In celebration of Google's 10th anniversary, the company has created Project 10^100, a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.
According to the website, Google's name expresses the goal of achieving great results through smart technology that starts small and scales dramatically over time to have a tremendous long-term impact. Project 10^100 is a similar attempt to produce those kinds of scalable results by harnessing the insights and creativity individuals in the global community who are interested in helping others.
Google is committing $10 million to fund up to five ideas filtered by a rigorous selection process and ultimately chosen by an advisory board. The submission deadline was October 20, 2008, and apparently Google received over 100,000 entries.
I too submitted an idea, which is based on several of the concepts I've been researching these past four years.
Watch Video: Google's Project 10^100 :: World Changing Ideas | YouTube Version
As part of the submission process, each entrant was asked to answer several essay questions:
10. What one sentence best describes your idea?
This idea would promote economic opportunity by refinancing the national debt to provide citizens with a safe and effective savings plan.
11. Describe your idea in more depth.
This idea was originally designed to either supplement or replace the traditional employer based pension plan. It will allow workers greater flexibility to change jobs while still keeping the same savings plan. It will also help eliminate the economic uncertainty in investing for the future while providing protection from a loss of pension due to corporate layoffs, scandals, or bankruptcies.
The theory behind this savings plan is to refinance our national debt. When a person refinances a typical loan, the goal is usually to attain a lower interest rate. However, the goal of this idea is to attain a different distribution of ownership. Taxpayers currently forfeit hundreds of billions of dollars each year to pay the interest on the national debt, and this money provides no benefit and is essentially lost to us. This plan will begin to slowly refinance those parts of the national debt that are issued at the highest interest rates, transferring ownership from wealthy bond holders and foreign central banks to average citizens. Freedom isn't free, but we the people should be the ones earning the interest.
12. What problem or issue does your idea address?
For fiscal year 2008, the national debt increased by more than $1 trillion, and American taxpayers paid over $451 billion in interest expense on the over $10 trillion in total debt outstanding. The government currently finances most of these deficits through the sale of bonds at auction, borrowing money from investors who might otherwise lend this capital to businesses and individuals to promote productive economic activity. Meanwhile, our country currently has a very low personal savings rate, and the average American is saving less than 3% of personal income. This savings problem is worsened by the fact that bank accounts are paying very low interest rates, and the stock market has been extremely volatile. The government needs to find stable long-term financing for the national debt that does not drain money from the credit markets, and the American people need an effective savings plan.
13. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?
Everyone would benefit if we were able to refinance the national debt with individual savings accounts. The government would find stable long-term financing for our national debt, without the need to drain money from the credit markets. Businesses and individuals seeking credit would benefit, because when the government stops competing for this available capital, it may help lower interest rates for business loans. Also, the government would no longer need to borrow from foreign central banks, which means that instead of buying our bonds, these foreign countries could use their dollar assets to buy our goods and services, thus strengthening our economy. American citizens would benefit the most, because we would have the ability to save for our future while watching our savings grow. We would also have an investment in the country and a greater sense of responsibility and ownership in our democracy.
14. What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
The first step in implementing this idea will be the creation of a comprehensive draft outlining the function and structure of the savings plan. A detailed analysis of the logistics necessary for refinancing the national debt will also need to be conducted. This idea is extensive in scale, but much of the infrastructure needed for implementation already exists. For example, this idea could reinvent and revitalize some of the components from the traditional savings bond program, which has experienced dwindling participation in recent years as evidenced by bond sales. This idea could also leverage the electronic network used by the government's TreasuryDirect system, after making several ease-of-use adjustments to improve the user experience. Eventually, Congress will be needed to give the idea legislative approval, which may require a sponsorship by either the House Ways and Means Committee or the Senate Finance Committee.
15. Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?
The optimal outcome for this idea will be achieved when participation grows to include all citizens and the money that taxpayers currently spend on interest payments for the national debt flows into our individual savings plans. Optimally, participation will be a transformative experience that encourages and enables people to be financially successful. The first large-scale measurement of success for this idea would start in 2017, when the government will need to start refinancing over $4.2 trillion in Social Security trust fund assets as projected by the 2008 OASDI Trustees Report. The Social Security trust fund is currently being used as a source to fund our national debt, and refinancing this debt will be a significant achievement in helping to ensure our seniors receive full retirement benefits. Another measurement of success will be when other countries become interested in our program and start adopting similar savings plans for their citizens.
