Polivation

If you don’t know who Robert Shiller is, you should. He’s the Yale economist who predicted both the dot com bubble and the housing bubble that has brought on the current financial crisis. He’s someone we should listen to. His latest book, Animal Spirits, co-authored with Nobel economist, George Akerlof, as usual, lights the way. In it, they argue that capitalism works better when we acknowledge and account for human behavior, rather than having blind faith in the “rationality” of markets.

So, what does Robert Shiller see as our greatest problem today?

In conversation with Charlie Rose he said, “The biggest problem facing this country (US) is not the (financial) crisis, but the growing inequality”. Further adding, “Inequality is worse than we thought because people who are poor will die younger.” You can hear Robert Shiller speaking with Openyear here.

Robert Shiller and Leonard Burman offer a public policy solution to inequality they call The Rising Tide Tax System. Their key idea is that the tax rate on super earners should automatically rise as inequality rises. We thought we might compare it to our influence based approach, Open Pay, to see how they may complement each other.

Category	Rising Tide Tax System  (RTTS)	Open Pay
Scope	USA	Global
Control	Centralized (US Federal Government)	Distributed  (individuals, organizations, Openyear)
Mode	Coercive (penalties for non-compliance)	Volitional (positive social rating for participation)
Dependency	Indirect – US Congress & President	Direct – Individuals and Organizations opting in
% Contributed by Super Earners	Absolute – Driven by Inequality Index	Relative  & Situational – Driven by Earners & Reputation
Cents on the Dollar Reaching Public	$0.23	$0.91
Directly Benefits People Not Working	Yes	No (not initially, but aim is to benefit some unemployed in mid-term)
Directly Improves Productivity	No	Yes (merit based)

We calculate “Cents on the Dollar Reaching Public” as follows:  According to the Tax Foundation, $0.23 of every tax dollar collected is consumed in compliance costs. Of the remaining $0.77, according to War Resistor’s League, 70% of every tax dollar is spent on non-human resource categories (excluding social security). This nets to $0.23 of each tax dollar directly reaching the public through social spending – actually it’s significantly less if we subtract administrations costs. This compares against $0.91 of each Open Pay dollar reaching earners.

So, Open Pay is roughly 4 times more efficient than the RTTS in terms of its impact on inequality. Or, in other words, the recommended minimum 3% super earner contribution to Open Pay is equivalent to 12% under RTTS . RTTS has the great advantage that it benefits people who can not earn, and can be used to fund large scale projects that benefit everyone, rather than simply putting more money in more hands as Open Pay will. Both have their role.

The RTTS got us thinking about the possibility of social business integrations with the US tax code, as happens, say, today with energy industry tax credits. More polivation, public policy and entrepreneurial innovation, working together, like bees and flowers, will probably be needed to boost the harvest.

How to get your boss to open his pay.

People have been asking us for an easy way to break the ice with their bosses about sharing a % of their pay. If your boss is like most, he may not get it right away.  No worries. We’ve noticed earners get it quickly, but sometimes super earners take longer. To help him get up to speed; first, take 1 minute to sign up at right – because your boss will probably only do it if people around him are –  then, hang this poster up in your cubicle, or some place where he’ll see it. If he asks, “Why would I want to do this?”, smile and say “Because it’s good to share!“, and send him to this link.

If you earn more than $325K in the US, you’re among the top 1% of earners, what we call, a  super earner. As a group, super earners take home 23.5 % of all  pay , up from 9% 30 years ago. Many of your fellow earners, those in the bottom 99%, think you should share some of your pay.

Openyear recommends a minimum 3% contribution of your pay (Open Pay).  A portion of which will go directly to any earner who influences you, the rest will be added to Openyear revenues to provide all earners with a small % of their pay that they will use to reward other earners who influence them. Here’s why you should do it.

get the poster

1. Get a social responsibility rating (like a credit rating), which makes your reputation for “walking the talk” of fair play real. This means better morale inside your business, and an easier time recruiting and keeping talent, resulting in a more competitive organization.

2. Get help with your agenda. There’s more smart people outside your company than inside your company. People are more likely to  help when they know they’re guaranteed to be paid should they influence you, or any other super earner.

3. Build a faster growing economy. More money in more hands creates markets. People in the bottom 99% can better afford to buy what you’re selling.

4. Reduce violence and criminality. What’s peace of mind worth? In other countries with higher inequality than the US, the rich need bodyguards, armored cars and super secure homes.

5. Put your charitable dollars to, arguably, its most effective use, as inequality touches on so many different problems, from childhood well being and life expectancy to the strength of democracies.