Not Necessarily the Best Things Since Sliced Bread, But...


Abstract:
I stumbled across this site, and decided to submit some ideas that I think would improve the nation's economy.

Body:
The first one is a Debt Strategy for Family Groups:

Encourage families to network in mentoring and support relationships to eliminate debt.

Groups of families (3+ households) would covenant to 1.budget, 2.focus on eliminating high-interest debt, 3.honestly share financial information with each other, 4.not accrue other debt, and (here's the big one) 5. Help each other financially to get out of debt.

All families put a small amount money into the kitty each month, which goes to the first family with the highest debt. After that family pays off a loan/credit card, they roll 50% of that regular monthly payment into the next family's high-interest debt. Each family continues to give part of what had previously gone to their bills to the next family, until all are out of debt.

When done, they can train others to do the same. Cooperating in small groups, they can do together what it would take much longer to do alone. Plus they empower themselves and build a sense of community which will provide accountability and support in the future.

This is essentially a communitarian twist on Dave Ramsey's debt snowball strategy. The problem with Ramsey's approach is that it is individualistic, and he can't see beyond his conservative ideology. His advice to single mothers saddled by debt is to "get a second job" - not "partner with other single parents to create a daycare/dayshare system." He believes his debt relief formula applies to everyone. While he is right that part of getting out from under debt is behavioral, he doesn't build in any mechanism for community support outside of FPU. What he does, he does very well - but he cannot see beyond individualistic remedies.

Of course, my idea is hardly original. It is informed by the early church in Acts - where groups of believers shared everything in common, and they were advised to "bear each others' burdens." And the practical side of this would take some serious education. Families would need to self-select. There would be some element of triage, and feelings could get hurt. There would clearly be the danger of unequal burdens, freeloading, and covenant-breaking. But that's part of the challenge of living in community, isn't it? If we do not want to be slaves to corporate debt machines, we will have to live a truly alternative lifestyle. We cannot keep playing by their rules. We need to change the behavior not only of individuals, but of groups and communities.

It could be implemented most easily by small groups in churches who are already used to the idea of sharing burdens - but there's no reason non-religious groups couldn't do it as well.

Think of what $30 a month would mean to a family struggling to get out from under debt. Well, I don't have to imagine it - I'm living it. By the way, if I win the $100,000 prize, I'll be using it to seed groups like this.

The second one is an educational opportunity for U.S. senators and representatives. Here is Mission Trips for Congress:
Create a campaign fund for senators and representatives, regardless of political affiliation, who will spend 10 days out of every year on a non-religious or religious mission trip among the world’s poorest people (in places like Bolivia, El Salvador, Kenya, etc.). Stipulations: no press or reporters of any kind may accompany the congressperson. This is not a photo op. Only minimal security allowed. Trip participants must not be picked by congresspersons. Only two days of the ten may be used for recreation (sightseeing, shopping local markets). Participants must eat local food and sleep on cots in minimal shelter. The trip must focus on manual or social labor, not proselytizing.
After experiencing the impact of their policy decisions and doing manual labor side-by-side with the poor, they can return to the States with fresh eyes. After they report on their experiences, a donation will be made to their campaign, and they can return to their millionaire lifestyle, if they can still tolerate it.
All senators and representatives should do this anyway. Why do we tolerate being governed by people who have no idea what our lives are like? Who have no experience themselves of poverty?
I also like the idea of these people being off-record for a while, dealing with real people in real community settings. I think it would be great if the nominal Christians in congress had to live even a brief while in the fashion of the one who brought Good News to the Poor. If they were strengthened in their faith, all the better. If they were non-religious - even better! In a perfect would, this would be required of our leaders. According to legend, even Caesar Augustus spent one day of the year dressed as a beggar. Shouldn't a supposedly Christian nation (which it isn't, of course - I'm speaking rhetorically) do better than pagan Rome?
Again, if I win the prize, I'll make the first donation to the fund.
The last idea is just for fun, but I like to imagine all the possibilities. Here is Congressional Reality TV:
Create a reality T.V. show in which senators and representatives from both parties are invited to live together in a house for one month on a weekly budget equivalent to a lower-middle-class family.
I'm not even sure that I haven't read this idea before. I may have stored it in my memory without attribution. But can't you just picture it?
Really, I would like to send out the invitation to representatives and senators to do either of these last two. I would like to extend the invitation, and then publish the responses far and wide. I can imagine the rejections: "I'm too busy, I can't take time off from fundraising, I already give lots of money to charity, I'm too important, I can't afford the risk," and so on. They would give the same excuses I get from congregation members. And I can imagine the huge publicity and general approval for the first one to take up the challenge.
Who knows? Maybe not the best ideas since sliced bread, but I think they are pretty good.

Posted: Wed - October 12, 2005 at 09:23 AM           |

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