Wealth-producing jobs eventually produce more wealth than it costs to create them. The real cost of creating a wealth-producing job is less than zero. Creating these jobs does not cost, it pays.
Wealth-reducing jobs cost money to create, and they cost money to maintain them forever.
You cannot grow or sustain an economy unless you have more wealth-producing jobs than wealth-reducing jobs.
The reason the world's economies are such a mess today is that there is much less investment in wealth-producing activities and much more investment in the financial sector which benefits only a few.
In the past our economy grew because it produced more wealth every year. It was easy, because every good productive job has a paycheck and that money circulates, creating more jobs and more paychecks. Recently we have seen that for every good job you eliminate or export, you lose more jobs when that worker's paycheck is gone.
Unions can turn the tide by creating Super Jobs, which create wealth and security for union members and their customers while safely earning strong returns for pension funds.
Here are just two examples of programs that can safely earn pension funds 25% or more per year while creating thousands of Super Jobs.
1. Super Homes
Imagine a home with plenty of space that produces its own free energy and pure drinking water, has smart lighting and climate control. A home that is quiet even in a city, homes that entertains you with a built-in 10-foot wide HDTV screen and surround sound. Imagine a home that reduces hurricane insurance 88%. Imagine that this home pays its own down-payment and you can own it in 16 years for less than the cost of rent. This is a Super Home.
How many could you sell? As many as you could build, of course.
A union sponsored program could produce thousands of these homes at the same cost as conventional homes. Buyers get a Federal energy tax credit to use for the down payment. The monthly cost would be less than paying rent for an apartment. By applying energy and insurance savings directly to the mortgage, the home would be paid off in 16 years and save $75,000 in interest. Over the next 14 years, the savings on mortgage payments, energy and insurance would add up to more than the original price of the house. The home literally pays for itself!
The technology to build these homes exists. Building them would create thousands of new Super Jobs--and besides millions of potential buyers; every new worker would qualify to buy a Super Home, even at modest wages.
A Super Home would add more to a buyer's wealth than any amount of pay raises ever will, by reducing the biggest costs of living: housing prices, interest, energy and insurance. The amount of savings represents as much as 10 years of wages.
A union sponsoring this project could earn 25% of more on its investment, safely secured by fairly priced real estate. The strong earnings do not rely on selling the homes at high prices or big profits. In fact, a well-structured plan to build these homes for only 5% margin can earn more than 25% on invested capital. This strengthens the pension fund, but also creates wealth and economic security for union members and their families.
With a typical home there are many costs which raise the price but do not add to the value. As a union project, focused on benefitting the buyers and earning a strong return on investment (rather than a big profit on each house) these costs can be reduced or eliminated: sales commissions, corporate profits, marketing and advertising, as examples.
This is the kind of investment that keeps the union in control of its own capital and of the wealth-production process that generates the strong returns, while growing the union and providing unprecedented benefits to the members.
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