The HOPE Bill

In the year 2024, the world has grown to increase its size to 24 billion people worldwide.  The increase in the population has caused the destruction of most farmland in the world, causing it to look underwater for a supply of food.  Private enterprises are currently farming and selling food that comes from underwater regions of the world.   However, a vast majority of the world is still not being fed.  On a percentage basis, though, we have fewer people unemployed than in 1996.  However, that still means that over a hundred million people are unemployed and double that are on welfare or homeless.  As a result, I am sponsoring a bill to the senate that will address this problem.

The HOPE program, Helping Others acquire Pride and Emancipation, will help the unfortunate people gain pride in what they do.  The HOPE will give back the pride that people need and deserve.  It will put people into a more productive and rewarding job by emancipating them out of the life each person is leading.

Twenty years ago, in the year 2004, the world implemented a youth program that was the exact opposite of Hitler's Youth.  For example, the program gives kids a feeling of self-confidence, and they become more tolerant of others and their views.  The program places all kids in situations to learn of other cultures and to gain a caring and understanding in all situations, people caring for the plight of others.  In the fourth through the sixth grade, all kids are required to complete at least 5 hours of community service each week; in high school, they are required to complete ten hours a week. This

 program has caused the world to gain a more caring, empathetic attitude towards the well-being of others.  "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."   This was the groundbreaking program that people had been waiting for so that a program  like mine could enter the senate.  To solve the problem of the unemployed, the homeless, and the welfare recipients, I will propose a new bill, talk about the arguments against my bill, and present solutions to the arguments.

The first part of the plan is to have a world-wide benefit to raise money to help pay for the program.  Jerry Lewis raised millions of dollars for muscular dystrophy.  In the year 2000, a  cure for this debilitating disease was found as a result of these "telethons".  People will donate money to a worthy cause such as the one that I am proposing.  Movie stars, professional athletes, cyberspace and virtual reality actors, politicians, and the "keepers of life" will participate along with others.  We will be able to raise most of the money but will need the government to contribute its share to fund such an aggressive and comprehensive program.

A government sponsored program is needed if we are to attack poverty.  Every country will need to contribute a certain amount of money.  How many people it has, what its financial status is, and what resources it has will be the determining factors for their share.  We will also need to consider the resources that each country can offer the rest of the world.  The vast population of the world will also need more food if we are to provide for the needy; therefore, we will need to join with other countries and build more underwater farmlands.  This will open up many more jobs.  Each country will offer training and education for each person.  The training can be anything in which the economy has a need for that person and what he wants to do.  The training and education will begin after a group is finished with its shift.  The rest of the individuals that can not contribute to the underwater farms for other reasons will go into construction to build more houses for the homeless.

United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal program in the 1930s to counteract unemployment and other problems caused by the Great Depression. As part of his New Deal policy, Roosevelt created the Works Projects Administration (WPA) in 1930's. The WPA employed 8.5 million people in various public works projects between 1935 and 1943, or approximately 9% of the United State's population.

Some arguments against my proposal would include one declaring that the budget would again become a deficit.  After more than fifty years, we balanced the budget and it has stayed balanced for five years.  The United States is still 12 trillion dollars in debt, and the senate wants to reduce this.  Another argument:  how do we convince the rest of the world to join forces and agree with the program to better improve their economic status?  Private enterprises will try to submarine the program because now the government will be producing food and reducing its profit on the monopoly privately controlled.

A solution is that this proposal would get people off welfare and unemployment; therefore, they will start paying taxes.  The taxes would increase the revenue stream.  As each person is trained and educated, he will get a job and become more productive.  The money the country would save by eliminating welfare or unemployment would serve to decrease the expenditure the program would cost.  Another solution:  we will have a worldwide committee run the farming program.  The committee will be composed of one representative from each country.  This person will be either appointed or elected by either the leader or the people.  This program would actually save money in time by getting the poor into productive jobs and adding to the budget of the world.  As incomes of individuals increase, they will spend more money.  Corporations will increase their revenues because of these expenditures.  When companies make more money, they have the ability to expand their capacity.  Thus, new jobs will be created, jobs that the newly trained and educated workers can fill.

In conclusion, the world has had numerous depressions.  The most devastating of these were in the 1930's and 2010's.  For more than two centuries, the United States has argued and fought over welfare and unemployment.  Many people today still want to do away with both programs.  We need to remake the Declaration of Independence where all men have certain unalienable rights:  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  This bill provides the atmosphere and environment for those less fortunate to pursue these rights.  The lagniappe of this bill, the world receives much needed food and gets to encompass additional productive grateful citizens.  Look to your heart before you vote on this bill.  Only one conclusion is possible:  why has it taken us so long to adopt such measures?  I thank you for your understanding and sponsorship of this HOPE program.