Employment Duration Indexed Minimum Wage

Minimum wage vs rental prices (Ref: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders Facebook Page)

When considering minimum wage proposals, some may ask, why not let the free market decide? And the answer is that the employment market is far from ideal. Two of the classical market problems are information asymmetry and lack of liquidity. I present a simple proposal below that addresses both.

With regard to information asymmetry, employees may not be aware that the market can bear a greater wage than they might otherwise settle for. With regard to liquidity, the market needs to push employers to reduce their utilization of low-wage workers in permanent positions. In the job market, liquidity means unemployment, so my proposal is to set the bar low for initial employment and then raise it incrementally. I call this the employment-duration-indexed minimum wage. For example:

1st month = $5/hr minimum
2nd month = $10/hr minimum
3rd month and beyond = $15/hr minimum

The key idea here is the structure, not the specific wage levels that would change over time. This structure would enable internships, seasonal odd jobs, trial periods, and young people getting started. This rule would be enforced for the cumulative lifetime work of each person on a per-company basis. That way, large companies like McDonalds and WalMart could not skirt the law by firing and re-hiring, so they would end up paying $15/hr for the vast majority of their workforce.

This rule would increase employee turnover, but if this pushes people to find a role in the workforce where they create greater value and earn more, instead of settling, then they will be better off and require less government assistance in the long term.

For background, this idea came from thinking about two different perspectives that are both true:

 

1. If I agree to work for you for 8 hours on a Saturday at $2 per hour, it does no harm whatsoever to the rest of the society. Assuming that I include this on my income taxes as required by law, I will actually end up donating a few dollars to the government which it definitely would not have received if I had stayed home and watched TV instead.

 

2. It is a fact that long-term low-wage employees end up utilizing government welfare programs far more than those who earn 2-3 times the minimum wage. Additionally, when the minimum wage is raised, it turns out that the vast majority of employers are able to create higher valued positions, and employees who were pushed out of low-wage jobs migrate to these positions. However, creating a higher barrier-to-entry has a harmful effect at the low end of the market.

MLS My Home is a scam

On Feb 28, 2016, I paid $149.95 to list a rental property on the MLS (Transaction ID XXXXXX5945). Soon after, I was contacted by a licensed Realtor who wanted me to sign additional paperwork in order to list on the MLS. I did not want to sign his paperwork, so I asked MLS My Home for a refund.

According to their webpage, “As long as your property has not already been listed on the MLS or Realtor.com, you may cancel your order by calling customer support at (888) 476-XXXX during normal weekday business hours between 9:00am and 5:00pm EST.”

By phone and by email, I asked the representative three times to process my refund, but she refused. The rental property has not been listed on the MLS or Realtor.com. This is consumer fraud, plain and simple.

Potential customers need to understand that the folks at MLS My Home do not think it is their job to list your home on the MLS. They apparently charge a fee to put you in contact with a Realtor who may or may not list your home on the MLS. However, I never heard from the realtor who represents MLS My Home. Instead, they referred me to a third party. What waste of time and money! Run away as fast as you can!

A solution for the Black Lives Matter movement

Some protesters blocked I-93 yesterday to remind us all about the tragic deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Their campaign has grabbed a lot of attention, but the protest messages have focused on race and skewed interpretations of the facts. In response, I would like to offer up a clear solution that would prevent deaths while maintaining the rule of law going forward.

Before you scroll down to see my proposed solution, try to put aside the arguments that you may have heard about race, prejudice, and controversial details of the case. Consider the possibility that an entire society could be so caught up in drama that we failed to see the forest for the trees.

The big picture is that our laws are based on a system of excessive punishment for minor sins. Many people believe that no crime should go unpunished, and that heavy handed punishments for small crimes will prevent larger crimes. This notion, sometimes implemented as a Broken Window Policy or Stop-and-Frisk Policy, was an experiment in human behavioural psychology that has turned out to have unintended consequences.

Michael Brown was suspected of stealing cigarillos and possibly blocking traffic. Eric Garner was suspected of stealing by breaking cigarette tax law and possibly loitering. These are bad behaviours, but in reality they are no big deal.

Some of you will immediately think that it is heresy to say any crime is “no big deal.” If that is you, then please take a deep breath and reconsider whether you want to support laws that cause small crimes to escalate to the level of deadly force.

When faced with arrest, both Michael Brown and Eric Garner had been conditioned to expect to be physically pushed down, handcuffed, held for hours, made to fill out numerous forms, stripped of their clothes and other belongings, locked in a poorly air-conditioned cell, fed low quality food, delayed receipt of medications and medical care, forced to post bail or remain locked up, forced to attend a court hearing, then either further imprisoned or excessively fined, and they would have a public record of shame to follow them for the rest of their lives.

The solution is simply to match the severity of punishments to the severity of crimes. These men should have received a fine on the order of a traffic ticket. A small financial crime, on the order of tens of dollars, should illicit only a relatively small financial penalty. For example, the fine could be capped at ten times the amount stolen plus a reasonable processing fee. More importantly, these men should not have had to fear arrest, because petty theft should not be an arrestable offence. The fear of excessive punishment was the key element that triggered their defensiveness, anger, and eventual bad decisions that led to their deaths.

The cops were merely stuck in the middle between abusively harsh laws and two desperately poor men. Reasonably limit the penalties for small crimes, especially crimes borne out of poverty, and these kinds of tragedies will eventually stop happening.

Real immigration reform means forms that can be saved

There are many aspects of the US immigration system that need improvement. However, most people are unfamiliar with the types of frequent injustices faced by immigrants. Besides insane waiting times that destroy families and fees verging on extortion, there are also long forms that you must fill out that do not let you save your data.

Every year, more than a million people fill out DS-230 Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration (previous versions authored by “Butch”). This form is supposed to take about 1 hour to complete. Of course, it takes much longer than that, because you have to find the information to put in the fields. That’s when things get tricky, because you need to go look things up, but you can’t save the form. Furthermore, you know that one mistake could result in months of delay to your application process. As a result, tens of millions of hours have surely been wasted over repeated attempts to fill out this form correctly, all because somebody didn’t check a box to allow the form fields to be saved.

This is one small example, but it illustrates how a little bit of unaccountability in government can lead to lots of suffering for immigrants. Other examples include inability to change address, inability to renew a driver’s license, and inability to change employers, all of which have terrible repercussions. There is currently no appeal court for immigrants.

Toys from trash

This TED talk and accompanying website has tons of toy designs that can be made from very inexpensive materials. These toys teach scientific and mathematical principles to kids in a most natural and easy way. I hope to use these on a classroom full of kids someday.

DNA data storage or rise of genetically modified humans?

I’ve noticed several news stories and advertisements lately regarding the future of data storage. Apparently, researchers at the European Bioinformatics Institute have stored and retrieved a few digital files in DNA. That’s interesting on many levels, yet the sales pitch seems to be focused on the hard drive market. Here are some example articles:

Why DNA Will Someday Replace the Hard Drive

Storing Shakespeare and “I Have a Dream” in DNA

New technique stores terabytes of data on DNA with 100% accuracy

Depending on your background, and your level of trust in scientists, you might interpret this news as a another step in the advancement of technology. It could enable lighter cell phones, thinner notebook computers, and smaller data storage centers. All of those things could be true, but the discussion is missing a very important and serious application: People will be able to store and print all forms of life, which will inevitably include genetically modified humans. Once a DNA sequence is printed or cloned, it has already been shown using sheep, that it can be inserted into an egg, and a surrogate mother can grow and bear the child.

From what I have read, a person’s DNA represents about 6 GB of data. Therefore, your genetic code, which is a large part of what makes up who you are, would probably fit on your cell phone using today’s technology. It would not be surprising if most people reading this blog have their DNA sequenced within the next 20 years. It is not a stretch to think that some of you will request to store your sequence on a reliable form of digital media, like a Blu-Ray disc, for example.

Then what? What if you could send your DNA out for a little touch-up, deleting a few flaws and disease markers here and there? What if your DNA could be virtually mated with anyone who you choose? Would you want to have a child made from a modified version of yourself and your favorite movie star? What if you could add or select features, such as better metabolism, greater intelligence, or a particular eye or hair color? Could all of this be used to make super humans or warriors?

My moral compass says that we should not go down this path. But, somebody’s going to do it anyway. Let’s just be honest and recognize that the target market for this technology is biological elitists who want to make super-babies, not those who are overburdened by the size and weight of their personal electronics.

A place to tear down

This post is about themes of human culture passed down over generations, and how these themes could be taught to students in learning spaces that might not be available to them currently. The inspiration comes from two sources:

1. “Why Walking through a Doorway Makes You Forget” from Scientific American based on this technical paper.

2. Ecclesiastes 3 (NASB), a biblical passage attributed to King Solomon.

Imagine a school appointed with many rooms:

A place to give birth and a place to die;
A place to plant and a place to uproot what is planted.

A place to kill and a place to heal;
A place to tear down and a place to build up.

A place to weep and a place to laugh;
A place to mourn and a place to dance.

A place to throw stones and a place to gather stones;
A place to embrace and a place to shun embracing.

A place to search and a place to give up as lost;
A place to keep and a place to throw away.

A place to tear apart and a place to sew together;
A place to be silent and a place to speak.

A place to love and a place to hate;
A place for war and a place for peace.

One might call this the school of life, or the school of hard knocks. Some of the more intense themes may not be appropriate for all ages, so imagine that care has been taken to present them gradually. For example, birth and death could be experienced through the natural life cycles of small pets, and themes of destruction could be experienced through sand sculptures or blocks. Neither is it an exhaustive list of rooms. The idea easily expands to include rooms for modern art, science, mathematics, and other forms of education.

Do our schools currently provide distinct rooms for these kinds of lessons? Is place-based learning compatible with general assessment tests?

AT&T One Time Charge for Upgrade Fee

If you upgrade to a new smartphone from AT&T, then an $18 One Time Charge for Upgrade Fee will magically appear on your next bill without warning or explanation. AT&T must have forgotten to advertise this, so let’s help them out by spreading the word.

Standard bulk mail turns rain forests into landfill

The other day, I stopped by the mail room at my apartment complex, and I noticed that I didn’t have any standard bulk mail in my box. I was happy to get only mail that had been addressed to me. The usual junk was neatly stacked in these white bins:

Your tax dollars at work transforming rain forests into landfill.

The mailman must have been lazy that day, though I don’t blame him. Had he stuffed these papers into our boxes, nearly everyone would have dropped them into the white bins anyway, without a moment’s hesitation.

It’s nearly the physical equivalent of spam, and yet we’re paying for it! There have been a number of articles criticizing the US Postal Service (USPS) of costing taxpayers billions of dollars each fiscal quarter. The USPS is a government service that performs many useful functions, so operating at a loss is not necessarily a problem. But why, oh why, should we as taxpayers subsidize this particular kind of postal service?

Some people would like to blame the marketing companies that create this junk. Yet, in a free society, inspecting mail and judging the value of its content is a non-starter. Nobody can say that we are all better off with coupons or without coupons.

What we can do is stop subsidizing standard bulk mail! This would not stop mass-mailings, but it would reduce them. Marketing companies would think twice about sending full-priced, individually-addressed letters. The volume of mail would go down, and the price per piece would go up, which might be good for USPS finances.

But it’s not just about money. Above all, we should stop subsidizing standard bulk mail because it would have a positive impact on conserving the world’s rain forests. These beautiful forests are the home of many diverse animal species. They consume carbon dioxide and create oxygen. Have you ever received a piece of standard bulk mail that you wouldn’t trade for a breath of fresh air?

Insurance Deductibles

Suppose your best friend were to come to you tomorrow and say that he was being chased by the mafia, and he needs to leave the country and never return. He doesn’t want to burden you too much, but he is asking for whatever you can afford without any expectation to be paid back in the future. How much would you give him? Your insurance deductibles should be at least on par with this number.