A month ago I published Fifty Ways to Fix Capitalism. This is the results of the poll.

Many of you are writers as well as readers and wonder why some stories earn hundreds of dollars while most earn only a few. I know most views turn into reads. The pay per read is high enough and the interactions are frequent enough to know readers are not turned away by the first few paragraphs.

The possibilities are poor headlines, poor lead photos, nobody is interested in the topic, or Medium is throttling stories to highlight newbie fluff as other writers have speculated.

So here we are. The results of asking my readers what they want to read. I'm showing only those that got four or more hilights/mentions. The numbers are incomplete because Medium decided not to report counts of highlights any more.

Special thanks to Frederick Bott [Bott]. He left a comment for every item. I included the comments that prodded me into deeper thinking. I didn't include my response threads because they would have turned this into a 20 minute slog.

Some comments have been edited for length.

End corporate extraction of wealth: 10 highlights

The rich are siphoning off our national wealth by ownership of land and property, subscriptions on things we own, rent, and profit.

11. Corporate regulation (and governance) 8h (topics 11–13)

Increase tax rates on higher income brackets by taxing capital gains above certain lifetime amounts, taxing unrealized capital gains, and taxing inheritances to reduce income inequality. Raise taxes on private foundations

Comment by [JD]'s Stories From the Mountain on Banking and Finance Reform

Reforms in this sector will cut income [of] the Wall Street execs. Every single economic policy in America is geared toward making the wealthy wealthier, allowing the wealthy to keep and maintain that wealth.

[JD] Only in America are large multinational corporations legally considered people for the purpose of funding (buying) the government (Congress).

12. Increased Worker Representation: Include workers on corporate boards and in decision-making.

13. Limiting Executive Pay: 5h

Cap executive compensation to a function of average worker pay and tie it to company performance. Companies routinely distort the average pay by contracting cleaning and security to firms that pay less and have fewer benefits.

Ensure people's basic needs are met for all 7 h

There are a dozen or so fundamental needs that must be met by any type of society, especially a modern one. Which ones are best fulfilled by the larger community and which ones by private enterprise?

5. Universal Healthcare: 7 h

Provide universal healthcare to ensure access to medical care for everyone. Medicare for all is the most cost-effective way to do it. Bernie Sanders did the math to prove it could be free.

7. Basic Income Support: 5h

BIS would replace government safety nets like unemployment, SNAP, welfare, and housing assistance with a single program that provides income support without over-management. It has been tried and it works. In Alberta, Canada, 90% used it for purposes like continuing their education or paying accumulated bills. All of Alaska receives a dividend from the state.

[Josue Reynoso]: Wouldn't [BSI] just increase the price of basic goods and price out the people who need them? Supply and demand… Increasing the basic income wouldn't be a solution, because it would just feed the inflation spiral.

1. Change tax policies: 6h for 1–3

BIS would replace government safety nets like unemployment, SNAP, welfare, and housing assistance with a single program that provides income support without over-management. It has been tried and it works. In Alberta, Canada, 90% used it for purposes like continuing their education or paying accumulated bills. All of Alaska receives a dividend from the state.

[Bott] Tax can't fix anything, just makes it worse. All it does is increase the pressure on all individuals to make more profit, which traces directly to increasing temperature. Why not eliminate … business of tax, … by issuing solar indexed stimulus to all, removing the need of all to engage in business for profit?

[Tony Atkinson] tax the churches

[JD] I think this is called socialism by Republicans and would drive them nuts. But when you think about it, allowing government to make, issue, and store money … hand it out and them tax it in order to get it back … is a great business model for the government, not the people.

29. Immigration reform: for the highly skilled, highly educated.

We need to fast-track doctors and other medical workers. We have more programmers than we could shake a stick at, but other STEM professionals are needed. We need to bank brains. Putting those already here on a track to citizenship, fulfilling broken promises and adding law-abiding hard-worker

[JD] Unfortunately, Immigration reform in America under Republicans will mean concentration camps and mass deportation, ignoring the fact that every one of these immigrants, illegal or not, who are working pay into the tax and social security system. Remove 10 or 20 million, then what? Businesses will not have workers and the government's finances will crumble.

[Fedor Butochnikow]: [I]ntroduce progressive immigration policy to allow more people to settle in North America, from USA to Canada, with adequate housing development incentives in place, without which I am afraid the cost of living would only skyrocket.

23 Education Reform: 5h

The US education system is failing our expectations. At its heart, the elementary school system is a product of the German system of a century and a half ago to provide compliant workers and soldiers. We don't need compliant workers. We need innovators and flexible thinkers who can cope with whatever the system can throw at them. The educational system is utterly failing them. The California teachers union thinks students should have two hours of homework. What the hell ever happened to personal time? College education needs serious rethinking.

[ArdeloVant]: Public Schools must remain inclusive for all children/adults. Alternative charter, magnate… public schools were always wrong for public education. Increase the per-child funding, improve facilities, and innovate in education with student personal technology, AI, Avatar Populated Environments (APE) for national development for "Open" MOOCS/OCW subjects with flexibility and auto-adjust of AI/APE learning models for learning skills and needs. Always include ESL functions with reading, writing, math, Civics, History, Geography, Fine Arts… and Trades. Make sure there is some student self-guided interest for minor interests, hobbies… and social skills.

36. Rethinking Economic Growth: 5 h

Develop alternative measures of economic progress that include well-being and sustainability.

37. Degrowth: 4h

Actually falls under 36. Rethinking Economic Growth

4. Strengthening Labor Unions: 4h

Empower workers to negotiate better wages and benefits. Make unions automatic for companies with over 500 workers.

Other Comments

[Mark Aubuchon]: "What are our universal Human truths, values and standards we want to live by?" This will form the foundation of our vision for the future. Maybe some topics like this could be a start.

1. Truth is fundamental in all things. It's almost impossible to have right thoughts and take right actions without understanding the truth. Operating on mis-perceptions is operating blindly.

2. Justice must be applied equally to all people. The weak and disadvantaged need to be cared for and we must guard against offering special rights to the rich and powerful.

3. All life on the planet has the right to exist and we must protect it.

4. Climate change is a grave threat to our health as a species and possibly to our existence.

5. All people on this planet should be treated fairly and equally, unless they fail to treat others with the same respect.

6. Economic systems are meant to serve the people in the broadest sense, not just the wealthy and the oligarchs. Wealth inequality is a sign of a failed economic system. Great debt is a sign of a failed economic system.

7. When governments don't serve the needs of the people, they must be corrected or replaced.

8. War is an extreme evil. We must eliminate the ability for countries to wage war

9. We all benefit when every human has the opportunity to achieve their full potential through education, job opportunities, spiritual advancement, and healthcare then give back to the community.

[D'Artemis] on Public Transportation

High-speed rail will not offer anyone a safe ride home in the wee hours, much less efficient commuting options. Safe spaces for late night commuters or even reduced frequency of transport would be desirable.

[Lucas Altic] on Forgiving Student Debt

Strong disagree here. In fact, do the opposite: increase student interest rates and tighten college admissions processes. Only accept the top 5% of students from any given high school into college. Strongly fund and incentivize vocational school attendance and bring back dignity to the trades.

[Fodor] Should be eliminated for anyone who scores above 90%

[Paul Byron Wheatley]: On the political process of reform

In general, most if not all of the ideas proposed by the author would require Government cooperation. This will not happen unless we reform the political process. I say figure out a way to change the laws and require term and age limits for Congress and the Senate.

Second reform is related; banish lobbying and campaign financing.

[Fincher steve] Love your liver, stop drinking that schnapps, pops.

Topics I was surprised that did not make the cut

Reform Corporations & Financial Markets didn't make it even in the aggregate of unique highlighters or comments.

25. Public Transportation: nada. That was a disappointment, because it's fun to write about. I guess I will have to limit myself to quickie rants.

30. Protect jobs in proximity services: perhaps the title was a little too technical. It means how to make jobs local, jobs where you live. Nursing is local, So is McDonalds, although not particularly desirable. A remote job where you work from home is local.

35. Community Land Trusts and Affordable Housing: another technical label where the encompassing topic is how to take control of housing away from corporations and put into the hands of the occupants. Evergreen building: how to build houses in America that last for 300 years without needing remodeling every 20 years and new appliances every 10. OTOH with the aid of a good engineer anyone can do it right now.

Shift Cultural Values and Encouraging Innovations got almost no interest at all. Perhaps that was due to the length of the article.

Lessons from the exercise

Readers are not necessarily into my hot topics. I also infer that they are not interested in reading about the patches that too many people are proposing. Big issues need to be well thought out with references, but smaller issues can be shorter, even rants. That works for me, because my readers are happy to point out the flaws and I can fix them.

From a personal development perspective, I learned a lot. The first 4 or 5 pages are easy to write, the second 5 are much more time consuming. I may experiment with evolving stories, where the second iteration includes readers' reflection.

I have been using AI to gather notes for draft 0, but it seems more distracting than helpful. It's actually more work than proofing and fact-checking the first draft. It is quite a bit of drudgery to edit an AI response back to my voice, let alone 40 pages of the stuff. I am thinking of using Gemini for fact checking the first draft. It seems promising.

My goal is to write one or two stories a month that flower for a season.

Thank you very much for aiding me in my experiment.

Other Stories

Barefoot in the Winter and Pregnant in the Summer Fifty Ways to Fix Capitalism Capitalism Uses High Tech To Mire You In Lifetime Debt American Democracy is Dying at the Hands of Psychopaths Why Capitalism is Dead and Its Heir is Neo-feudalism Children are no Longer an Asset, They are a Burden

© Copyright Russell Salsbury, 2024