UNITED SYSTEMS OF AMERICA! (Vol 7) Down Memory Lane

FDR declaring Social Security

FDR signs Social Security

Dwight D Eisenhower

This 4th of July is the Independence Day of USA. The declaration of Independence was passed by Congress in the year 1776.I used to wonder when we came first to US about 20 years back, what has made this country most prosperous country in the world. How can a country within such a short span of 245 years be the world leader? How is that all these immigrants from varied cultures come here and settle down and live happy? What makes the NRIs in US Happy? I found my answer in our first year 2001 in US!

 It is the Systems prevailing here that makes people happy here. It is United Systems of America to me and not United States of America. Simple systems but simply great systems! Every system here is standardized which in my opinion is responsible for the success of this country. 

There is one magic (SSN) Social Security number associated with your driving license, that helps in tracking every financial transaction of all citizens poor or rich. Everywhere we turn — from getting paid for an after-school job to buying a house — Americans are asked to provide their Social Security number. Without those nine digits, we don't really exist as U.S. citizens. Every income automatically becomes taxable due to this simple system which results in total elimination of tax evasion at lower and middle levels. 

Who is the architect of this economic success of this nation? It is President Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR)in my opinion. He is the only President who was elected the third term. The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the USA world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. The consumer economy grounded to a halt, and an ordinary recession became the Great Depression. By 1932, one of every four workers was unemployed. The highest rate of U.S. unemployment was 24.9% in 1933, during the Great Depression. 

Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935, in the middle of the Great Depression, with destitution stalking every community and family support structures crumbling. FDR proposed a program in which people contributed to their own future economic security by contributing a portion of their work income through payroll tax deductions. Basically, the current working generation would pay into the program and finance the retired generation’s monthly allowance.

Under Social Security workers receive a monthly stipend in the mail upon reaching retirement age. This scheme helps in elders financially independent of children. It is no longer a duty of the son to take care of their parent. The government takes care of senior citizens and the contribution of the young and able from their pay-check goes to some other senior citizen whom they do not know! You reap what you sow! This social security cannot be touched by future governments and the shortfall has to be adjusted by budget reconciliation.

Another President responsible for the success of this nation was Dwight D Eisenhower a moderate Republican who strengthened the Social Security program, increased the minimum wage and created the best of all the Highway System. 

In the summer of 1919, just months after the end of World War I, an expedition of 81 Army vehicles—a truck convoy—set out from Washington, D.C., for a trip across the country to San Francisco. Averaging about 6 miles an hour, or 58 miles a day, the trucks snaked their way from Washington arriving in San Francisco 62 days and 3,251 miles later. A generation later, during World War II, Dwight D. Eisenhower was still thinking about good roads as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, where he oversaw the invasion of Western Europe and the defeat of the Nazi army.

 "The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways," he wrote years later in his popular memoir. In 1956, Eisenhower created the Interstate Highway System, the single largest public works program in U.S. history, which would construct 41,000 miles of roads across the country.

 From the day President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, the Interstate System has been a part of  culture as construction projects, as transportation in American  daily lives, and as an integral part of the American way of life. Congress provided revenues from the federal gasoline tax to provide 90 percent of the cost of the construction of the interstates with the states picking up the remaining 10 percent. The technical standards for the highways were highly regulated—lanes had to be 12feet wide and shoulders 10 feet wide, the bridges had to have 14 feet of clearance, grades had to be less than 30 percent, and the highway had to be designed for travel at 70 miles an hour. The most notable attribute of the system is the limited access concept. The 42,000-mile system only has approximately 16,000 interchanges. Most of the economic development across the country in subsequent years happened around these constructed Freeways which is unique for this country as Public transportation is limited to few cities .The Automobile industry flourished in Detroit thanks to freeways creating huge employment opportunities across the country. 

 If you own a property in US, there are norms to fix the property tax. Property tax is quite high. This money however does not go to government. The money paid as taxes comes back to the residents. How? A fixed percentage goes to schools in that locality, police, library, roads etc. Their community is funded by the property owners in that area. If the city is well developed, then the property value goes up and the rental value also goes up. Now Einstein’s Law takeover. More is the Property value more is the Property Tax. The more property tax, I pay the more my city school gets and better will be my children education. Since the public school depends on the resident’s tax money, they have the right of admission anytime during the year for any class. All that they had to do is to get admission in the best school district  to become a tenant in that area .Take the house lease agreement to the school and your child is in the best school of your area the very next day without any test or interview of the child or parents and most important without a single dime! The Children go to the Best Public School funded 100% by us indirectly through taxes without our knowledge and get the best education. If you change job within US, no problem. Choose the good school district, get the apartment, and your child will be there next day in the best school. The system of schooling is common across all 50 States. Across all the States School Buses in Appearance look the same yellow and the reason is simple. The identity of the school bus helps in standardization and helps in forming rules for safety of the children. While children are boarding the bus all the traffic should stop as otherwise you will be given ticket for traffic violations. All the students have the right to take the school bus and it is free! 

 " I" Can Do is replaced by "ALL" can do in USA…Because of these Simple Systems! This way there is no room for 'Ego'. We were amazed not by the technology in US but by these simply great systems thanks to the foresight and vision of the Presidents like FDR and Eisenhower! 

Happy Independence day USA!

( To be Concluded)