What are the three most important steps for improving Rhode Island’s economy?
I’ve come up with a method to pay for social services such as housing, food, clothing, education and medical care through a novel method I call ‘reGenerative Funding’. It works by partnering investors with enterprising workers who produce valuable goods and services, and the partnership donate these through a charity to those requiring a hand up.
Instead of pitting rich against poor by coercive taxation which generates resentments on both sides, my method incentivizes sharing and rewards generosity by providing high wages for workers who create things of value and exceptional ROI, in some cases 150-180% in tax avoidance for investors interested in using their wealth to repair the tattered fabric of society which has been shredded by selfishness and partisan politics for too long.
Because restoring access to the one plant (cannabis) that can provide food, fabric, fuel, medicine, and building materials with zero toxicity to the environment or the human person is one central plank in the Compassion Party’s platform, I’ve first put this method into practice in the area of cannabis medicine. I’m attaching two pictures that show how it works here; it translates to other goods and services very nicely and works with the existing tax code.
Some economists think a recession is likely in 2020. What should the state do to prepare for the next downturn?
Implementing this method of providing for the needs of the poor creates jobs and puts more money in everyone’s pockets to spend on (taxable) products so revenues increase while expenses plummet.
I’m convinced that this will keep the economy booming to 2027 and beyond and remove the threat of a recession. It provides a self-correcting buffer much more resilient than the old-school Keynesian tax-and spend, which is inefficient and foments class warfare.
Is the state doing enough to help people who have been left behind by the economy? If not, what additional steps should be taken?
The State is certainly not doing enough to help people at the moment and debacles like the UHIP software failure makes one wonder whether this is deliberate. The visibly poor have been left behind and treated like clutter to be swept up and dumped far away but my method can be used to restore abundance to all sectors of society.
Does primary education need to be improved statewide?
I’ve raised seven children and currently am proud grandmother to fifteen grandchildren and a few years ago I taught math at the Met School. I’m shocked at how far our educational standards have fallen in the past decade alone. Where my oldest daughter once had to write a high school term paper on Dostoyevsky and Rationalism, my grandson enrolled in a similar honors English class is asked to write a discography of the Beatles! We’ve been dumbed down and standardized to the point where I’m not sure many kids even read books! Some of this is the fault of the omnipresent screens that were all glued to but there’s a deeper fundamental disregard for critical thinking skills and these are no longer taught nor even encouraged. My first impression as to root cause is that the standards and teaching methods with fancy names such as ‘Common Core’ so demoralized the teachers who were asked to check their creativity and experience at the door of the school and mindlessly repeat a script written by policy dweebs in DC. I would return control over curriculum and teaching methods to the local school board and introduce more bonuses and awards including pay raises for teachers who produce excellent results and I would open the schools up more to parental involvement and participation. Kids learn best when the whole family is involved.
Would you continue with RI’s designation as a sanctuary state? Why or why not?
Undocumented immigrants have no defense against abuse and mistreatment because they have no one to whom they can turn for help. Exploitation in the workplace and sexual abuse, even of children, are rampant among this group, and they can’t report it because they’ll be deported if they do. This is not by any means a new phenomenon. When I was campaigning four years ago, I met a young man in his twenties who had been made homeless at age 11 when he came home from school one day to find that his mother had been swept up in an immigration raid at the factory where she worked. He never saw him again. I’m very glad that these sorts of abuses are now coming to light and people are demanding that Congress pass laws that will provide clarity and certainty to immigrants.
I would expand Rhode Island’s Sanctuary status to provide a safe place where opiate addicts will have the right to try promising treatments like Ibogaine and cancer victims can come try reGeneratively funded cannabis oil at no cost BEFORE resorting to toxic drugs and disfiguring surgery.
Thank you for allowing me to share my vision for a compassionate Rhode Island!
