The following are some brainstorming ideas for addressing the national debt. They illustrate a starting point for the structured innovation process the NPC will teach. The contest encourages innovation, but will also be pragmatic in that it will identify flaws in the brainstormed proposals and then search for ways the flaws might be overcome.
- 0.25% Across the board budget reduction. If a budget is not agreed to, this proposal will automatically reduce the budget by 0.25% for each government department. The rationale is that large organizations have waste. A 0.25% budget cut will not significantly impact services. The budget cut although small, will signal to debt rating companies that the government is serious about reducing its debt. This should help the government secure more favorable interest rates for its financing.
- Audit Corps. In the same way that citizens have jury duty citizens would have audit duty. Volunteer retired citizens audit a government process that is similar to work they did in their career. Retired Teachers might audit the department of education. The Audit Corps will produce reports evaluating the cost efficacy of government processes. The end result being that citizens regain trust in government processes and government departments gain perspective on how to improve their processes.
- Government Pensions Adjusted Based on the National Debt. The pensions of government employees would be adjusted within a range based on the change in the national Debt while they were working. The adjustments would be moderate so there is not a significant change in the standard of living but the adjustment would be large enough to encourage conservative spending.
Meet In the Middle 