The Capitalist Free Market Corrections Act (CaFMaC )*

This Correction: Section 72.  Young Adult Opportunity Trust Fund (YAOTF)

Section 72.  Plain English for the Voting Citizen:  1) Congress intends these measures to partially implement the Constitution’s mandate to “promote the general welfare,” popularly known as the American Dream. 2) Tax revenues from unearned wealth, capital holdings and inheritances will help fund a Life Opportunity Voucher (LOV) for every child born in America. 3) Upon high school graduation or age eighteen (18), every young American will be automatically enrolled in the National Service To America Corps (NSTAC) for three years (or, military enlistment will fulfill this compulsory obligation). 4) Upon completing NSTAC service or armed forces enlistment, a young person’s LOV may be redeemed  (up to age 30) to pay for a four-year undergraduate education or to help finance an entrepreneurial business startup. 5) A free four-year college education or equivalent trade school education, eliminating all cost to the student of fees above the cash value of the LOV, will be guaranteed to every young adult American.

The Legislative version:  A Young Adult Opportunity Trust Fund (YAOTF) is hereby established. In proactive pursuit of equal economic opportunity at all ages for all adult citizens of these United States, all revenues from the Unearned Income from Capital Wealth Tax (UICWT), the Total Capital Holdings Tax (TCHT), and the Unearned Wealth from Inheritance Tax (UWIT), among other sources of revenue, shall be deposited to the YAOTF. The YAOTF shall earn interest at the prevailing rate and shall be administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The SSA shall be budgeted for increased staffing as necessary to administer this Section.

Every young American, upon graduating from high school or reaching age eighteen (18), whichever occurs later, shall be automatically enrolled in the National Service To America Corps (NSTAC) which is hereby created. The normal term of service in the NSTAC shall be three (3) years. This obligation of service to the nation shall be compulsory for every American citizen, including handicapped and disabled persons, who shall carry out duties appropriate to each handicap or disability, and alternative service in the United States Armed Forces shall fulfill the obligation of service in the NSTAC. The National Interest Advisory Council shall define the Purpose and Goals of the NSTAC, and shall annually assist NSTAC administrators in formulating each year’s objectives.

The SSA shall issue a Life Opportunity Voucher (LOV) to every American child at birth. Under administrative rules established by the SSA, the LOV shall be redeemable by that child upon reaching age twenty-one (21) or upon completing the NSTAC service obligation or at least three (3) years of Armed Forces duty, whichever occurs later, and until age thirty (30), for investing in either 1) a four-year college or university undergraduate education or 2) to finance or help finance an entrepreneurial business startup. For persons who elect to complete a full military career, the LOV redemption amount upon retirement from the Armed Forces shall be doubled and paid out without qualification.

The LOV redemption level shall initially be set at the amount of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), and this amount shall thereafter be adjusted annually commensurate with inflation or other change in the United States economy. Parents and other donors may at any time deposit additional dollars to the child’s credit in the YAOTF and, as applicable, may opt to have their co-op bonuses, if any, likewise deposited to the child’s credit in the YAOTF. Except for persons who choose and complete a full military career, no portion of a young person’s entitled share may be redeemed after that person reaches age thirty (30). If a YAOTF-entitled young person has chosen not to launch an entrepreneurial startup or to go to college, or to quit college after completing less than a full college curriculum, the unredeemed portion of that person’s share shall default to the YAOTF and no claim may be made upon it thereafter.

An Interstate Commission on Higher Education (ICHE) is hereby created. With support from the U.S. Public Service Commission (PSC) created by this Act, and from each state’s agency responsible for higher education as willing and able, the ICHE shall within four years provide to this Congress a plan for ensuring a cost-free, four-year college or university undergraduate education, or equivalent certified trade school education, for every young adult American under age thirty (30). The plan shall specify ways and means to eliminate all cost to the student of tuition and fees totaling more than the two hundred thousand dollar ($200,000) LOV or applicable annual adjustments of this amount. High-end colleges eating any difference is not precluded.

With this measure, it is the intent of Congress to proactively extend the opportunity intended by the Constitution’s mandate to promote the general welfare, popularly known as the American Dream, to young American Citizens who are the nation’s future, at that time in life when they are most likely to be financially stressed, thereby sensibly ensuring to them at the front end of life a reasonable measure of that caring and economic security our society has conveyed on many (though not all) retirees at the other end of life, while simultaneously building public understanding that the nation is us, and We The People, collectively and each of us individually, are responsible for the wellbeing of our nation and all our fellow Americans.

*The Capitalist Free Market Corrections Act (CaFMaC ) and its dozens (over 100) of other delightful fixes to what’s gone wrong in the USA can be read in its entirety in my book POPULIST CORRECTIONS, 2021, available for only $20 from Fixy Populist Publications, PO Box 1367, Frankfort KY 40602.