I. Wealth redistribution

A. Taxes and Retirement

I’m going to work with rough, current numbers. You could index these numbers to inflation and manually reevaluate them from time to time. Income and investments would be taxed at the same rate. No single person would pay any tax of any kind on the first $30k of income they make. For married couples that would be $60k. Gays and lesbians would be able to marry. Those marking between $30k and $60k would be phased in on paying social security and medicare taxes, but would still not pay income tax. Unlike the current system, there would be no income level at which you stop paying into social security or medicare. In fact, I would make those taxes progressive. Those making between $60k and $100k would pay today’s rates. Those making more than $100k would pay slightly more. Those making more than $500k would pay slightly more than that. Remember, this is all income, including capital gains, previously untaxed annuities, etc. I would need a lot more research into the real numbers to get much more specific than this. I would stick with progressive taxation, but at rates and income levels that are truly progressive, unlike our current system.

I would maintain the current social security system that would provide a guaranteed pension for all workers. Company pensions would have to be fully funded, would be audited bianually, and the money in those pensions would not be available to be spent by the business. Any profitable company that was found to have an underfunded pension would have to pay all profit into the pension until it was fully funded. No company could liquidate its pension obligations via bankruptcy. In a bankruptcy, the employee pension fund would be the first creditor to be paid. Any bankrupt and liquidated company’s pension plan would be administered by the federal government after the company ceases to exist. No employer could convert its existing employees from a pension fund to a 401k without employee approval by a 60% vote. I would replace the company sponsored 401k with a government sponsored one. You could choose to have it administered by any major financial firm. Companies without their own pension plan would be obligated to match employee contributions into the 401k plan, for all employees, up to 5% of the employee’s income. Those making under $30k could, theoretically, end up with a “negative income tax” if their available tax credits (dependents, education, etc) allow.
B. Wages

The federal minimum wage would be set to $12.00 per hour. There would be a federal law that allowed 5% of employees to call for union vote. Said vote would occur within 30 days of the petition being filed. Any employee fired during a petition drive or within 6 months of a union election would have the option to demand that the employer prove their dismissal wasn’t related to their union activities. Union dues would be set annually by a vote in the local. Any employee who wishes to take an indefinite leave of absense to work for the union could do so 30 days after filing notice with their employer. All employees in all jobs anywhere in the U.S. would be entitled to two weeks of paid vacation, every calendar year. All non-supervisory employees would be eligible for unionization, whether they are french fry cooks, accountants, or computer scientists. If there are 3 employees in an office and two of them vote to unionize, the company must deal with them as a union. Public employees would have no greater or lesser workplace rights than private employees.
II. Infrastructure

Any county with more than 100,000 residents would have all government consolidated into either a single city/county government or just a county government. That would include one unified school district. Education funding and capital investment and improvements would be managed and funded at the state level. County school districts would be funded equally on a per student basis, regardless of local income or property values. The 70 largest metro areas in the country would be required to have a metropolitan transit authority that would run rail, light rail, streetcar, and bus service in the metro area. Metro areas would generally be multi-county. The federal government would be required to build and maintain all U.S. highways and Interstates. Cities or counties would provide water, sewer, trash, and electricity at cost. Rural areas could choose to maintain their water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure through non-profit cooperatives that are seed funded by the federal government if the local government lacks the resources to do so.

III. Corporations

The Sherman Anti-trust Act would be expanded and strengthened. Exxon-Mobil, ChevronTexaco, BP-Amoco, and ConocoPhillips would all be broken up. Any multinational corporation that wished to do business in the U.S. or that held more than 30% of any company doing business in the U.S. would be bound by the expanded Sherman Anti-Trust. Any company that met that definition would be bound by US environmental laws unless local laws elsewhere were more strict. Penalties for violating any laws by a corporation would be much, much steeper than they are today. Until corporate behavior changed, the corporate death penalty would be common.