| Rockwell's thirty-day plan
by llewellyn h. rockwell, jr.
when eastern europe broke free in
1989, we all realized just how
little thought had been given to
the transition from socialism to
capitalism. mises had told us the
collapse was coming, and we should
have been prepared.
as america comes to resemble a
command economy, we need a
transition plan here too. yuri
maltsev proposed a "one-day
plan" for the u. s. s. r.
we're not in that bad a shape
(yet), so we could do it in 30
days.
day one: the federal income tax is
abolished and april 15th is
declared a national holiday. the
40% reduction in federal revenues
is matched by a 40% cut in
spending. the budget is still
almost twice as big as jimmy
carter's.
day two: all other federal taxes
are abolished, including the
corporate income tax, the capital
gains tax, the gasoline tax,
"sin" taxes, excise
taxes, etc. businesses boom, and
the few legitimate federal
functions are funded with an
inexpensive head tax. people who
choose not to vote need not pay it.
(note: this was a mainstream view
in the 19th century.)
day three: the federal government
sells all its land, freeing up tens
of millions of acres for
development, mining, farming,
forestry, oil drilling, private
parks, etc. the government uses the
revenue to pay off the national
debt and other liabilities.
day four: the minimum wage is
reduced to zero, creating jobs for
ex-federal bureaucrats at their
market wage. all pro-union laws and
regulations are scrapped. the
jobless rate falls dramatically.
day five: the bureau of labor
statistics, like the rest of the
labor department, is sent to that
big hiring hall in the sky. without
detailed economic statistics,
future economic planners will be
blind and deaf.
day six: the department of commerce
is abolished. big business has to
make its own way in the world,
without subsidies and privileges at
the expense of its competitors and
customers.
day seven: the plug is pulled on
the department of energy. oil and
gas prices plummet.
day eight: all regulatory agencies,
from the interstate commerce
commission to the federal trade
commission, are deep-sixed.
competition is legalized.
day nine: hud is squashed like a
bug. there's a buiding boom in
cheap, private, apartments.
day ten: the interstate highways
reopen as private businesses. road
entrepreneurs price travel
according to consumer demand. using
modern technology, drivers get
bills once a month. credit
risks-and drunks and dangerous
drivers- aren't allowed on the
road. non-drivers no longer
subsidize car owners.
day eleven: government welfare is
wiped out. bums work or starve. the
deserving poor find a cornucopia of
private services designed to make
them independent. private charity
explodes, as the american people,
already the most generous in the
world, find their incomes almost
doubled, thanks to the tax cuts.
day twelve: the federal reserve
closes its open-market operations
and stops protecting the banking
industry from competition. but
banks can now engage in all the
non-bank financial activities
previously forbidden to them. the
business cycle, which is caused by
monetary expansion through the
credit markets, is liquidated.
day thirteen: federal deposit
insurance is scrapped. all insured
deposits are redeemed from federal
assets, which include the personal
assets of high-level government
employees. the threat of bank runs
forces banks to keep 100% reserves
for their demand deposits, and
prudent reserves on all other
accounts. there are no more
inherently bankrupt banks propped
up by the government, at taxpayer
expense, and no more bail outs.
day fourteen: the shaky fiat dollar
is defined in terms of gold, with
the ratio determined by dividing
the government's gold stock by
all existing dollars on that day.
day fifteen: the federal government
sells national and dulles airports
to the highest bidder, and stops
all subsidies to other socialist
airports around the country. all
constraints on airline prices and
service cease. it costs more to fly
during peak hours than off-peak,
but overall, air travel drops in
price.
day sixteen: all government
regulations that create and sustain
cartels are abolished, including
those for the post office,
telephones, television, radio, and
cable tv prices plummet, and a host
of new and unforeseen services
becomes available.
day seventeen: centrally planned
agriculture, as imposed by hoover
and roosevelt, is repealed: there
are no more subsidies,
payments-in-kind, marketing orders,
low-interest loans, etc. farm
prices drop. entrepreneurial
farmers get rich. welfare farmers
go into another line of work. the
poor eat like kings.
day eighteen: the justice
department shutters its anti-trust
division. companies, big and small,
are free to merge – up, down, or
sideways. stockholders can buy any
other company, or sell their stock
to anyone else. marginal producers
can no longer battle their
competitors with bureaucratic
weapons.
day nineteen: the department of
education flunks the
constitutionality test, and is
kicked out. private charities set
up remedial reading and writing
programs for the former
bureaucrats. federally subsidized
sex education and other anti-family
programs go out of business. local
school districts become responsive
to parents or close, pressured by a
fast-growing private school sector
(which many more parents can now
afford).
day twenty: all federal monuments
are sold, in some cases to
non-profit groups based on the mt.
vernon ladies association, which
owns and runs george
washington's home. the vfw
buys the vietnam memorial. there is
much bidding for the jefferson and
washington monuments. nobody wants
fdr's, so it's torn down
and the land sold to a farmer.
(with the federal government cut
back to its constitutional size,
much of washington reverts to
productive uses like agriculture,
as in late 18th century.)
day twenty-one: the computerized
financial and political dossier
maintained by the government on
every american is erased. the
public wanders through the federal
offices to make sure, in a reprise
of the east berliners' visits
to stasi headquarters.
day twenty-two: equal rights are
granted to all americans, even
members of non-victim groups. there
is no affirmative action, no
quotas, no set-asides, no public
accommodations laws. private
property and freedom of association
are fully restored.
day twenty-three: the epa is
cleaned out, with all "clean
air" and similar
big-government laws repealed. ten
thousand lawyers leap from their
balconies. private property is
established in air and water.
americans harmed by pollution are
free to sue the polluters, who are
no longer protected by the federal
government.
day twenty-four: americans are
given complete freedom of contract,
restoring rationality to
malpractice and product liability
law.
day twenty-five: government
scrambles for more assets to sell
(i.e., the national zoo, also known
as washington, d.c.) to pay off the
liabilities of the privatized
social security system.
day twenty-six: porno artists have
to earn their own livings, as the
national endowment for the arts
tries to raise its budget through
sidewalk painting sales.
day twenty-seven: foreign aid is
outlawed as unconstitutional,
unjust, and un-economic. foreign
politicians have to steal their own
money. the world bank, imf, and
united nations close their super-
luxurious doors.
day twenty-eight: the american
people are given the unrestricted
right to keep and bear arms.
day twenty-nine: the defense
department is reoriented towards
defense. american troops come home
from all around the world. we adopt
a policy of armed neutrality,
remembering the founding
fathers' teaching that we
could not have an empire abroad and
a constitutional republic at home.
day thirty: all tariffs, quotas,
and trade agreements are put
through the shredder. americans can
trade with anyone in the world,
without barriers or subsidies.
japanese car prices drop an
immediate 25%.
in just 30 exhilarating days, we
have established the outlines of
free market. radical? maybe so. me,
i can't wait until month two.
__________
llewellyn h. rockwell, jr., is
president of the mises institute
and editor of lewrockwell.com.
rockwell@mises.org. this article
appeared in the free market, march
1991.
please read this :
http://www.mises.org/story/2685
Scarey that someone would actually believe in this. |
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