bennet@gymble.UUCP (Tom Bennet) (08/02/85)
A political proposition: Whenever one goes to make a purchase using several
coins or bills, the value of the accumulation is taken to be the sum of the
values of the bills. This seems rather arbitrary: why not take the *product*
of those values. For instance, two $5 bills is worth $25, but ten $1 bills is
only worth a dollar. This would have a number of very attractive advantages:
1. It would get rid of all those stupid pennies: A penny is hardly worth
anything at all, but three of them would be worth $.000001. You'd be
better off throwing two of them away; then you'd have $.01 and our great
nation would contain two fewer pennies. Pretty soon, most of the pennies
in the country would be thrown away.
2. It would promote charity: If I have a $5 bill and a quarter, I have $1.25.
But if I give my quarter to someone who has nothing so he can buy a cup of
coffee, he goes away with $.25 and I now have $5, so we both win!
3. New profit opportunities: Let's say I have a clucker car worth $1000, and
a stereo system worth, say, $300. Well, under the new system I can sell
both of them and then buy a $300,000 house.
4. It would help reduce long-term unemployment by encouraging people to
change jobs frequently. For example: If I work 80 hours for company A at
$10/hour, I get $800. But if I work for 40 hours for company A, quit, and
work 40 hours for company B, I come out with $160,000 after collecting my
checks from both companies. (Even if I can't find a new job after
quitting at A, if I get $200 in unemployment insurance, I still come out
with $80,000, provided, of course, that A isn't the government.) This
would keep anyone from staying out of a job long.
Clearly, there are a lot of advantages to this system over the current one, and
the choice is arbitrary. Write your congresscreature today!
--
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A balanced diet is important: one must | Tom Bennet @ U of MD Comp Sci Dept
occasionally change pizza places. | ..!ihnp4!seismo!umcp-cs!gymble!bennetran@bentley.UUCP (RA Novo) (08/05/85)
>A political proposition: Whenever one goes to make a purchase using several >coins or bills, the value of the accumulation is taken to be the sum of the >values of the bills. This seems rather arbitrary: why not take the *product* >of those values. For instance, two $5 bills is worth $25, but ten $1 bills is >only worth a dollar. This would have a number of very attractive advantages: > 4. It would help reduce long-term unemployment by encouraging people to > change jobs frequently. For example: If I work 80 hours for company A at > $10/hour, I get $800. But if I work for 40 hours for company A, quit, and > work 40 hours for company B, I come out with $160,000 after collecting my > checks from both companies. (Even if I can't find a new job after > quitting at A, if I get $200 in unemployment insurance, I still come out > with $80,000, provided, of course, that A isn't the government.) This > would keep anyone from staying out of a job long. If you work 80 hrs. at $10/hr. wouldn't you get $10 E 80 under this system? -- Robert A. Novo "Captain! They put creatures AT&T Bell Labs in our ears! They made us say Piscataway, NJ things that weren't true!" ...bentley!ran