TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/020392/0203202.000

Text File | 1992-10-19 | 5.9 KB | 122 lines

                                                                                BUSINESS, Page 41

MONEY ANGLES

Let's Get Moving!


By Andy Tobias


    We are embattled economically, competing with people like
the Koreans and Mexicans, who are willing to work harder for
less, and the Japanese, who study more diligently, save more and
spend less. We shouldn't begrudge their efforts to prosper, we
should applaud them. But to prosper ourselves, we need to be as
efficient as possible -- personally (turn off the TV if no one's
watching it!), corporately and governmentally.

    Here are just a few of the things we could do:

    1. NCNB, now merged with C&S/Sovran, is about to change
its name to NationsBank. Stop! Wasteful! Think of all those
signs that need to be redone, all that stationery, all those
forms. It's a huge undertaking, and for what? Far better simply
to change the name to the Nation's Cutest, Nicest Bank . . .
NCNB. This will save millions of dollars, and may even fool some
folks into thinking NCNB, with its Marine Corps culture, is nice
and cute.

    2. We have a ridiculous auto insurance system. Why sell
auto insurance one policy at a time when we require almost
everyone, by law, to buy it? States should adopt
"Pay-at-the-Pump Private No-Fault Auto Insurance" plans that
would collect the same premiums we currently collect -- but
automatically, efficiently, at the gas pump. (Claims would be
handled just as they are now, by State Farm, Allstate and the
like. But they would bid for blocks of business, much as they
now bid for group health insurance business.) You will be
hearing more about this, because all the obvious objections
(What about electric cars? Bad drivers? Collision coverage?
Driving across state lines?) have simple, efficient solutions.
Cutting the selling costs out of auto insurance would save 15
cents of each premium dollar; cutting out the lawyers would save
25 cents more. The lawyers and insurance agents hate this plan,
but what does that tell you? (Side effects: by collecting the
premium at the pump instead of through the mail -- adding it to
the price of gas -- you provide an incentive to use less gas.
And that means less pollution, less traffic, less dependence on
foreign oil, less American wealth siphoned overseas.)

    3. The leading cause of preventable death in America, and
a major contributor to our competitively crippling health care
costs, is smoking. The tobacco companies claim they don't want
kids to start smoking, that they spend $3 billion a year
advertising in the U.S. merely to get people to switch brands.
Fine. Let's give them antitrust exemption to agree among
themselves: no more advertising or promotion of any kind. Market
shares would be frozen where they are, and the companies would
have an extra $3 billion a year in profits. How can they
complain about that? Smoking should obviously be legal, but why
on earth spend billions a year, using tennis pros and cartoon
characters, to tell 8- and 10- and 12-year-olds that smoking is
cool, sexy and athletic?

    4. Turn off the TV even if people are watching it! Too
many of our kids are growing up brain dead. Make them do
something. If they can read, pay them to tutor kids who can't
(then charge them rent, to get the pay back, so you're not
out-of-pocket). Sound tough? Hey, Perdue's right: it takes a
tough man to make a tender chicken.

    5. Cap residential real estate commissions at 5%, thus
adding an instant 1% to the value of every home in America and,
at the same time, making real estate sales -- which produce
nothing -- a little less attractive relative to teaching, which
is where we really want to attract our best people. There's
already tacit "price-fixing" among real estate agents -- the
standard 6% commission -- so this would just fix the price a
little lower. With home prices having consistently outstripped
inflation for decades, until recently, real estate commissions
were outstripping inflation too. Meanwhile, pay for most other
lines of work, like teaching, barely kept pace. Do we want our
best people selling real estate or molding young lives? Which
will make America more prosperous and competitive?

    6. Make Social Security income fully taxable, just like
any other kind of income. It would be no hardship on the poor;
because of the graduated tax system, they'd pay no tax. It would
be no hardship for the rich; they can afford it. For those in
the middle, it would sting and so should be phased in
gradually. But faced with catastrophic deficits, and limited
resources, we can't afford to provide government assistance to
people who don't absolutely need it. And we certainly can't
afford to provide it tax-free. (Yes, I know you paid into the
system for decades; but the price you paid was based on your
living to 70, or thereabouts, not 90, and on providing a
subsistence safety net, not a substitute for personal savings.)

    7. Slash the capital gains tax on new investments -- but
not on real estate or "trading" profits, only on profits made
from investing in newly issued stock and bonds.

    8. Pass right-to-die laws, not only because a person
should have control over his or her body, but also because it's
crazy to spend a fortune on unwanted medical care in the last
months of life when we haven't the resources to nurture all our
children adequately in the first months and years, where the
impact lasts a lifetime.

    9. Turn underutilized military bases into
drug-rehabilitation camps -- it's nuts that people who want to
enter drug-rehab programs are turned away -- and, well, lots
more (rebuild the infrastructure; put more computers in schools;
provide financial aid for any kid who gets into college, repaid
out of earnings). But the main thing, I think, is to get moving!
And those signs. How about this: Notoriously Competitive 'N Big
. . . NCNB.