12 Metrics
Nearly 60 years ago, Robert F. Kennedy criticized the use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a gauge for the quality of life in America. It measures everything, he said, “except that which makes life worthwhile.” The jubilee offers a better path forward by identifying clear policy goals for 2025 around 12 metrics (costs, numbers, or percentages) to evaluate and improve quality of life.
This year, the first six tend toward individual economics, the last six toward broader societal issues. Different metrics will be chosen in future years. By starting with a shared vision of desired outcomes and generating policy using a consensus-generating mechanism, a package of reforms can be produced.
- $ owed on the national debt: decrease
- % of Americans living in poverty: decrease
- % of Americans covered by health insurance: increase
- # of hours of paid family leave: increase
- # of annual housing starts: increase
- % of Americans who are literate: increase
- # of incarcerated people: decrease
- # of nuclear weapons: decrease
- # of gun deaths: decrease
- # of undocumented immigrants: decrease
- # of abortions: decrease
- # of pounds of plastic production per capita: decrease
Want to see America make progress on these goals? If Donald Trump accepts them and declares the jubilee, we can reboot our political system and move us to a post-partisan framework.