Michael E. Arth

[michaelearth-blog]

Time to Panic: UN Says Africa’s Population to Quadruple

     In 1998, when I visited the Kibera slum in Nairobi, I saw a vast inland sea of rusting, corrugated metal huts, inhabited by uncounted numbers of destitute people. There were no basic services, clinics, or public schools. Garbage and sewage clogged muddy gullies that passed for streets. Whatever services could be found were sold by opportunists and gangs who made it too dangerous for visitors to enter the slum.

     Because of the lack of fresh running water and lavatories, residents urinated and defecated in plastic bags, tied them up, and slung them as far as they could. The shit-bombs, locally referred to as “flying toilets” sounded like gunshots when they landed on a neighbor’s metal roof. I took this picture of a boy in a ruffly pink dress, digging for junk next to an abandoned latrine. He probably figured it was better to be dressed like a girl in a filthy dress than to be naked like some of the other children. Life has not improved much in the 17 years since my visit, despite local and global efforts. In January 2008, 300 people died and 70,000 were displaced in fires and riots that broke out in the Nairobi slums over claims of vote-rigging in the presidential election.  The following year, Swedish architect Anders Wilhelmson introduced the cheap and disposable, single-use “Peepoo bag” to some residents of Kibera. The inside of the Peepoo has urea, which within a month at room temperature breaks down the waste into an ammonia fertilizer, along with the biodegradable bag, which can then be safely used on crops.

     It seemed like a great idea at the time, humorously promoted by the people at a Swedish company called Peepoople. Unfortunately, Peepoople struggled to sell Peepoo. Even three cents a bag was too much for most people. Feeling public scrutiny, by 2015, the Kenyan government had completed half of a planned 182 communal toilets in Kibera. Not as many toilets are taking flight in Kibera (the largest of Nairobi’s 200 some-odd slums), but we, along with Africa, are still heading for a shit-storm of epic proportions. According to Peepoople, more than 2.6 billion people in the world lack access to basic sanitation. In 1998, the African population was about 770 million. Since then, Africa has added a number of people equal to the entire population of the United States, and extreme poverty has increased both in sheer numbers and as a percentage of the population. As I’m writing this, the UN reports that 60 million people have become refugees and are seeking protection elsewhere because chaotic forces have driven them from their homes. The U.S. now takes in about 1 million legal immigrants per year, 70,000 of whom are refugees, and an unknown number of illegals.  The illegal immigrant population currently in the U.S. is estimated to be between 7 and 20 million.

     Recently, 900 refugees from Africa drowned in the Mediterranean after human traffickers in Libya tried to smuggle them into Europe by boat. There are powerful incentives to leave Africa. Life expectancy at birth for sub-Saharan Africans is 46 and about 70% live a marginal existence on less than $2 a day. Under current United Nations projections, Africa’s population will quadruple in this century. It would seem that any rational person, looking at the state of the African continent today, would think adding another three billion people to Africa’s existing 1.1 billion population is ill advised, to say the least. Africa is a cesspool of problems, including civil strife, wars, autocratic rulers, high infant mortality, high HIV/AIDS infection rates, water shortages, religious extremism, illiteracy, extreme poverty, high migration levels and lack of sanitation. Yet, incredibly, in the 2013 BBC documentary, Don’t Panic: The Truth About Population, statistician Hans Rosling tells us not worry. Furthermore, he says Asia will add another billion people, and that’s okay too, because we will level off at eleven billion.  

     Rosling uses beautifully animated graphs to illustrate some good news.  Birth rates are falling in most countries, even in places like Bangladesh, where fertility rates have fallen from seven children per woman in 1972 to 2.5 today. The rates have also dropped in religious countries like Mexico and Iran. Sweden’s Gapminder Foundation was co-founded in Sweden by Rosling, who is well-known for making statistics come alive in his humorous and informative presentations. His talks often use polls to compare what people in various countries think compared to reality. He also uses instant polls of his audience to show the gaps between the facts and reality. Chimps, he points out, making wildly uniformed guesses, and motivated by nothing more than bananas with no real knowledge of the questions, often do better than Swedes, Brits and Americans in answering multiple choice questions about anthropological questions. For example, most people underestimate the average life expectancy of everyone on Earth by 10 to 20 years. In fact, it is 70. Most people in his polls also vastly underestimated the number of literate people in the world. Rolling said the right answer is 80%. Tellingly, he did not point out that if we applied the answers to Africa, where literacy rates below 50% are common, most people would have been right. Burkino Faso has only 29% literacy.  Female literacy is 15% in Niger, which is apparently strongly influenced by a fertility rate of seven children per women.

     Falling birth rates are cause for some guarded optimism. Important reasons for this drop in fertility include women giving birth at a later age, and women having access to education and employment. Because it appears that the Earth’s carrying capacity has been exceeded, and that many harmful effects are associated with overpopulation, it is foolish to not do what we can to prevent our numbers from growing from seven to eleven billion. We should not take unnecessary chances by adding the equivalent of another China, India, USA, and all the countries of Africa combined, to a world that is already overpopulated. 

     Rosling states we don’t know for sure if we have reached “peak oil,” but we’ve almost certainly reached “peak child.” The number of children in the world has leveled out at two billion, even as the population grows.  Unfortunately, as the population ages, the bulge in growth created by previous high birth levels means that the population will explode in places where the median age is low. Places with mature populations—like Japan and Germany where the median age is 46—are prosperous and stable, but countries like Uganda and Niger, where the median age is 15, are in terrible shape and are getting worse.

     Let’s not whitewash the facts: Parts of Asia and all of Africa are having a population explosion, where most people are poor and resources are scarce. Even Don’t Panic showed graphic scenes of desperately poor Africans having to walk several hours a day to collect dwindling water resources. Billions of people have clawed their way out of poverty, but it comes at a cost. As incomes rise, consumers produce more CO2 emissions and use up more resources. As Rosling points out, 85% of the world’s greenhouse gases are produced by the richest three billion people, who earn between $10 and $100 per day. But if the goal is raise everyone’s standard of living, adding population anywhere negatively affects all of us everywhere. 

     Many politicians and demographers still believe we need more young people to take care of the old, but with robotics and artificial intelligence, that paradigm is changing fast. Japan is already making great strides in using robots, even pet robots, to take care of the elderly. Automation and artificial intelligence will also lead to fewer jobs—across the board. Just the introduction of self-driving cars alone will eliminate tens of millions of jobs over the next decade. Shared, electric, self-driving vehicles could also eliminate 1.5 billion cars between 2025 and 2030 with a corresponding drop in greenhouse emission and expenses related to polluting vehicles, accidents, insurance and parking (along with the associated jobs).

     While Rosling admits that one billion of the overall increase in population will be due to increased longevity, he is only talking about raising average longevity from 70 to about 80 years old. This calculation ignores the growing likelihood of radical life extension. A recent Time Magazine cover featured a picture of a baby with the title, “This baby could live to be 142.” Even more shocking is the possibility this baby could live indefinitely. Imagine where medical technology will be in 142 years and the idea of living indefinitely long seems plausible. We should prepare for this by having zero or negative population growth now.

     In casual conversations, I often hear people speak about the need for natural disasters or a “culling” of the population to bring humans in line with the Earth’s carrying capacity. The number of natural disasters has been falling since 1900, and any talk of deliberately culling the population is reprehensible and genocidal, even if it is allowed indirectly through neglect. Such radical measures are also cruel and unnecessary, especially compared to how effective public policy initiatives regarding family planning could stop population growth very quickly. 

     A “youth bulge” occurs when there are too many young people coming of age at any given time. The median age of sub-Saharan Africa’s population is 18.6, with Nigeria and Uganda at 15. This is a population time bomb, because it means that about half of African women are only now entering their child-bearing years. A youth bulge in the Middle East and Africa has produced a disproportionate share of young, unemployed, young males inclined toward religious extremism, suicide bombings, civil strife, kidnappings, riots and the like. In 2025, the city with the largest number of children in the world will be Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where half of all residents are under 18 and 39% of the population is illiterate. Already ranked among Africa’s most dangerous cities,  it is easy to predict Kinshasa will fall victim to the mother of all youth bulges. 

     Sub-Saharan Africa grew from 186 million in 1950 to 859 million in 2010. Global rates of extreme poverty rates are falling, but in sheer numbers, they have hardly budged. The World Bank estimates 1.2 billion people are earning less than $1.25 per day.  Why feverishly work to keep up with population growth when family planning could much more easily allow everyone to catch up while also taking pressure off strained resources?  According to a 2013 UN report, significant progress was made in reducing extreme poverty in China because of their one-child policy. By contrast, because of high fertility rates, the number of sub-Saharan Africans living in extreme poverty rose from 290 million to 414 million between 1990 and 2010. These Africans represent one-third of all destitute people in the world. If population growth had stopped in 1990, we could have eliminated extreme poverty in sub-Sahara Africa and elsewhere.  If we could achieve zero population growth (ZPG) today, I believe we could bring 1.2 billion out of destitution within 20 years. 

     What would it take? Unfortunately, because of population momentum based on the low median age, it would take a fertility level of about 0.5 children per woman in the developing world to quickly achieve growth rates like Europe or Japan. This may seem extreme, but the benefits would be enormous for people everywhere, especially for those now suffering the most. It could be done through a combination of birth credits (a marketable birth license plan) coupled with direct payments, loans and educational incentives from the affluent countries to those people opting out of parenthood. This would have immediate benefits: The opportunities for women would be vastly increased, the standard of living would rise precipitously, and it would give us all breathing room to begin solving all of our other problems.

     The facts of overpopulation are cause for panic and action, not complacency. The right to bear a child is both an individual right and a responsibility held in common. So far, the focus has been primarily on the individual right to bear a child with little regard for the goal of having a stable and sustainable planet where everyone can have a decent life. It is irresponsible to not do what we can to achieve global ZPG now.

[michaelearth-blog]

Remembering Grapevine Lake Canyon

                             Story and photos by Michael E. Arth

     As of this writing, heavy rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill is continuing to nudge floodwaters over the Grapevine Lake spillway, after spring rains last month replenished the reservoir. It reminds me of a remarkable event that I witnessed over three decades ago. Many Americans have heard of the petroglyph-laden Grapevine Canyon, located in Nevada’s Colorado River basin. But few people, even those living around Grapevine Lake near the Dallas Ft. Worth Airport, know that Grapevine Lake once had its own spectacular Grapevine Canyon, complete with waterfalls and raging rapids. For 21 days, beginning on Halloween 1981, a wild, nameless river scoured out a hundred million years of sedimentary rock and left behind a mile-long, 40-foot-deep, steep-walled gorge.

     After what was locally known as “The Great Flood” subsided, majestic stone palisades towered over calm pools of water alive with minnows. On a slate ledge, like the one pictured above, were found the footprints of a duck-billed hadrosaurus that walked 80-90 millions years ago in the silty clay of a wooded marsh, not far from the edge of a shallow sea that divided the North American continent. 

     It was the first time dinosaur tracks had been discovered in Tarrant County. Unfortunately, the canyon and any traces of dinosaur tracks were obliterated when an overzealous Army Corps of Engineers paved the slope and scooped out a huge retention pond at the bottom. All we have now are photos and a cast replica of a dinosaur print in the Grapevine Historical Museum. 

     Beginning soon after dark on Halloween, 1981, Grapevine Lake Canyon was carved out of the slate as easily as a knife slicing out the grin of a jack o’ lantern. The slash in the earth was formed by a combination of what men had wrought (Grapevine Dam) and nature’s wrath, in the form of a 100-year flood. Its origins began two weeks earlier in the Pacific Ocean with Hurricane Norma. Ironically, the greatest rainfalls from the hurricane were not recorded on the west coast of Mexico, but after the storm had driven itself over nine hundred miles of mountains, desert and Texas prairie all the way to North Central Texas, where the remnants of the storm unleashed hurricane force gusts, spawned tornadoes, and up to 21 inches of rain. Grapevine Lake, put into use as a flood control reservoir in 1952, did what it was supposed to do; the dam contained the rising flood, and the water rose 28.5 feet. Overnight, the lake overtopped the spillway at 560’ elevation and rose another 3.5 feet on November 1, 1981 to 563.5’ —a record that still stands.

     My brother Greg and I visited the next day, when the lake was 2.61 feet over the spillway. The torrent rushing through the newly formed canyon was awe-inspiring. Where there had once been a rural lane leading through a pasture to Griffis Corner and Rockledge Park, there was now a thunderous waterfall and boiling rapids. In stark contrast, on the smooth sheet of water channelled by the spillway, men and boys were calmly wading and fishing with nets just above the tumult. 

     The spillway had only been topped once before, in 1957, with a flow of water that was a trickle compared to the 1981 flood. The lake overflowed again in 1990 and this year. Other than the flooding of the golf course, the overflow is not a serious problem. The spillway is designed to handle an overflow up to 20 times greater than The Great Flood. Nevertheless, after the canyon was formed, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers decided that it was a hazard and feared the spillway might somehow become compromised. They took the most cautious and expensive approach, and extended the chute hundreds of feet into an enormous “stilling basin,” 78 feet lower than the edge of the chute.  The most impressive section of the canyon was destroyed. The old road, which had been washed away, was relocated to the original spillway apron. Now when the spillway overtops, the fence and guard rails along Fairway Drive are removed and the water flows gently over the road and into the stilling basin below. When the spillway overtopped on May 31, 2015, the event was orderly and regulated. In a more enlightened era, Grapevine Lake Canyon might have been preserved, as was the case with the Canyon Lake Gorge near San Antonio, formed in July 2002 when water flowed over a spillway that doesn’t even have a concrete apron. (The limestone is harder than the slate at Grapevine). The spillway overflow event at Canyon Lake also unearthed fossils and dinosaur tracks, and created a steep-walled channel very similar to Grapevine. Canyon Lake Gorge (also a mile long) is now protected as an educational and natural resource by the Gorge Preservation Society in partnership with the Guadelupe-Blanco River Authority and a chastened U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

Above: View looking toward washed out road and spillway as the canyon is being gouged out of the slate. 

Above: During the Flood, as the canyon was being formed. 

Below: The same view of the canyon after the water stopped flowing over the spillway. 

     The dinosaur tracks and fossils, uranium-lead dating, tectonic forcing, and other abundant evidence that the sedimentary layers were laid down over many millions of years sweep away any claims of a young Earth. Nevertheless, creationists sometimes point to the Canyon Lake Gorge as proof that other canyons, such as the Grand Canyon, which exposes nearly two billion years of Earth’s geological history, were formed virtually overnight by Noah’s flood in Genesis some 6,000 years ago. There’s no basis for that claim, but geologists will now readily admit, however, that other steep-walled canyons could have been formed by ancient megaflood events. Grapevine Lake Canyon was also a memorable example of this process. Too bad it wasn’t preserved.

To see drone video footage of water pouring over the spillway on June 2, 2015, and see from above what’s left of Lake Grapevine Canyon go here.

Below: My brother Greg and me on top of the rock pedestal in Grapevine Lake Canyon before its destruction. 

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Sweden is the Real Deal: A Tale of Two Countries

In Vienna, Just before hitching a ride through East Germany to Berlin. September 1971. 

     Recently, I was invited by the Swedish Embassy and the Swedish Institute to attend the Tempo Film Festival in Stockholm as a filmmaker and journalist. I spent a week partying, sightseeing, watching documentaries, visiting film studios, and participating in discussions. All of this, combined with my previous eight visits to Scandinavia, only served to reinforce for me that Sweden is a wonderful country and needs no propaganda. It’s the real deal. 

     Only one person in a thousand is a Swede, but everyone knows about Sweden because of its outstanding reputation. Sweden shows the rest of us how to treat each other and how to govern, and it shares its innovations and wealth with the world. The Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel endowed the Nobel Prize, the history of which is presented in a special museum in Stockholm’s Old Town. Eight years before he died, Nobel read his own obituary, mistakenly printed in a French newspaper, and it forced him to reconsider how he wanted to be remembered. It seems to me that, like Nobel, Swedes have a collective conscience about their responsibility to each other and the world.     

     While thinking about how well-governed, prosperous and equitable a country can be, I was reminded of my visit to a completely different sort of European country, some 44 years before. As an 18-year-old with a back pack and a bed roll, I caught a ride across East Germany with a West German motorist on the decrepit, patched-up autobahn that Hitler had built, and neither country would repave. East Germany, one of the most prosperous of the Soviet satellites, was still so backward that horse-drawn wagons and steam locomotives could be seen crossing the overpasses.

     In Berlin, I crossed the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie to observe a communist country up close for the first time. The guards warned me to be back across the border by midnight. Pariser Platz was surrounded by Stalinist-era buildings. An occasional, smoke-belching, two-stroke Trabant car wheeled past.

     I walked up Unter den Linden boulevard to the nearly empty Marx-Engels-Platz, which was a wide, treeless expanse of concrete. A cold, grey sky threatened rain. A man approached me out of the totalitarian gloom looking like a spy in a trench coat. The East Berliner, who identified himself as Kurt, spoke with an impressive British accent, and claimed he was a journalist. He eyed my backpack and then invited me for tea at a lackluster tourist cafe. He gave me a nonstop assessment about how marvelous his country was, and pointed out the goods piled up in the display windows of stores along Unter den Linden.  

    Finally Kurt said he had business to take care of, but asked me if I wanted a tour of East Berlin that evening as his guest. I warily agreed. I had read that most journalists in the Soviet Union also worked for the KGB, and I had every reason to think he worked for the KGB-aligned, German Democratic Republic’s Ministry for State Security, or Stasi. The Stasi had approximately one informer or agent for every seven citizens, making it the most invasive security agency in history, surpassing both the KGB and the Nazi Gestapo.

    Kurt asked me to meet him at the abandoned subway station where the West Berlin subway passes through without stopping. Our rendezvous was set for seven that evening.  He would be on a scooter.  Just after we parted, three sixteen-year-old male students befriended me after I answered to their satisfaction why I was not in Vietnam killing babies. They gave me the unofficial tour of East Berlin, showing me their side of the Berlin Wall, which they scornfully explained was called the Antifaschistischer Schutzwall (anti-fascist protective wall). The Wall had at least six elements: 1. A four-meter tall concrete wall along the West Berlin side, 2. A “Death Strip” consisting of raked sand or gravel. 3. Dogs on long lines.  4. Anti-vehicular barriers. 5. A wire fence and, 6. Guard towers with orders for guards to shoot to kill. 

     We visited the “Baby Wall” near the Brandenberg Gate, which was short enough to look over. One of the students had been separated from his father the day the Wall was thrown up, some ten years before, and since then he had only seen glimpses of his father on the other side. Another boy was planning an escape by visiting relatives in a town along the border, where the fences were less fortified. They told me not be fooled by the window dressing in the shops done up to impress the Western tourists. The variety and quantity of food was rationed. Empty boxes and canned good were piled up in window displays like miniature Potemkin villages. They had more money than things to buy, and East German currency was no good in tourist shops and restaurants. They showed me a place where their government claimed a tunnel was dug from West Berlin by terrorists who had come over to kill their guards. The students said they heard on West Berlin radio that the guards had killed the potential escapees from the East, but not before they managed to return fire, killing one of the guards. 

      All three students wanted to study philosophy, but all  agreed that it was not possible to study what they wanted—only privileged members of the Communist Party could do that. They were curious about Kurt and insisted on accompanying me for the rendezvous, despite my warnings that he was probably a Stasi agent. At seven, we all went together to the “ghost” station. The secret agent was standing under a street light, wearing a trench coat. Smoke from his cigarette was mingling with the light mist that was falling, just like in a film noir. Introductions were made all around. Kurt jotted down all their names and addresses while promising that he could do something about their aspirations to get into philosophy studies. This frustrated me, because it was obvious to me they were going to be written up in a file. 

     Kurt and I left on his scooter. Our first stop was an apartment set up to convince me that the German Democratic Republic lived up to its name. There was a huge American flag hanging on the wall of a home stocked with luxury goods. An attractive, single “mom” served me caviar while her long-haired “son” watched West Berlin television.  “See, we are free here to do what we want,” he said as he swept his arm over the scene.   

     We only stayed fifteen minutes before Kurt whisked me off to a lively discotheque. I checked my pack at the door and danced with several existential-looking bohemians.  He tried to get me to drink liquor, but I only drank soft drinks with some of the Monopoly money they had forced me to buy at the border at ten times the unofficial rate. At eleven-thirty I told him I would get into trouble if I did not cross Checkpoint Charlie by midnight.  “That is not true,” he said, “don’t worry about it.” 

     Kurt dropped me off at the border crossing around two in the morning.  Everything he had done only seemed to point to one motive—that he was some kind of goodwill propaganda spook. Later, I read that he may have belonged to Directive X, a disinformation or “active measures” branch of Stasi. When I crossed the frontier, the guards were not smiling. They questioned me intently about what I had been doing and who I talked to.  They gave me an odd look when I told them about Kurt.  A guard ordered me into the interrogation chamber for a search. They took apart my pack, opening everything, fingering the lining and tapping on the hollow metal frame. I was ordered to empty my pockets onto the table. I was accused of trafficking in pornography as they confiscated the Playboy magazine I had brought to keep me company on lonely nights. When they saw a couple of aluminum pfennigs of their worthless money roll across the table, they claimed that I was smuggling their currency out of the country.  I laughed out loud.  “Welcome to the Brave New World,” I said. 

     They didn’t get the reference to Huxley’s dystopian novel and their demeanor told me I dared not explain it, either. I decided I had better take them seriously, and I finally realized they wanted me to grovel in fear. They told that I could get 15 years in prison for each of my crimes. They helped themselves to a few more of my things, including my pocket knife, by which time I had assumed they were probably content to just rob me. After forty-five minutes of suspense, they finally let me go. After I got back across the border I was so relieved I did not even think to give them the middle-fingered salute. 

     The Wall would not come down until 18 years later. When it happened,  in November 1989, Vladimir Putin was in East Germany working for both the Stasi and KGB in Dresden. Putin was reportedly furious with Gorbachev for remaining silent and allowing reunification.  A BBC article published yesterday (“Vladimir Putin’s formative German Years” by Chris Bowlby) quotes someone as saying that East Germany was Putin’s model of politics for what is being rebuilt today in Russia. I only got a small taste of heavy-handed repression and propaganda, Soviet-style, but modern governments have gotten more sophisticated with their control of the masses. Potemkin Villages are now constructed throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. Special interests in the U.S. use private and corporate campaign financing, ownership of the media, an Electoral College founded on a racist compromise, and antiquated winner-take-all elections to create a two-party duopoly that employs the illusion of choice. All this is to maintain the status quo. As a result, according to Reporters Without Borders, the U.S. is now 49th on the press freedom index—about the same as Burkina Faso. According to the Transparency Institute, the U.S. is 17th in perceived corruption—pretty bad for “a model of democracy.”

     It’s no coincidence that the Soviet Union began to unravel in East Berlin, where the contrasts were so great and people could physically see their prison walls or secretly watch the television signals which penetrated them. Today, because of the Internet, any motivated, curious person can find out most anything, almost no matter where they live. Nevertheless, total immersion in another culture is still the best way to see how things really work.  

     While I was meeting vacationing Swedes on the flights to and from Orlando, I was reminded they get five weeks of paid vacation. While discussing the high standard of living in Sweden, I was told that taxes are not high for people who aren’t rich. In fact, most Americans pay about the same income tax as Swedes, but instead of hearing lies about trickle down economics, Swedes get a cradle-to-grave safety net and a relaxed life. There is free health care, cheap day care, and unlimited sick days. Both parents share 480 parental days per child.  Education is free through college. There are sensible gun laws. 

     Here at home, we have more than ten gun deaths per 100,000, while Sweden has 1.5. Sweden’s incarceration rate is less than a tenth of the U.S. with a third of the recidivism. Why? Because for them it’s not about an eye-for-an-eye, it’s about rehabilitation. Prison sentences rarely exceed ten years, because they recognize that most people grow out of criminal behavior. Their effective and compassionate prisons are so well known that even Saddam Hussein requested to be jailed in Sweden. 

     Sweden is secular both in belief and practice. As a result they have a judicial system based on facts, not the Old Testament or the Koran. Stable, egalitarian, well-off countries tend to be non-religious. Religion is important to only 16% of Swedes, but 60% of Americans believe religion is important. This partially explains our War on Drugs, capital punishment, draconian incarceration rates, gun laws, and nutty, faith-based political ideas. Secularism also encourages equality. Sweden is the best place in the world for women, which means it’s also the best place in the world for men, because when the women are happy…

     Sweden gives more than 1% of it’s GDP in Official Development Aid. Russia gives 0.03%. The U.S. gives 0.19%, but it also spends nearly 5% of GDP on the military. If you include Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, and the  interest incurred in past wars, the figure soars past $1 trillion a year, or 9% of GDP. The Military Industrial Complex robs us of our treasure and stirs up more trouble in the world. 

     Just before I left to go to Sweden a fellow American said to me, “Because of socialism, they have the highest suicide rate in the world.”      “I think it has more to do with the weather,” I said flippantly. 

     Later I felt guilty about having offered an unsourced opinion, so I looked it up. I found out that the country which produced glum bug film director Ingmar Bergman ranks 35th in suicides per capita, while our country—where the movies almost always have happy ending—is comparably self-destructive. As it turns out,  Greenland, Lithuania and the rapaciously capitalistic South Korea have the highest suicide rates. (Those countries hardly make movies at all, so it got me wondering.)

     Sweden is a welfare state, as all developed countries are to some extent, but it’s not socialist—at least not like most American conservatives think it is. Sweden has a free market economy. They have no inheritance or gift tax (unlike the U.S.), and consumption taxes are high (25%)—just like the right-wing Fair Tax people advocate. Admittedly, not everything is perfect.  The weather sucks most of the time, but some Swedes claim with a straight face that they like winter, but only when it is really cold, the sea freezes, and there is a lot of snow. Everyone agrees that summer is heavenly, with up to 24 hours of sun in the North and continuous light in the South. 

     Sweden has problems with their soft version of the War on Drugs, partly because of pressure from the U.S., and also perhaps because of the same thinking that caused them in 1999 to outlaw the sale of consensual sex for buyers but not for sellers. The evidence supports decriminalization and legalization, both for drugs and prostitution. When prostitution is legal, the dignity of sex workers is better protected and the sex trade is regulated and taxed. There is even a statue of a sex worker in a public square in Amsterdam with her head held high. The “Swedish Model” is an attempt to legislate morality and is not supported by the UN-backed Global Commission on HIV and the Law, which in July 2012 recommended decriminalization of private and consensual adult sexual behavior. 

     Sweden struggles with what to do about immigration and extremist groups and does not officially acknowledge global overpopulation, or that overpopulation is the primary cause of excess migration. Speaking of which, Sweden doesn’t seem to know what to do with organized bands of Roma beggars who have come from the EU countries of Romania and Bulgaria. The Roma camp out inside the Stockholm subway and stake out the entrances to shops. The Swedes are fair, but not suckers. At one point the government considered making it illegal to give handouts—perhaps related to the same sort of thinking involved in their prostitution laws. Now the government is working with the Roma countries of origin to come up with a solution, which makes more sense. After all, it’s a sensible country, and even when their politicians are not being completely rational, their heart is still in the right place.

        In Gamla Stan (Old Town) Stockholm, March 6, 2015

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UNICE: Universal Network of Intelligent Conscious Entities

UNICE refers to an attempt to build cognitive AI and eventually AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) in order to synthesize all human knowledge, as a way of providing the most useful written or spoken answer to any question related to governance. A public policy UNICE, for example, could make recommendations about the best way to achieve representative democracy, implement clean, cheap, renewable energy, reduce the problems associated with the "War on Drugs," or develop a more equitable and efficient economy. 

My newly updated website at UNICE.info describes the project as “creating a global, independent, public-policy answer-engine that will facilitate governance, while preparing for and reducing the dangers of Artificial General Intelligence, so that we may more carefully uncover the secrets of the multiverse.” 

A good question to ask might be, “What are humans going to do when UNICE is running everything?” 

I’m not UNICE (I’m just Michael E. Arth, a mere mortal) so I cannot say for sure, but it could be that humans will at last realize their dream of having leisure time that can be devoted to hobbies, helping each other, having fun, bettering themselves, or adding electronic components to their brains for intense creative and intellectual experiences. Humans might also eventually upload their consciousness into virtual beings, ditch their mortal coils, and solve the overpopulation problem while exploring the cosmos. The possibilities are endless, but there are many ways we could screw up how the cat gets let out of the bag. Read my new article about it and learn how we might save ourselves and our Earth. 

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Solving homelessness with a holistic, transformational campus of services

Here's the latest

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After 8 years, we're finally making some progress with the holistic, transformational campus of services for the homeless in Volusia County. I'm now calling it Volusia Springs, although the name has not yet been decided. Go to VillagesfortheHomeless.org and click on the top link: "The Latest (Good) News..." 

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How to Solve Chronic Adult Homelessness and Save Money

The proposal to build Tiger Bay Village on 80 acres in Volusia County is going before the Volusia County Council for a workshop and a vote in August. This project would address the problems that have kept the 476 social service agencies in our county from solving chronic adult homelessness. Please read the proposal and, if you agree, please send the council a letter letting them know they should donate the land--land already zoned for this purpose, next to an existing detox and mental health facility. 

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How to Solve Homelessness and Save Money

Today on BBC World Update, which will also be aired on NPR, Dan Damon presents a program on homelessness, which includes a segment on my proposed Tiger Bay Village, a pedestrian village for the homeless that would consolidate most of the two dozen homeless agencies in Volusia and Flagler counties and provide a permanent solution to adult homelessness.  The county-owned land, already zoned for group homes, is next to an existing drug rehab center. I have donated my design services. An engineering firm has offered to do the civil engineering for free, and one person has offered to donate her entire estate for its funding. Ultimately, this would save money and solve the problem, yet the project has languished for 4  years because some of the key homeless agencies do not want to consolidate or cooperate, and the county has not yet donated the land. Tiger Bay Village would especially help the chronically homeless with mental disabilities, most of whom are either in prison or living on the streets. For those with substance abuse issues, the village could provide them with a critical 18 month period away from the dangers and temptations of the inner cities where they can recover. Listen to the program and visit villagesforthehomeless.org for more information. Please call your council members and let them know you want to see action on this project. Tiger Bay could become a model for other cities across the country, but so far the powers-that-be do not want to stick their necks out. Let's change that and do some good.

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I Concede that the System Stinks

First, I want to thank the more than 18,400 voters who voted their first choice instead of the "lesser of two evils." Thanks to my wife, Maya, and our daughter Sophie for persevering through the last eighteen months. Thanks to Al Krulick for being my running mate. Thanks to campaign volunteers John Dunn, Rob Field, Greg Gimbert, Yury Konnikov, Moe Alkire & family, Kenneth Storey, Samantha, Dan Collins, Dave Martin, Chantha, Melinda Clark, Jayne, Debra, Angela, Phyllis, Ty, Bonnie, Nancy, Fred, Susan, Hiliary and many others too numerous to list. Thanks also to Bobette, and all the people who put us up along the road during the Biking Mike tour of the state. Thanks to those who donated to our campaign and those who wrote about it in various  forums, blogs and articles.  A special thanks goes to film producer Steve Taylor, director Chris Ramsey and filmmakers Kate, Lisa and Gabriel who will help expose the dirty secrets of this election for posterity. This is not your usual concession speech, because I concede that if there had been a level playing field the outcome of this election would be quite different. I also concede that our American electoral process is about money and that the two-party candidates, and our so-called representatives, spend most of their time scheming to raise money or engaging in other forms of vote buying and influence peddling. I concede that we do not live in a democracy, but a plutocracy, and that the financial elite has put one of their own into office yet again. Rick Scott will be Florida’s next governor despite a majority voting for someone else. I also concede that it made little difference which of the two-party candidates won, and that if Alex Sink, a mixed-race female, had won it would have only put a gentler face on a dysfunctional system. Instead, Rick Scott bought the election with $73 million of his ill-gotten fortune and made a blatant attempt to pretty up the ticket by choosing a mixed-race female for his running mate. From winner-take-all to pay-to-play, Scott is now Exhibit A of what is wrong with our electoral system.  I further concede that the Democratic Party has joined with the Republican Party to spoil our democracy, even while putting the spoiler label on principled outsiders like Ralph Nader. Finally, I concede that our electoral system and the resulting policies have failed us and they must be reformed so we can have a government that brings the greatest good to the greatest number, in the most efficient manner, to this and future generation.  If this had been a fair election, the two-party millionaires would be making the concession speeches, and all of us would be winners. Even though I concede these sad facts, I will not give up hope. Scott’s win could be a good thing for Florida and for our nation because he will remind us every day for the next four years why we need systemic reform.

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The Orlando Weekly endorses Michael E. Arth for Governor

The Orlando Weekly endorses independent Michael E. Arth for Governor of Florida Yes, we know: Arth has neither money nor experience, and the book How to Build a Robot Army is on his coffee table. But keep this in mind: The guy pretty much single-handedly converted a DeLand drug slum into a legitimate neighborhood within the span of a year. His ideas are actually his own, and not only that, they're good ideas. Given that Alex Sink left us underwhelmed, and that Rick Scott is, well, Rick Scott, we're giving ourselves permission to follow our hearts on this one. (Note: The rest of Florida's major newspapers have chosen Alex Sink, apparently out of the "lesser of two evils" choice forced upon them by our archaic electoral system.)

As a modern day Robin Hood I aim to help restore the common wealth that was stolen from us.

After 18 months of campaigning for governor, the race is coming to an end. My efforts to change our dysfunctional system will go on no matter what the outcome of the election.  I have personally spent far more than I can afford, written a book, ridden 800 miles on a bicycle, and talked (and listened) more than I ever have in my life. All of this effort was to build the dialogue we need to have about finding solutions to poor leadership and even worse policies. Barring some highly unexpected events, it is unlikely we will win this particular battle. The barriers put up by the two-party machine are formidable, and it will take continued efforts to bring us a representative democracy and rational policies. A last minute donation will help me continue these efforts even after the campaign is over, but you only have until midnight tonight to make that donation. Please help now by clicking the link below so that someday we can take money out of electoral politics, and we can end influence peddling for good.  I WANT TO HELP

My running mate and I will be on a two-hour talk show with no commercial interruptions TONIGHT Thursday, Oct. 28th from 9pm-11pm (EST)   Da Real Deal with Da Realest 1 on Blog Talk Radio    LINK TO RADIO SHOW

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Robin Hood Crashes the Sink-Scott Debate

The three rounds of televised bickering between Alex Sink and Rick Scott, punctuated by their blizzard of attack ads, are a travesty of a mockery of a sham. Last night, my running mate, Al Krulick, and I crashed the final Sink-Scott debate at the University of South Florida in Tampa. I dressed up as Robin Hood to represent the demand of the people for return of the common wealth that was taken from us by the robber barons and their two-party sycophants. 

Both Al and I made statements on microphone at the "Debate Watch Party," followed by the moderator asking for a show of hands from the audience regarding who they thought took the debate. Her last offering, "none of the above" took the most votes, but whoever wins the state will still represent the special interests. 

The debates are only a small part of a corrupt system designed to eliminate outside challengers and preserve the status quo. As Robin Hood, I posed with cash-laden, flat wooden cutouts of the two millionaire candidates. I did this to illustrate that the rich have been stealing from the rest of us, and that we deserve an equitable, democratically representative government that is truly of, by and for the people. We can begin this process by exchanging the winner-take-all voting system with ranked choice majority voting (like much of the civilized world already uses), by taking private money out of politics, and by using ranked choice voting and proportional representation in congressional districts.

It seems that voters are lost in a surreal version of the Sherwood Forest where they cannot see the forest for the money trees. Two of those wooden decoys are flanking me, but they are only put there to distract voters and give the illusion of choice.  My focus is on the real cause--our electoral system--and I intend to do something about it.

To the electoral system I say: "I've got my eye on you, and I have a lot of arrows left in my quiver!" 

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Reality Check

  Today's cover story in The Orlando Weekly

Last night, my running mate, Al Krulick, and I watched the debate between Alex Sink and Rick Scott. Both during and after the debate we conducted our own "alternative debate." The first part of the debate, between the two millionaire, corporatist candidates, could not be heard because of technical difficulties. We could see the candidates but could not hear them. This was an unintended metaphor of our electoral process, which is all about putting up a smokescreen of appearances, while hiding anything of substance. Speaking of reality, the Orlando Weekly just today published a front page article about me titled Reality Check, which outlines the sad realities of our electoral system in relation to my gubernatorial run. The paper is also expected to endorse me for governor in the next issue. Please read the article and contribute your comments. We still have one more debate designed to induce you to "choose the lesser of two evils." I will be attending the "Debate Watch Party" to discuss the evil of such a system as well talk about real issues. Please join us: Monday, 25 October 2010 at the South Florida Tampa Campus. 6:30 to 8:30. (actual debate from 7 to 8) University of South Florida  Marshall Student Center, in the center of campus The general address of the school is 4202 E. Flower Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33620 LINK to MAP I will also be here: Saturday, 23 October 2010, The SCPA Progressive Fest, 11-5 PM, at the Eau Gallie Civic Center, 1551 Highland Ave., Melbourne, FL. Link to more information. Many of you have asked how you can help. The best way, other then sending much needed donations, is to spread the word through your email lists and through your social media, as well as through actual word of mouth, about my campaign.

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New TV Ad and the "Alternative Debates"

Dear supporters, I would like you to know about my new campaign ad, which you can watch at TBO.com. I also want you know about upcoming events during the 24 days we have until the November 2nd general election. 1. Tomorrow,  I will be speaking at the Electoral Forum on how we can fix our electoral system. Where: Unitarian Universalist Society, 11648 McCulloch Rd. Orlando, FL 32817 MAP What: Electoral Forum (Michael E. Arth and others) When: Saturday 9 Oct 2010, 1-4 PM 2. Sunday, 10 October, I will be at Lake Eola Park in Orlando from 12-6 as a straight ally supporting GLBT rights in the "Come Out With Pride" event and parade. You can see the flier for this event and read the Stand Up Florida endorsement for my campaign at the same link. An excerpt: "There IS another choice and his name is Michael E. Arth. Michael is the Best-Kept Secret in Florida, and be assured that Alex Sink and Rick Scott hope to keep him that way by refusing to debate him and freezing him out of our democratic process. But with your help Michael, his dedicated team, and Stand Up Florida plan to break through the barriers set up to silence his voice for true change by his putting Principles Above Party!" 3. DEBATES: I was kept out of the official debates between Alex Sink and Rick Scott, but I will still debate their cardboard cutout effigies outside of the debate halls. Please mark your candidate come and support me on these dates (times to be announced soon) Please write me at [email protected] to let me know if you can make one of these alternative debates, so we can rendezvous. Wednesday, 20 October 2010 at Nova S.E. University in Davie, FL (near Ft. Lauderdale) Monday, 25 October 2010 at the South Florida Tampa Campus. 4. Saturday, 23 October 2010, The SCPA Progressive Fest, 11-5 PM, at the Eau Gallie Civic Center, 1551 Highland Ave., Melbourne, FL. Link to more information. Many of you have asked how you can help. The best way, other then sending donations, is to spread the word through your email lists and through your social media, as well as through actual word of mouth, about my campaign. 

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MICHAEL'S E.ARTH: This is how things would be on my planet

E.arth is the honesty planet. Government is open and honest so it creates a more perfect union, and builds trust among people and nations.

On E.arth, the Earth is sacred. This is true for me even I though I follow no religion, and I take all dogmas metaphorically. We protect the land, the forests and the sea for current and future generations.

On E.arth, principles are above party and that is why I belong to no party.

On E.arth, we have a representative democracy so that government can be of, by, and for the people. We have ranked choice voting and proportional representation so there are no spoilers, no gerrymanders, and no vote strategizing. Elections are fair, and they cannot be bought because there are no paid lobbyists, no private campaign financing, and no campaign ads. There are no 527s or PACs. All candidates on E.arth get an informational website where candidates are required to put all the information that voters need to know. Debates are required of all candidates. Votes are publicly counted. Because of these things, the system attracts good leaders, instead of scoundrels, and we can trust them with our government.

On E.arth, there is zero or negative population growth, instead of 225,000 more people being added every day and contributing to immigration problems, pollution and struggles over dwindling resources. An ever-expanding base of consumers is not desirable on E.arth, because our economy is sustainable.

On E.arth, the thin layer of atmosphere that envelopes the Earth is kept sweet and clean. We don’t overheat the air with greenhouse gases and spoil it with noxious gases and chemicals.

On E.arth, there are incentives for hard work and creativity, but there is also greater equality. People are not given equal opportunities because of nature, nurture and circumstances, we share the bounty so that everyone at least receives the essentials in life. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, or creed (or lack thereof). Consenting adults can marry whomever they like, with all the rights and privileges that go with it.

On E.arth, everyone has a birthright to a share of the common wealth, so that there is a guaranteed minimum income, national health care, and education is provided through college. Because of these things, we don’t have welfare, social security, government handouts, homelessness, unemployment, or health care designed for profit instead of health.

On E.arth, we would have a full-reserve banking system. Money would be created by the government, for the benefit of the people, instead of being lent into existence by banks for private profit, growing debt, and ruinous boom/bust cycles. The taxpayers would not pay interest on Treasury bills and securities. There would be no national debt, no recessions, no depressions, and no unemployment. This debt-free economy would create wealth that would  reduce the economic burden on over 90% of us, and the quality of life for all. 

On E.arth, health, home, and many other kinds of insurance would be almost free, and paid for by spending money into existence by the Treasury. When money is created for productive or restorative activities, such as occurs when properties are rebuilt following damage or destruction, it is non-inflationary, and it creates jobs. 

On E.arth, people are more important than corporations.

On E.arth, there is no military-industrial-congressional complex.

On E.arth, there is no prison-industrial-congressional complex, and prisons are used for rehabilitation, education, and to protect others, but not used for punishment.

On E.arth, there is no drug war, because drugs are legalized, taxed and regulated, and all public advertising is banned for drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

On E.arth, there are no chronically homeless because we have villages for the adult homeless who cannot fit into society, or who need specialized care.

On E.arth, we are moving toward replacing the world’s 800 million motor vehicles with about one-eighth as many self-driving, shared-use, electric vehicles. This switchover will expand our choices because we will get the kind of vehicle we want, when we want it, for a fraction of the cost. It will also prevent 30 million casualties a year, vastly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and get rid of most of the parking lots, garages, and other headaches associated with car ownership.

On E.arth, all new towns and neighborhoods are compact pedestrian villages.

On E.arth, the goal of politics is bring the greatest good to the greatest number, in the most efficient manner, to this and future generations. Following this goal would ensure the Earth becomes better place for everyone.

For more on this, watch my campaign video: "I am the Very Model of a Pragmatic Humanitarian."

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Mason-Dixon Poll - Urgent Action Required

"Michael E. Arth is one of our generation's Thomas Jeffersons in many ways. In addition to his work as a policy analyst, he went into a crack-infested community that was scheduled for demolition and not only saved it, but turned it into a prosperous, happy, healthy place to raise children.  If he can do that on a small scale, what can he do in the whole state of Florida? This is the kind of visionary thinker and problem-solver we need.  I'm convinced that if Michael were simply heard by Floridians, he would be elected governor of Florida. I fully support him as the only reasonable choice. If all our leaders were like Michael, we would be living in Utopia."   --David Cobb, 2004 Green Party Presidential Candidate, Principal with Program on Corporations Law & Democracy and spokesperson for MovetoAmend.org. Whatever your political beliefs are, you will surely agree that the public has the right to hear me debate the two-party candidates. If we had a level playing field, I would probably win this race. However, because the system is rigged in many ways, most Floridians have not even heard about me. Here is your chance to put me on stage with Alex Sink and Rick Scott so the voters can make their own side-by-side comparisons. A Mason-Dixon poll, starting today and continuing for several days, will ask voters who they would vote for if the election were held today. No matter who you would vote for in the general election on November 2nd, please choose Michael E. Arth in order to ensure that I poll at least 11%. If I'm over the threshold, I'll be in the debates. If not, I won't and we will all lose a valuable opportunity to enjoy a small taste of democracy. The key to making the 11% is for you to copy this message and email it NOW to everyone on your email list, no matter where they live, and ask them to forward it NOW to everyone they know. Within one day we could reach enough Florida voters to make a difference. Michael E. Arth for Florida Governor website.

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Some Videos

1. Here is a short video about how we hire our leaders to do some of the most important jobs in the country on the basis of how many yard signs they buy. Campaign Signs 2010

2. This is a video done with me by the Hometown Democracy supporters in support of Amendment 4:

3. Chris Ramsey edited this campaign video captured from New Urban Cowboy:

Michael E. Arth for Florida Governor.

4. Chris also shot this video of my campaign video that plays homage to Bob Dylan in the 1960s documentary, Don't Look Back.

Here are the lyrics to the campaign video:

"I am the Very Model of a Pragmatic Humanitarian"

Music by Gilbert & Sullivan / Arrangement by Howard Ferguson Vocals by Lara Larberg and Michael E. Arth / Lyrics by Michael E. Arth

1.  My name is Michael Arth. This is why I'm running for Governor.                               (Clears throat)

2.  I am the very model of a pragmatic humanitarian.

3.  I'm combination designer, philosopher and utilitarian.

4.  I know the presidents and can debate their merits rhetorical

5.  From Washington to Obama, in order categorical.

6.  I have some acquaintance, too, with matters mathematical

7.  Regarding ideas for family planning and taxes that are logical.

8.  I study things deep, arcane or even topical

9.  In application to helpful things that are quite practical

10.  Like build a house, design a town, or steer the ship of state.

                                    (chorus) 11.  He can build a house, design a town, or steer the ship of state.

12.  He can build a house, design a town, or steer the ship of state.

13.  He can build a house, design a town, or steer the ship of Florida's state

14.  And with electoral reform there will be positive synergy,

15.  To bring new leaders and ideas that will clean up our democracy.

16.  In short, I'm a designer, philosopher, and utilitarian

17.  I am the very model of a pragmatic humanitarian.

                                     (chorus)

18.  In short, he's a designer, philosopher, and utilitarian.

19.  He is the very model of a pragmatic humanitarian.

20.  The two parties say that it's about the power and the gold

21.  The rights and privileges we deserve have been sold.

22.  Campaign advisors say to speak nothing of this autocracy

23.  Keep voters clapping with compliments and pleasantry

24.  They say to tell people simple things they want to hear

25.  Or misdirect them with all kinds of things built on fear

26.  Like terrorism, socialism, death squads, and they'll take your guns.

27. Carry a cross, wave the flag, beware of the drugs-and the bums!

28. And  don't forget to say that you going to cut the tax.

29. Remember that unless you lie about these things, you'll get the ax.

                                             (chorus)

30. Gimme your money, the power-keep the status quo-forget the facts. 31. Gimme your money, the power-keep the status quo-forget the facts. 32. Gimme your money, the power-keep the status quo-forget the facts.

33.  No more spoilers, gerrymanders, vote strategizing or first-past-the-post

34.  No unfair voting, pay-for-play or paid lobbyists to host.

35.  In short I'm combination designer, philosopher and utilitarian.

36.  I am the very model of a pragmatic humanitarian.

                                      (chorus)

37.  In short he's a designer, philosopher, and utilitarian,

38.  He is the very model of a pragmatic humanitarian.

39.  We should stop building prisons and end the War on Drugs

40.  It's unconstitutional, doesn't work, costs a lot, and makes more thugs.

41.  It's a crime made of things not criminal, said Lincoln of prohibition

42.  It's a distraction from something truly bad, like a stinkin' politician

43.  Or an energy policy based on war, pollution, debt and corporate expropriation.

44.  Our growth policies have created a suburban nation.

45.  Our conglomerating media is based on tabloidization

46.  If it bleeds it leads and if it thinks it stinks beyond recognition.

47. This happens because fairness is something we fail to appreciate.

48. Therefore representative democracy is something we must contemplate.

                                      (chorus)

49. Representative democracy is something we must contemplate.

50. Representative democracy is something we must contemplate.

51. Representative democracy is something we must contem-contemplate.

52. The election is near so I will do my best to endure and strive

53. And even if I lose this time the ideas will remain and we'll survive.

54.  Because I am a designer, philosopher and utilitarian

55.  I am the very model of a pragmatic humanitarian

                                  (chorus)

56.  Because he is a designer, philosopher and utilitarian

57.  He is the very model of a pragmatic humanitarian.

58.  Democracy! Yes! Michael Arth! A leader and ideas we deserve.

59.  It's up to us, after all! This time we have a choice!

60.  Michael Arth for Governor!

Other portals:

Personal Facebook page Campaign Facebook page

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Michael E. Arth's Economic Plan for Florida to Replace "Tinkle Down Economics"

I have had careers in fine art, building and urban design, construction and currently work as an urban designer, community activist and policy analyst. My latest book is Democracy and Common Wealth: Breaking the Stranglehold of the Special Interests.  An award-winning documentary, New Urban Cowboy: Toward a New Pedestrianism, tells the story of how I rebuilt DeLand’s “Cracktown” into The Historic Garden District. The headline in a front-page article in the Daytona Beach News-Journal sums it pretty well: “He turned Cracktown into a gem, now he wants to remake Florida.” I entered the gubernatorial race fifteen months ago because, with my experience and knowledge of how our system works, I considered it my duty to initiate reforms that could quickly turn around the state's economy and solve the major problems in our society.  The two-party candidates want to prop up the status quo with Band-Aids when what we need is fundamental, systemic reform that will get the heart of the problems.  The 2011 Florida State Budget Deficit is $6 billion to $8 billion, with a total budget of $70.4 billion, an increase of almost $4 billion from the previous year. I have a plan to eliminate this deficit, end corruption, and bring Florida into the future as an innovative powerhouse of clean energy and information-based technology.   1. Tax and economic policies should favor the vast majority. We already proved that progressive taxation and more equality is good for the country. The top federal tax income tax on the very rich from 1951 to 1963 was over 91%, and the corporate rate was 52%, yet this period was incredibly prosperous and productive. It was the heyday of the middle class when one breadwinner per household was the norm.

Both of the two-party candidates, Alex Sink and Rick Scott, are millionaires working for millionaires, and this why both of them support extending the Bush tax cuts for themselves and other members of the financial elite.

Supply side economics does not work and even some conservatives have stated so publicly. George Bush Sr. called it “Voodoo Economics” before he agreed to self-censure and become Reagan’s running mate. Later, George Bush Jr.‘s economic advisor, conservative Harvard economist Gregory Mankiw, in a textbook on economics, described Ronald Reagan’s supply siders as “cranks and charlatans”. Conservative political economist Francis Fukuyama, who contributed to the Reagan doctrine (also called “Reaganomics”) later changed his mind and concluded that tax cuts create deficits.  Supply side economics is widely known as trickle down theory-- the idea being that you feed the fat cows so the flies can eat.

I prefer the term “tinkle down economics” because it’s obvious the fat cows are peeing on us while asking us to believe it is raining liquid gold. 

They claim it works even while asking us to tighten our belts and attacking Medicare, national health insurance, and Social Security.  Both Sink and Scott, being among the richest 1% of Americans, have benefited the most from tax cuts, and this is why they want to continue them. We need to reverse this trend to benefit the vast majority of us.   Florida’s state and local tax burden is 47th in the nation at 7.4% of income. For 90% of Floridians this should stay the same. However, we should institute a graduated state income tax on the top 10% of income earners, and slightly raise the corporate income rate so that Florida’s collections are close to the average rate of 9.7%.

2. Create a State Bank: North Dakota is the only state to have one, and it is also the only state with a budget in the black. The Great Recession never happened in North Dakota. Unemployment is 3.6%; foreclosures are low; the economy is humming. A state bank in Florida, which incorporated the FL State Board of Administration’s $138 billion fund, the state’s payroll, and its employees bank accounts, could put a $3 billion annual dividend into Florida's Rainy Day Fund. If we had done this ten years ago, Florida’s deficit would have been covered, and would have had a huge reserve going into the recession. A state bank would be answerable to the people instead of stockholders. 3. Transparency, Accountability and Efficiency: Make public agencies comply with the open records law, and require all records to be published online in an easily searchable data base that can be understood by the public. Let our citizens seek out the waste and fraud to hold our leaders accountable.  Apply these principles to streamlining regulations and business practices in both the public and private sector. 4. End rampant electoral fraud and corruption: Florida had 824 convicted public officials from 1998 to 2007, presumably with a much greater number getting away with their crimes. It is wrong for the top 1% to have as much as the bottom 90%, or for them to dictate to the rest of us what kind of government we are going to have through electoral chicanery. We should trade winner-take-all voting for majority choice voting, and PACs, paid lobbyists and private campaign funding with highly limited and regulated public campaign financing. This will enable us to elect leaders concerned about the issues and the economy, instead of fund-raising and power-brokering.

5. New Pedestrianism: Require that all new development in Florida follows the New Pedestrianism model, in order to ensure that we are building sustainable communities instead of dysfunctional automobile slums that create interminable social and economic problems.

6. To reduce crime, and save billions, end the War on Drugs: The War on Drugs has been a war on the poor and a war on society. It has destroyed millions of lives, fostered corruption and contempt for the law, and has spawned 49,000 gang members in Florida alone. Our state’s incarceration rate is eight times higher than Canada, and yet we have the second highest crime rate in the 50 states. 

To the extent it is possible, in consideration of the federal issues involved, we need to end the war on drugs, and create a treatment-centered approach to drug problems. The Feds have agreed not to enforce the federal statutes against states that allow medical marijuana. Florida should use this loophole to essentially legalize both the use and cultivation of cannabis. There has never in the entire recorded history of the world ever been a documented overdose death from cannabis, and it is less addictive than coffee. Any prohibition against it is irrational or based on competing business interests.

Ultimately the national solution is make drugs quasi-legal, with regulation and taxation similar to alcohol and tobacco, which are truly dangerous, but with highly restricted advertising for all psychoactive substances, including prescription drugs, alcohol and tobacco. The criminal element that sells drugs will not go away without ending prohibition. The simple fact that drugs are available inside prison demonstrates the impossibility of eliminating them from open society.

Study after study, and real life itself, has demonstrated over and over that prohibition causes far more problems than the substances themselves.

For example, a Rand Institute study showed treatment to be seven times more cost effective than incarceration. Reducing the harm caused by a failed law enforcement policies could save $4-8 billion a year in prisons, courts, juvenile justice, health care and law enforcement.  Huge savings would also result from crime reduction and improving family life. Taxes from cannabis and other drugs could pay for treatment and health care related issues. There will be more on why we need to end prohibition in the next blog. 8. End homelessness, Save Money: This can be done by building villages for the adult homeless that especially focuses on helping those who suffer from developmental disabilities and/or addictions. These villages for the homeless would be located outside of inner cities and they would consolidate inefficient and expensive agencies that are not currently solving the very specific problems related to homelessness. These would also be work centers that provide on site employment, and also provide employees with documented and certified workers. Please visit the website for the organization I founded at www.villagesforthehomeless.org.

9. Develop clean, alternative energy: The real cost of gasoline has been estimated in one study to be $11.35 per gallon because of various public subsidies, both direct and indirect, mostly to the oil and automobile industries, and to the military-industrial complex. This has resulted in global instability, environmental damage, economic distress, an imbalance of trade, and a dependence of foreign countries for energy. "The Sunshine State" should be a leader in solar energy development, and also in hydro-power.  By one estimate, about 0.01% of the hydrokinetic energy in the Gulf Stream (the strongest current in the world), captured with underwater turbines just off the coast, could supply one-third of Florida's energy needs. This is equivalent to 4-10 nuclear power plants. These immense natural resources, which could create hundreds of thousands of jobs and great wealth, are being ignored because politicians let the oil companies dictate our energy policy.

Conclusion: All of the savings from the increased efficiency resulting from these nine steps could be used to create full employment, and make Florida a global leader in clean, alternative energy.