speed transportation form
  • Amtrak and Postal Service need to be revamped to pay for themselves, be integral or necessary in new system
  • Aircraft manufacturers (like Boeing) are more profitable than either Airline or Airports
  • Manufacturers hold “the largest positive trade balance ($54.3 billion) among U.S. industries. However, manufacturers held a paltry 3 percent of the global air industry’s total capital investment—which had reached $1.2 trillion globally by 2011—compared to airports (36 percent) and airlines (54 percent for both direct and through lessors). Airports and airlines earn lower returns on invested capital, and while airports are typically stable investments that benefit from low borrowing costs, airlines generally have volatile earnings and higher borrowing costs.” Conclusion: We must both compete against Aircraft manufacturers to drive down their exorbitant profiteering and / or charge them something for creating the infrastructure needed for their product to take off and land, without which their industry would not exist. $10 Billion would be needed to pay for Air Traffic Control, the equivalent of adding an average of $10.36 onto the ticket price of all 965 million passengers projected to fly in a given year.

Important Air Transportation Facts:

The federal government collects taxes and regulates fees, including a passenger facility charge (PFC) that airports collect for every boarded passenger. Airports use this money for FAA-approved projects such as terminal improvements, enhanced security measures, or to service debt. Collections from this charge totaled $2.8 billion in 2013, but the PFC has been capped at $4.50 per passenger since 2000 with no adjustment for inflation, and much of that funding is already committed to retiring debt from prior projects. In its fiscal year 2014 and 2015 budgets, President Obama’s administration has proposed raising the cap to $8.00 to account for inflation, but Congress has not yet approved the increase. 

The FAA spends over $7 billion annually on air traffic control operations and over $1.2 billion in developing and enforcing new safety standards and aircraft certifications. The federal government also controls air travel security through the Transportation Security Administration and negotiates Open Skies Agreements, agreements aimed at creating a free-market environment among international carriers, with other nations.

Some Light Reading

Department of Agriculture

agriclture

[Old Budget = $140 Billion / 30,000 FTE’s]

Warning: Nothing in this department will remain the same. We are going in a different direction.

PLAN:

The Third Option wants to bring Affordable Food directly into each Community (3,300 different populations of approximately 100,000 citizens), by designating 250 acres of Regenerative Farmland per Community, as well as placing one very large Vertical Farm directly in each Community, then pay for all of it by charging just enough to cover the operating expenses.

STRUCTURE:

  • ONE EXECUTIVE TEAM (Secretary of Agriculture + Staff) in Washington DC = $2 Million
  • ONE AGRICULTURAL TEAM (made up of Farmers) per 100,000 population (Cost: $1.5 Million per TEAM X 3,300) = $5 Billion
  • Other Expenses
    • Total of all Agricultural Bank Loans = $13 Billion, which at 4% interest, creates a mortgage payment of $744.8 Million a year for 30 years. Included in the Loan:
    • $8,000 per acre X 250 acres per small Regenerative Farm X 3,300 farms = $6.6 Billion [With the average cost of land closer to $4,000 an acre, enough would be left over to build $1 Million worth of living quarters – 10,000 square feet at our Federal Construction Cost of $100 per sf] 
    • A 3,000 square foot Community Vertical Farm in every 100,000 population will cost $1.5 Million per farm X 3,300 farms = $5 Billion
    • Regenerative Farming Schools will be part of Global and Local School Curriculum. If a Classroom needs to be built directly on the farms, 4,000 square foot could be constructed for $400,000 ($100 per sf) X 3300 schools = $1.32 Billion Additional Bank Loan
    • Maximum Labor Costs allowed for each Community = $2 Million X 3,300 total Communities = $6.6 Billion

Regenerative and Vertical Farming skills would be taught in schools, and kids would visit the farms and help in harvesting during peak times in order to cut labor costs and help in local food production

  • $400 / acre Total Production Cost X 250 acres X 3300 farms = $330 Million per year (Of this, $40 / acre goes to equipment costs, or $33 Million [10% of production cost])

NOTES:

  • Total Salary Costs = $11.6 Billion ($5 Billion for Federal TEAMS, $6.6 B for Farm Labor)
  • Total Loan payment costs per year ($744.8 Million) + Total Production Costs ($330 Million) each year = $1.075 Billion 
  • In several cases, free federal land could be used, lowering the Bank Loan costs significantly
  • Overall, the Grand Total of $12.575 Billion a year could be covered by each American purchasing only $38.44 worth of our Affordable Food each year. Once we are up and running, our Agriculture Profits could help pay for many other things.
  • Look for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) within the Department of Justice, where our ambulance-chasing lawyers would be lurking. Look out. They work on commission.

New Budget = $12.575 Billion (or perhaps $0, or perhaps we make money – perhaps lots of money) 

Payment Option: $40 a year membership for every citizen gives access to Costco-like grocery stores; this membership alone would cover the entire cost of the the plan.

NOTES:

  • Our soils are dying from misuse. In a “for profit” model, soil regeneration loses out to the short term bottom line.
  • Transportation of Food is another source of Carbon Emissions. Putting food closer to the source of consumption helps this while lowering other unnecessary expenses.
  • Vertical Farming may be essential is our climate changes in a given year (or millennium), meanwhile soil and soil-less farming cannot be put in competition with one another. Now they can work together.
  • We need to make food affordable to everyone, so there is no perceived “favoritism” of one group of people over another. This does not foster a spirit of togetherness. And saving for Retirement while eating is a nice perk, too.
  • Even though some of us have a natural affinity for the land, and choose to become farmers, we do in fact owe them for bringing us something essential to our survival. We take care of farmers, and they take care of us. Seems right.
  • This system can open up Communities to share food with others, or sell food to others. It is an opportunity for people to govern, rather than be governed. Put power in more people’s hands, and let the born leaders emerge, and then, as a Country, we are bound to follow their ideas and examples.

Some Light Reading

Department of Communication

department of communication

PLAN:

We are going to build our own Telecommunications / Mobile Technology Network. This will bring affordable communication to everyone, but also facilitate crucial communication to our Health Care, Education, and every other Department and Federal Business within the new Federal Government. The Business Plan is simple: 

  • Cover the Infrastructure Costs through the People’s Bank
  • Charge enough to cover the Bank Loan (which includes the initial Labor costs to build it) + the cost to create all the Federal Communication Networks, Databases, and Cybersecurity + the cost for local maintenance, etc. 
  • As the People pay their Communication bills, they are in reality paying into their own Retirement Dividend

Included in the Infrastructure Costs:

  • The laying of Fiber FTTP ground cable / high fiber-optic Cable, for Communities to get best quality – though estimates for laying cable can be as high as $20,000 per mile, and $600 per house to hook up, our business models always take out the Middlemen, Upper Management, and the need for profit.
  • AT&T and AirGig are sending internet over the power lines, but soon those would be Our Power Lines, and when we charge a fee for this (or use it ourselves) it could help lower the price tag even further. 
  • If it serves us, we could support entrepreneurs like Elon Musk in their endeavors to bring basic internet to those “hard to reach” places so everyone gets internet (Financing projects that fall under “Basic Needs” would allow us to lend money out and share in a portion of the profits through retirement dividends).

STRUCTURE:

  • ONE EXECUTIVE TEAM (Secretary + Staff) in Washington DC = $2 Million
  • ONE COMMUNICATION TEAM per 100,000 population (Cost: $1.5 Million per TEAM X 3,300) = $5 Billion

These local Teams need to work with Communities [to meet their communication needs], coordinate with the local version of Our Bank, supervise the construction process, then stick around to oversee and manage it, including cybersecurity [as part of the Federal Communication Infrastructure component].

Other Expenses:

A large Bank Loan. An Example:

  • In a 100,000 population Community, there might be 56,000 homes, and 44 miles of roads. At $20,000 per mile of road and $600 per house to set it up, a Bank Loan of $35.1 Million would be needed to bring fiber optic cable to everyone. The monthly mortgage on this loan would be $167,573, or a $2.94 per month to every home (of course, everyone would need to pay for the cost to be this low). 
  • To lay fiber optic cable throughout the entire State of California, with 394,608 miles of road, and 13 million houses, we would need a Bank Loan of $15.7 Billion, which at a monthly mortgage payment of $74.95 Million, end up costing each resident $5.77 per month. 
  • Yes, in theory, this would be really cheap, but there needs to be maintenance costs, and don’t forget that the cost to create our Federal Databases will need to be figured in (although certain ones, like Health Care and Education, are for everyone’s use, and have maintenance costs already figured into their Budgets).

OFFICE OF RESEARCH DATA

It seems fitting to house our valuable scientific databases within the Department of Communications. Applying the logic of Economies of Scale, bringing communication of real-time research and statistics [that every Department will need] under one roof should save us money overall, and hopefully facilitate more effective cybersecurity. Many of the staff would be selected from these former departments:

  • Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
  • Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data (SAMHSA)
  • Housing and Urban Development Data at HUD
  • Education Research from ERIC
  • Energy Citations Database (ECD)
  • Government Accountability Office (GAO)
  • Child Welfare Information Gateway
  • Federal Highway Administration
  • NFFD, Organic Agriculture, Alternative Farming, Pesticide Database from former Agriculture Department

BOTTOM LINE: 

We need huge data exchange in Health, Education, Government, Federal Businesses, etc. $50 Billion was set aside for the online Healthcare Database already. If this gets costly, we will consider charging some extra pennies for usage of our Federal Electricity, Communication, Water, and other services. 

There are 12 Executive Departments, all needing intel (the data sharing in the Department of Security is more sensitive, so we would leave them to fashion their own system). For now, we would add money for the management of these department only, and let the smart people figure out the infrastructure and staffing costs later.

TEAMs need to include:

  • Information Systems (IS) Managers
  • Backend Developers
  • Database Architects (DBAs)
  • Data Analysts

$8 Million per TEAM X 12 Teams = $96 Million

New Budget = $5.1 Billion (Plus a really large Bank Loan) 

The internet began as a public network. Our money created the internet, before it was radically privatized in the 1990s. Big companies seized a system built at enormous public expense in order to sell us access to it. But this is how we’ve always done business in America. We always end up Renters on our own Property. No dividends, no share of the profits. Nothing. We need this valuable new tool to be affordable to everyone, so we are forced to take back what is already ours in order that it be dispensed equitably.

Our new Paradigm suggests the best way to get things right is to do it ourselves. In all these endeavors, there is at least three ways to go:

  1. Completely Take It Over (when there is no dealing with the private sector). This will force the private sector to lower their prices to compete with us. We may also have the means to charge rent or tax on Raw Materials or Property that the private sector currently just takes from us.
  2. Share Resources (if the private sector will give us refined products free [or “at cost”], we will give them the raw materials and resources for free. An example might be that we give 2X amount of Timber to a Sawmill, and they cut X amount into lumber we need free of charge, and for that we give them the other X amount to use as they please to make a profit.
  3. We fund Private Business through our Bank, let them gouge us, but at least we are now shareholders getting some Retirement Dividend out of it. This still leaves open the possibility to charge rent or tax on that Business (or perhaps not, if this gives us leverage to cap the price of the product or service we are financing).

Government, Health Care, Education, Foreign Relations—even Communities themselves—need to share best practices, or simply grow together by bouncing ideas off of their peers. In this new 50/50 business model, we are trying to cover the expenses for something all of us need, by sharing it [for a usage fee] with the individual consumer as well, thereby paying for it only once. Side Benefit: the “usage fee” helps fund our Retirement.

Some Light Reading

Fiber optic Internet is the future of broadband. It uses fiber-optic technology to reach the fastest speeds available today, as fast as 1000 Mbps (1Gpbs). Broadband is essential to the modern world we live in.