Minimum Standard of Living Explained



Overview

This website aims to lay the foundation for a movement to create a national minimum standard of living and is currently in the development phase.

The goal of creating a national Minimum Standard is to end homelessness and create a social safety net that provides all the essentials that a person or family would need to sustain themselves in a safe, healthy way while at the same time providing an opportunity to learn higher paying skills.

This Minimum Standard Law will be paid for in the same fashion as the national defense budget, as the cohesive well-being of society to function progressively is a part of our national security.  The degradation of our community can ultimately become the demise of our country.

Just as there are minimum standards for construction, drinking water, and education, so should there be minimum standards of living that all American citizens have access to.

The need for such a law serves to lower crime, increase public safety, and strengthen the middle class by empowering individuals to have the ability to transition to higher income opportunities and ultimately out of a minimum standard of living situation. This, in turn, will increase the GDP. Individuals who cannot transition have a basis to continue pursuing their goals or live their lives without fear of safety, starvation, lack of home, and medical needs. 

Mission Statement

End homelessness and create opportunity

The Process 

Currently, there is no way to start a national initiative where enough people's signatures can be collected to force an initiative onto the national ballot. Only statewide initiatives exist at this time. 

To overcome this obstacle, a Non-Profit 501(c)(3) organization will be formed whose mission is to inform people about the need for a national minimum standard law, collect signatures to show support for the law, and present this support to the various representatives.

A proposed initiative will be drafted as a starting point for discussion. The following is a starting point for that draft.

Minimum Standard of Living Subsidies

  • Decent Safe Housing
    • Minimum 1-bedroom 1-bath apartment for a single individual or couple 18+ in age, and a 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartment for up to a family of up to 4. The exact size and additional space requirements for families must be determined and added to the bill.
    • Includes all utilities, high-speed internet access, and waste removal
  • Food
    • Food stamp system
  • Medical
    • Complete medical care for all citizens, with no restrictions
    • Free substance abuse counseling
  • Education
    • Free education based on aptitude testing. A person can increase their aptitude at any time and retest. You must prove you are capable of doing the work. Opportunities for all aptitudes along with educational opportunities to improve one's aptitude.
    • Online courses should be utilized to their fullest extent to curb expense.
    • Free laptop computers for students
  • Spending Money equal to the standardized deduction set by the IRS
    • Clothes
    • Living expenses
  • Free public transportation where available

To Qualify For The Minimum Standard Living

An individual, couple, or family cannot afford the non-minimum standard of living housing, and they are...

  • Employed
  • Attending an approved education program in person and/or online.
  • Starting up an approved business
  • Actively looking for a job
  • Legally disabled
  • 65+

Transitioning Out of Minimum Standard Living

An individual, couple, or family must transition out of the minimum standard of living when their income is 3 times the cost of decent, safe housing not provided by the minimum standard of living for two consecutive years. People can choose to opt-out of Minimum Standard Living anytime.

Ex. Rent non-minimum standard is $2000 P/Month you must earn $6000 P/Month after taxes for two consecutive years to not be eligible anymore. 

Benefits

  • End Homelessness
  • Increase US Skill base, Workforce Aptitude
  • Increase Opportunities for US Citizens
  • Decrease Crime
  • Create a Social Safety Net
  • Access to healthcare
  • Increase access to counseling in all areas, including psychological, substance abuse, carrier, education, family, and law. 
  • Create a Minimum Standard subsidized industry around required laws that will employ people and construct real property, goods, and services to support the law.

Common Objections

  • It costs too much money.
    • Rebuttal - Real money is gold and silver, which this law requires non. Federal Reserve notes are a contractual obligation between the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury.  Implementing Fiat currency through the Federal Reserve act in 1913 was a temporary act and a financial stability mechanism. The binding contractual obligations of the Federal Reserve act are only as valid as the solvency of the nation's people and their ability to produce and consume goods and services.  This law enhances the solvency of the people and, therefore, the stability of the Federal Reserve System.
    • Furthermore, the Federal Reserve is a private organization with owners that profit from its existence. The contractual obligations can be modified anytime our representatives, or the legal collective will of the people choose to. Therefore, modifications may include appropriations for a Minimum Standard without adding to the national debt. The mechanism to allocate funds by the Federal Reserve without adding it to our national debt already exists and is used to fund international financial institutions. The US Government can charter a separate central bank called the Minimum Standard Reserve. This currency would be allocated exclusively for the stability of the Minimum Standard and is only used in liquidity swaps with the Federal Reserve to fund the system. 
    • Currently, the Federal Reserve operates with no liability due to the US government and its people allowing it to control the US money supply. As reciprocity for these endowments, all liquidity swaps done with the Minimum Standard Reserve shall be interest-free. The Fed can choose to raise interest rates with foreign banks to pay this debt or offset it with its own assets. 

The above outline is a starting point to lay the foundation for the United States, where all its citizens will have the opportunity to truly pursue life, liberty, and happiness without unnecessary suffering from inadequate means. 

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What We Need From Our Leaders


Why good leaders make you feel safe | Simon Sinek



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Housing First Concept Explained


Housing First Concept by Jimmy Dore


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The Broken System That Does Not Work


Poverty, Politics, and Profit (entire film) | FRONTLINE


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Learn About Our Monetary System


Hidden Secrets of Money Ep 4 by Mike Maloney

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The Money Masters By Bill Still


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This video shows the Fed's ability to do liquidity swaps with foreign banks that do not affect our national debt. A similar mechanism could be created to fund a minimum standard.

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Professor Richard Wolff discusses the economic downfalls of the current system with Jimmy Dore. Richard Wolff has taught economics at Yale UniversityCity University of New YorkUniversity of UtahUniversity of Paris I (Sorbonne), and The Brecht Forum in New York City.

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Ex-Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufak, talks about the global financial infrastructure.


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Learn About Government Spending

The government already spends massive amounts of money on all kinds of programs. Some of the programs need major reform due to various forms of exploitation.

Prison System ($71,931,937,501/Year)

The U.S. prison system and the legal system need major reform. Since the abolishment of slavery, the prison system has functioned as the only form of legal slavery in the U.S. based on the 13th amendment. Eight states pay nothing to inmates. Those states include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. The states do pay very little, and the inmates simply pay for goods in the prison that profit from those sales.  

  • How much does the federal government spend on prisons?
    • Total federal spending on law enforcement and prisons totaled $71,931,937,501 in 2021. The most recent data for state and local government spending is from 2019 (via Census Bureau). The total funding obligated toward police and prisons that year was $205,221,733,000.Jan 20, 2022 (Source)
  • How much does it cost to house an inmate USA?
    • Among the 45 states that provided data (representing 1.29 million of the 1.33 million people incarcerated in all 50 state prison systems), the total cost per inmate averaged $33,274. It ranged from a low of $14,780 in Alabama to a high of $69,355 in New York. (Source)



Foreign Aid (50,000,000,000/Year)

Foreign aid helps many countries. However, that perception may not always be as accurate as it appears. US citizens never get to see any underlying agreements that come with specific foreign aid packages. Some packages include infrastructure development such as roads, power plants, resource mines, etc.  Defense packages that seek to arm, train, and recruit allies. https://foreignassistance.gov

How Much Does the U.S. Spend on Foreign Aid and Why?


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Here’s Why Foreign Aid Is a Scam | Doha Debates


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Confessions of an Economic Hitman - John Perkins



US Military Budget ($801,000,000,000)

US military spending amounted to $801 billion in 2021, a drop of 1.4 percent from 2020. The US military burden decreased slightly from 3.7 percent of GDP in 2020 to 3.5 percent in 2021. (Source)

  • Pentagon spending has totaled over $14 trillion since the start of the war in Afghanistan, with one-third to one-half of the total going to military contractors. (Source)

All Wars Are Bankers' Wars


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Thrive The Movie 

16 Million Views on YouTube




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