What is Onus Pro?
The Onus Pro Movement
The Onus Pro Movement envisions change at the national level. Onus Pro has extensive knowledge of the inner-workings of our American Economy. So, it should come as no surprise that the economy is where we have chosen to make a difference.
Onus Pro is interested in re-defining how consumers think. We want to help consumers support U.S. business better. If we can change how consumers see business, we can lower the business cost associated with convincing consumers to buy. This, in turn, could result in a lower price of goods for consumers. And this lower cost of goods could be achieved without a loss in profit for the business.
Onus Pro is also interested in re-defining the way businesses buy products for sale in the United States. We are interested in changing the way the supply chain works. This way, consumers can have access to higher quality products at the same or reduced prices.
Onus Pro is also interested in supporting the production of products here in the United States or the production of products overseas that are aligned with American dedication to high quality. Production from within the U.S. alone could streamline the supply chain and improve the American consumer condition as products produced from within the country travel a shorter distance to market. Furthermore, production of products overseas that adhere to a strict emphasis on high quality can also improve the American consumer's condition, because purchased items that are of high quality would last longer ... and therefore would not need to be replaced as often.
Feel free to read more about the movement by visiting this website:
Onus Pro Movement
What are Best Practices?
What are Best Practices?
Onus Pro Best Practices is the Onus Pro way of sharing our "micro-suggestions" for a better economy. (See our other websites for more information on our broader movement, goals, and objectives.)
What does this mean? It means that you can come to this website to view our various suggestions for improvement throughout the economy at the micro-level.
For example, considering that our company is interested in economic improvements, what does that mean for the auto repair industry? It means that the auto-repair industry should implement certain best practices. What does this mean for the retail business industry, communications industry, transportation industry, and other industries? It means that these industries would better serve the United States consumer if certain best practices were implemented.
As determined by the structure of the Consumer Price Index, there are eight major categories of goods and services in the United States. This means that we can make suggestions for best practices in each of these categories, and have it result in a better, more healthy, more productive ... United States Economy.
Think of it this way: didn't we call our country the "United" States? We did use the word "United," didn't we? We didn't call ourselves the "Separate" States, did we? Ok. Therefore, it means that we have to do things in a united way. We have to stay focused on the overall goal. We have to fix problems "as a whole." We shouldn't just "steer a benefit" to a certain group or certain individuals.
We we should all focus on "steering the ship" to the "us, us, us" not the "me, me, me." That's the plan. Are you with us?
Why Is "Best Practicing" Important?
Best Practicing is a concept whereby our country would be constantly vigilant about applying best practices to all of the industries that together represent the United States Economy. With this approach, we would not wait until something happens. We would not wait until there is an incident that prompts public out-cry. Instead, we would take responsibility for our own "betterment" and discover the issues, collect the data, analyze that data. Then, we determine the best practice that applies and work to get it implemented. A national crisis or a public protest should not be not necessary.
Outcomes of Constant "Best Practicing"
Best Practicing is important. Why? Because if it is implemented across the United States Economy, it would result in substantial improvements to the costs of doing business. It would also result in substantial improvement to the lives of minorities ... because more money would flow to them as well as others, overall. Furthermore, since these best practices are "micro-solutions" ... they are hard to argue against. Why? Because they do not cost that much to implement. And pressing for these solutions sends a strong and clear message to those who work to irritate, corrupt, break, and mis-use business models. It sends this message: we are watching you!
If for no other reason, implementing Best Practicing and keeping them implemented on a constant basis would not only improve current situations. It would compel the economy to function as it is intended. It would also function as a deterrent against those who have been busy manipulating the rules and the outcomes, quietly ... in the dark.
Let's help to put a bright shiny smile on the face of our United States Economy, shall we?
What are Major Groups?
It's All About the FRATMOEH!
In the United States of America, consumer who spend their money on goods and services spend it in eight different areas. The Consumer Price Index is a survey collected by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. They have named these eight categories "Major Groups."
F.R.A.T.M.O.E.H. is an acronym created by Onus Pro to help us remember these eight Major Groups.
F = Food and Beverages
R = Recreation
A = Apparel (Clothing)
T = Transportation
M = Medical Care
O = Other Goods and Services
E = Education and Communication (Including Technology)
H = Housing
Read below for a list of various "best practices" that cover these eight Major Groups. These best practices have mostly come from persons working in these industries. When ever someone in the Onus Pro "crew" discoveries or is given a solution to a problem that exists in an American industry, we document the problem and micro-solution, here.
These posts are designed to bring about awareness to the micro-solutions needed to address problems in American industry, as organized by the either Major Groups.
Addressing Cost Levels By Major Group
Addressing Cost Levels By Major Group
One way to address the economic problems facing most Americans is to lower the cost of living. While most modern day approaches have centered around better innovation or a drive to be fiscally responsible in order to have more money to spend when one needs it, there is another solution that is not being given its proper attention: lower costs.
Furthermore, the effort to lower costs is not only not being given attention ... it is not being dealt with on a level of detail that is necessary to effect change. To fill this void, there are two things that need to be done: (1) lower costs for the goods and services in these eight major groups, and (2) look in to implementation of the detailed "best practices" articulated in this website's Blog Post. These two approaches, when done together, can result in a lower cost of living and and better living experience for everyone.
Food - Discover, Investigate, and Prosecute Racketeering in the Food Industry
Lowering the cost of food in the United States would involve an aggressive effort at dealing with racketeering in the Food Industry.
The Food and Drug Administration should perform a national industry-wide audit on every single company involved in this industry to discover, investigate, and prosecute companies actively participating in racketeering. Monopolistic patterns should also be studied and dismantled.
Some companies are using active and aggressive anti-competition tactics to harm small businesses and small farms who are most often offering higher quality food products to the consumer. By stifling these companies’ efforts at competition, the large conglomerates impede competition and thereby allow their lower-quality, higher-profit, lower-nutrient products to be the only ones available to the consumer for consumption.
Addressing these aggressive practices in the food industry would go a long way in lowering the medical costs associated with consuming toxic food products thereby lowering the costs associated with food.
Food - Policy Changes, Consumer Strategies, and Food Production Changes
Lowering the cost of food in the United States would also involve a combination of policy changes, consumer strategies, and efforts by food producers to manage resources effectively.
1. Increase Access to Affordable Produce
Community Gardens: Cities and communities can encourage community gardening to grow fresh produce locally. This can reduce the cost of fruits and vegetables while promoting local food security.
Farmers' Markets and Co-ops: Community-supported agriculture programs (CSAs), co-ops, and farmers' markets can offer fresher, more affordable produce by cutting out the middleman and supporting local farms.
Urban Farming and Vertical Farms: Investing in urban agriculture and vertical farms can bring fresh food closer to urban centers, reducing transportation costs and helping to keep prices down.
2. Reduce Food Waste
Household and Retail Waste Reduction: About 30-40% of food is wasted in the U.S. Reducing waste at both the retail and household levels can help keep prices lower by stabilizing demand and making production more efficient.
3. Improve Agricultural Efficiency
Sustainable Farming Practices: Encouraging regenerative agriculture, which improves soil health, helps retain water, and reduces the need for expensive fertilizers, can cut production costs over time.
Investment in Agri-Tech: Technology like precision farming and drought-resistant crops can reduce costs for farmers, which could be passed on to consumers. Crop rotation, more efficient irrigation, and using AI for crop management can also help.
Subsidizing Organic or Small Farms: Supporting smaller, local farms with subsidies or low-interest loans could reduce reliance on expensive industrial farming inputs and lower market prices for organic produce.
4. Policy and Tax Incentives
Reducing Tariffs on Imports: Lowering tariffs on food imports could lower the price of certain foods, especially those not easily grown in the U.S.
Increasing SNAP Benefits and Expanding Eligibility: This would make healthy food more accessible for low-income households and also encourage bulk purchases by stores, which can lead to lower prices.
Price Regulation or Subsidies on Staples: Government subsidies on staple foods like grains, beans, and dairy products could help ensure affordable prices for basic food items.
5. Consumer Choices and Behavioral Changes
Buying in Bulk: Buying staple foods in bulk and storing them properly can help reduce per-unit costs.
Meal Planning and Seasonal Eating: Planning meals around seasonal produce and discount stores can save money. Seasonal items are often cheaper because they're more readily available.
Encouraging Plant-Based Eating: Shifting to more plant-based diets can help reduce demand for more expensive animal-based products and lower food costs overall.
6. Supply Chain Improvements
Transportation and Storage Efficiency: Reducing transportation and storage costs, for example by investing in more efficient refrigeration and shorter supply chains, can cut costs.
Strengthening Local Food Systems: Developing local food networks can reduce transportation costs and shorten the path from farm to table, which can lead to savings.
Conclusion
Each of these strategies, alone or in combination, can help reduce food costs by tackling issues from different angles, from household budgeting to national policy.
Food - Implementing Food Bans
Lowering the cost of food in the United States would also involve implementing food bans. Read this article below.
Foods Banned in Other Countries (But Not in the United States) (1)
(Land of the Free and Home of the Questionable Ingredients)
"If you've traveled overseas, you might have noticed that some of your favorite American snacks are nowhere to be found in many countries. It's not because Europeans haven't heard of Pop-Tarts either, guys. It's because many of our favorite, widely accessible foods, snacks, and drinks contain ingredients considered harmful or potentially dangerous by other countries.
Here are some foods you can find in just about any grocery store in the U.S. that you won't find outside the 50 states.
Ritz Crackers
Wouldn't ya know, a cracker that's all the rage in America is considered an outrage abroad. Ritz crackers are outlawed in several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Brazil. These seemingly innocent, salt-dusted snack vessels contain potassium bromate, which is a possible human carcinogen that poses potential health risks. You'll also find the flour additive in things like bread and bagels.
Mountain Dew
It's not all that alarming that a carbonated, caffeinated soda that looks like radioactive waste is illegal in other countries. The culprit here is the emulsifier that was used in the beverage for many years, brominated vegetable oil. BVO led to the Dew being dubbed a "don't" in about 100 other countries outside the US of A, although the drink no longer contains the ingredient because of the controversy surrounding it.
Coffee-mate Creamer
Coffee-mate may just be the quintessential creamer in the States. Abroad is a different story though. In countries like Denmark, Hungary, Austria, and Norway, you won't be enjoying your morning cup of java with your best mate. That's because it contains hydrogenated oil, which is a prime perpetrator of trans fat and according to the Mayo Clinic, that's the worst type of fat you can consume.
Gatorade
How do they even celebrate huge sports victories in other countries if they can't douse the coach in electric shades of Gatorade? The electrolyte drink is banned in Europe because it contains a handful of outlawed ingredients including brominated vegetable oil, Yellow 5 and 6, and Red 40, all of which have been linked to health risks in some form or fashion.
Farm-Raised Salmon
You won't find farmed salmon in countries like New Zealand and Australia. That's because during its production synthetically manufactured astaxanthin is used to give the flesh its reddish hue. In wild-caught salmon, astaxanthin occurs naturally, so there's no need to create a synthetic substance.
Skittles
Being that artificial food dyes like Yellow 5 and 6 and Red 40 are massively outlawed abroad, it's no wonder you can't taste the rainbow there. These colorful candies are packed with artificial colors and flavors, making them off-limits overseas.
Twinkies
When it comes to snack cakes, Twinkies are one of America's most iconic, but they are not a universal treat. Overseas, these cream-filled spongecakes are banned because they contain Yellow 5, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils — a treasonous trifecta in several countries.
Frosted Flakes
They're grrrr — OTESQUE! That's what Tony must say in Japan and the European Union because Frosted Flakes are illegal there. The Butylated Hydroxytoluene found in the breakfast cereal has been linked to health concerns including endocrine disruption and organ-system toxicity.
Swiss Rolls
The snack cake section at an American grocery store would straight up shock foreigners. You might look at a Little Debbie Swiss Roll and think it's just an innocent cream filling stuffed inside normal chocolate cake, covered with a chocolate coating. Not quite. Apparently, Lil Deb feels the need to embrace Yellow 5 and Red 40 to achieve that chocolatey color. Imagine the blasphemy someone from Switzerland would claim upon finding out the correlation between this snack's name and list of ingredients.
Certain Meats
US chicken, US pork, and pre-packaged ground beef are just some of the meats you won't be able to purchase abroad that you can find at any grocery store in the States. The guidelines for meat are entirely different outside of the 50 states.
Maraschino Cherries
Most maraschino cherries as we know them contain Red 40 and as we've covered a couple of times now, that ingredient is a huge no-no in tons of other countries.
Pop-Tarts
Because Pop-Tarts contain artificial food dyes, they're not a universal breakfast treat. Yellow 5 and 6 and Red 40 can all be found in your favorite Pop-Tart flavors.
Wheat Thins
Another one of America's favorite crackers is banned in Japan and Europe, but Wheat Thins are outlawed for a different off-limits ingredient: BHT, which as we mentioned earlier, is a possible carcinogen."
(1) Article Obtained on 10/26/24 from:
https://www.aol.com/13-foods-banned-other-countries-130000126.html
Recreation
The cost of recreation can be lowered by implementing a tax-sheltering mechanism for low-income individuals. They should be able to receive from the manufactuer a weight bench, dumbells, and a bicycle, at no charge. Having access to these items is just what is needed, in a time of need, to make it possible for the person to exercise at no charge, lower the number of health problems, feel better about themselves, and lower their dependance on drugs and alcohol.
Apparel
The cost of clothing could be lowered by taking a more organized approach to recycled clothing. Many people frequent second hand stores and other used clothing stores in search of low-cost clothing. Furthermore, there are many wealthy people who have a habit of never wearing the same piece of clothing more than once. These two phenomena alone could result in a huge availabilty of free clothing. This could be done by (1) picking up clothing from the wealthy in an organized manner and providing them with a tax write-off for the full-market-price of the used clothing as if it was new, and (2) organizing a national databse of the clothing making it easily discoverable, and (3) creating a clothing delivery system that delivers the clothing to people who need it.
Transportation - Eliminating Vehicle Impounding
The cost of transportation can be lowered by implementing several initiatives. First, the activity of impounding and then destroying people's cars when they have outstanding tickets or other isses with their car needs to be eliminated. When someone is not paying their car payment on time, and the car is repossessed ... selling that car at auction needs to also be eliminated. No one is going to come up with money they don't have just because you threaten to take their car. Furthermore, once the car is taken, all that does is take one more person out of the Economy and cost them the transportation they need to make it back and forth to a job and earn money.
The solution is to temporarily take the car and then launch a case-working process that addresses the issues, resolves them, and then returns the car back to the person who owns it.
In this manner, more people will have their issues addressed and more people will as a result re-enter society as working class citizens. They will continue to make a living and continue to earn money that they can in turn spend in the economy.
Transportation - Promoting One-Person Vehicle Transportation
In modern day times, in 2024, it is clear that cars still dominate the American commute. And because many people are in their cars alone when they commute, there is no reason why every single American shouldn’t support the proliferation of one-person vehicle transportation.
One-person vehicle transportation would take up less space in a parking lot, cost less to insure, cost less to purchase, and give off fewer emissions.
Promoting wide-spread use of these kinds of vehicles would actually increase the “level of use” for our infrastructure, without actually having to “build” more infrastructure.
For example, let’s say that there was a parking lot that held 200 cars. If that same lot was filled up with one-person vehicles, it would easily be able to hold 200 of them. Furthermore, there would be no need to expand the lot to accomplish this goal, because the one-person vehicle is half the size of a regular car.
According to Statista Consumer Insights:
“73 percent of American commuters use their own car to move between home and work, making it by far the most popular mode of transportation. Meanwhile, only 13% of [the respondents] use public transportation, while 11% ride their bike.”
The American Community Survey that is published by the Census Bureau reached a similar conclusion. Here are what they observed:
1. The mean one-way travel time in 2023 was 26.8 minutes, higher than in 2022. The percentage of workers with a one-way travel time of 60 minutes or more in 2023 was 8.9 percent, higher than in 2022.
2. The percentage of workers who drove alone to work in 2023 was 69.2 percent, higher than in 2022. The percentage of workers who worked from home in 2023 was 13.8 percent, lower than in 2022. The percentage of workers who took public transportation to work in 2023 was just 3.5 percent.
The Census Bureau’s statistics make sense. And they are consistent with another basic statistic that has persisted in the United States for decades: average employment wages go up about 5% a year, while average house prices go up 5% to 15% to 30% a year.
Mathematically, then, it’s only a matter of time before people end up having to driver further and further from home to make it to work … while having to living farther away from work to be able to afford to have a house.
Transportation - No-Cost Individualized Transportation
Providing no-cost individualized transportation can help with a case-working process designed to assist someone in addressing their challenges in building independence and sustainability. Furthermore, one-person vehicles could be used for this purpose.
For example, let's say that someone's car is impounded. In the interim, the person could be given a one-person vehicle as a short-term rental owned by the local government.
The vehicle could be equipped with a breathalyzer to prevent driving while intoxicated. It could be equipped with a GPS tracker to monitor the vehicle’s whereabouts. It could be equipped with audio and video recording to document activities done inside to discourage the vehicle’s involvement in illegal activities.
Taking an approach like this would provide the challenged person with a means to make it back and forth to work until they figure out how to get their car out of the impound lot.
Transportation - Proliferation of Diesel Engine Use
The cost of transportation would be lowered by increasing the amount of time between when a person buys a car for transportation and when they need to buy another car for transportation. This can be accomplished by extending the overall length of time that a will last before it needs to be replaced.
Increasing the overall amount of time for a car's replacement can be accomplished by switching from gasoline car engines to diesel car engines. This switch is already wide-spread in the trucking business. Diesel trucks routinely 500,000 to 900,000 thousand miles before the engine needs to be replaced. However, a gasoline engine only lasts between 100,000 to 150,000 miles before needing replacement.
Diesel engines last longer, require less fossil fuel, and have lower emissions problems ... than regular gasoline engines. Gasoline and diesel technologies are similar, but, differences in design mean that diesel engines are built tougher and last longer. This is true for all types of passenger cars, trucks, commercial vehicles and other diesel-powered equipment.
Electric and hydrogen engines are currently being pursued as alternatives to gasoline engines in the United States. However, these choice do not extend the life of the engine past the average number of years that a gasoline engine is expected to last. Additionally, these alternatives expend a lot of energy charging the batteries, have a shorter engine life-span, come with the risk of explosion, and place an undo burden on the electrical grid.
If the changes were made to switch to diesel engines for personal transportation vehicles, a positive impact would result on society's cost of transportation.
In order to ensure changes are actually made once the decision is made to make the change, someone would need to monitor this change in order to catch any auto manufactures from refusing to implement the change.
Medical Care - Employer-Based Tax Return Verification
The cost of medical care can be lowered in a manner that is much more attainable than most people think. Many states already have no-cost medical care for those in need. However, many states have also set this care up in a way that makes it very difficult to access because they over-burden the applicant with paperwork.
For example, national healthcare can be free for those in need, but, anyone trying to sign up for it must present tax returns. This is a completely ridiculous requirement, as many people going through challenging times that lead up to them needing no-cost healthcare most likely do not have a stable place to live and therefore are most likely (1) not filing their taxes, and (2) not keeping up with this kind of paperwork if they do file their taxes.
To require the medical care applicant to provide tax returns or any proof of income is tantamount to discriminatory practices based on income and abuse of power. Why? Because they are not in a position to do it.
The solution is to use Employer-Based Income Verification when getting people signed up for the no-cost healthcare. The burden of proof should be placed on the employer, not the employee, in this case.
This way, all the person has to do is remember where they worked. Specific dates should not be required ... it is abusive to ask someone down on their luck to remember whether they started working somewhere on Tuesday, September 9th ... or Thursday, November 17th? Clearly the employer knows better when the person was working for them. That is where the information should be obtained. (Employer-Based Income Verification should also be used for unemployment benefits ... this sign-up process is also riddled with "booby traps" like questions that ask for details that are nearly impossible to provide.)
Addressing this issue with eligibility paperwork for no-cost medical care would go a long way in increasing the access to it.
Medical Care - Ozempic
One solution to addressing a piece of the systemic and run-away medical costs in this country is to address the drinking problem.
The beer and beverage industry would not be too pleased with this notion ... but there is a way to keep the money in their pockets while also reducing drinking. People who frequent the bar as a part of their nightlife, and enjoy the service of their bartenders and the venue that they provide, can simply choose to STILL buy the drinks. It's a CHOICE. Buy them. Tip the bartender. Pour them out. Repeat. Why? So that you continue to support the establishment and prevent vicious attacks from the beer and beverage industry to shut the business down. Let them keep their money. Just reduce the cost to society from the drinking.
Ozempic is an insulin pen used by people with diabetes. It has also been shown to cause a disinterest in drinking when people use it. Society should consider prescribing this pen to people who drink so that they can destroy the toxic urge to do so, freeing themselves to enjoy their night out on the town without worrying about crashing their car or killing someone when the drive home.
Onus Pro knows of at least two people who has used this pen for their diabetes and witnessed a change in their desire to drink. Both of these people believe that it was the Ozempic pen that did it.
Read Below.
Some People on Ozempic Lose the Desire to Drink.
Scientists Are Asking Why.
"At what Eva Monsen calls the height of her drinking — during the long slog of the coronavirus pandemic — she drained around half a bottle of wine each day. Ms. Monsen, 46, wasn’t a regular drinker before the pandemic, but she grew to rely on several glasses of wine to help her relax and soften the tension of life during and after lockdown.
Then, in August 2022, Ms. Monsen’s endocrinologist prescribed Ozempic to treat her diabetes. Almost immediately, she said, she lost her desire to drink. When she poured herself a glass of wine, “I felt no pleasure from it at all,” she said.
A part of her missed the comforting blur from being tipsy. When she tried to drink while on Ozempic, though, she felt dizzy and nauseated — but not intoxicated. “I was just incapable of feeling the buzz,” said Ms. Monsen, who lives in Seattle. Now, she barely drinks at all."
Read the full article here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/24/well/eat/ozempic-side-effects-alcohol.html
Medical Care - Herbalife
One approach to lowering the overall cost of healthcare is to encourage people to eat healthier and to eat breakfast, every morning. Due to most people's busy workweek schedules, however, they rarely have time to maintain a healthy diet nor do they have time to eat breakfast.
One solution to this problem is to promote both healthy eating and eating breakfast every day by encourage the use of healthy breakfast powders. For example, Herbalife is a company that manufactures a "breakfast powder" that serves as a full breakfast in the form of a shake.
People who regularly eat breakfast using Herbalife have been shown to loose weight, increase their energy, and reduce their blood sugar levels. It is certainly something worth investigating to see if replacing "morning coffee" with "morning shake breakfast" is something worth doing.
Other Goods and Services
Lowering the cost of other goods and services would need to be done on a case-by-case basis.
Education and Communications (Including Technology)
Lowering the cost of education and communications could be accomplished through lowering the cost of the technology that people use to educate themselves and the technology used to communicate. This can be accomplish easily by making older technology once again available at no cost to anyone who is choosing to use it as opposed to using new technology that does cost.
For example, all of the operating system licenses of older operating systems like older versions of Microsoft Windows, DOS, the Mac OS, and others are sitting fully-paid-off and completely unused. One solution is to simply issue all of the Product Keys for Microsoft Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS to anyone who wants one ... so that they can install this software on an inexpensive computer and use it to do simple computing like maintaining local files and printing off local documents.
Taking this approach of providing a low-frills, simple approach to computing could cause computers to reach more people and lower the cost of use at the same time.
Housing - Upgradeable Housing
Low cost housing has been something many people have tried to address. One approach is to start constructing houses in an upgradeable manner.
Upgradeable Housing
The construction process of future housing should be managed in such a way as to make it upgradeable. Furthermore, there should be plans in this process for extra spaces like space for (1) workout equipment, (2) storage, and (3) sleeping quarters for in-laws and grandparents.
Furthermore, housing should be upgradeable in the following manner: if someone buys a "starter house" perhaps its constructed essentially like a studio apartment. At the time of construction that studio house should be built on a piece of land and on a foundation large enough to accommodate a larger house.
In addition, the initial studio home should be constructed in such a manner as to make it capable of receiving additional "pieces to the puzzle" added on to it so that it can become a larger house with more bedrooms. Blueprints should plan for not only the construction of the initial studio home, but also for the time when the homeowner calls up and says they are ready for an additional 1 or 2 bedrooms to be added.
At this point in time, the blueprints can be retrieved and the current loan can be refinanced with the person's current income and credit score. Then, a construction company can come out, use the blueprints, and add the additional bedrooms to the house or additional stories to the house.
Once again, the original studio home would have to be made with a foundation capable of holding a larger house, and with a first floor capable of carrying the weight of a second or third floor ... even though a second of third floor would not exist when the initial studio home is built.
Housing - Pod Housing
Low cost housing has been something many people have tried to address. Another approach is to start constructing houses in an pod-like pop-up like manner.
Pod Pop-Up Housing
The construction process of future housing should include the concept of building housing dwellings that can be "popped up" immediately. One of the issues with modern-day society is that it really does not adjust very quickly to paradigm shifts. What does this mean? It means that modern-day society constantly gets set up on "auto-pilot." Once modern day society gets underway ... it does not do well if something changes severely about the assumptions being held by the current paradigm.
A perfect example of this is the COVID-19 Pandemic. Another example could be changing that typically occur when a war breaks out. In times like these, modern day society doesn't adjust well at all. People simply react "in the moment" and the entire community takes damage. Then, after the calamity is over the community rebuilds.
This is an old, played out, tired strategy to dealing with calamities, disasters, and other sudden large-scale unfortunate incidents. The way to deal with them is literally assume that they will occur and act like they are already occurring ... even when they are not. Let's take, for example, Noah's Ark. God gave Noah a "tip": "Hey, you might want to build a boat on solid ground, even though nothing's happening right now." Of course, we are paraphrasing ... but the point is that it is a good idea to fix a problem before it actually occurs. It's actually the best way to avoid receiving damage from a problem. In other words, don't focus on problems ... focus instead on risks. Take actions to mitigate risk ... which is an unrealized "it-hasn't-happened-yet" problem. If society puts the effort in to reduce risk, it would get to a certain point where some problems literally stop occurring. And for the problems that do occur? The damage inflicted by the problem occurring will be much reduced.
The presence of Pod "Pop-Up" Housing is a perfect example of this concept in action. We are proud of this company for creating this approach to housing.
ProForm Pod Housing News Article:
https://www.homecrux.com/pod-studio-worlds-smartest-tiny-home/211854
ProForm Pod Housing RSVP:
https://www.podform.co/reservation
The concept is simple and so is the approach:
Implement Pop-Up Housing
The Sh*t Hits the Fan
Move
That's it.
(The Native Americans did this for over 20,000 years. Works just fine.)
Housing - Severe Living Housing
Low cost housing has been something many people have tried to address. Another approach is to accept that some people will fall through the cracks and have a "safety net" ready for them when they do fall.
Severe Living Housing
In addition to the idea of upgradeable housing, there is also a need for sustainable housing. In today's world, much has changed. Therefore, there needs to be a new form of housing that can assist with large populations of "temporarily displaced" persons. To ignore this dynamic is to threaten civil war in any state or country that is not dealing with the issue.
For this reason, what is needed is what we call "Severe Living Housing." This is a form of sustainable housing designed to provide only the basics in a near-no-cost manner.
These kinds of dwellings should be designed with the notion that the person who will inhabit them does not have a recurring source of income. Therefore, the structure of the purchase and the structure of the ongoing use of Severe Living Housing should be designed with this in mind.
Purchases of Severe Living Housing should be done in a "deeded purchase" manner. This means that they should be bought outright ... not tied to a loan.
Doing this would provide any municipality or jurisdiction with a "baseline" or "floor" below which no citizen would fall because you could place them in Severe Living Housing. The homeless are already doing this when they become homeless, and many people do not realize that some of them are actually choosing homelessness over having a place to live because they are intentionally refusing to "re-insert" themselves back in to the complexities of modern day society ... yes ... they are homeless on purpose.
Severe Living Housing would serve as a "safety net" these kinds of people and meet them "on their terms" instead of trying to force them to adhere to "modern day terms." In this manner, this kind of housing would "capture" anyone falling through the cracks ... but ... it would capture them on their terms ... living how they choose to live ... off the grid.
People could stay in the Severe Living Housing indefinitely, until they are choose to re-insert themselves in to mainstream society. Or not.
Housing - Loan + Furniture + Car
Low cost housing can also be addressed by including "more" in the purchase of a house. Many people struggle to furnish their house after purchase because it is empty. There is no reason why this should remain to be the case.
When someone is purchasing a home and financing it, there should be an option to purchase furniture with the house. Additional items like furniture, exercise equipment, and even a car, should be things that are "purchasable" at the time that someone is buying a home and financing it.
Placing these items inside the loan is an easy way to jump-start the economy and also jump-start the new homeowner's path to becoming more independent.
There are two ways to do this. One way is to have the monthly escrow payments include furniture and car payments (spread out over 10 years) in addition to the property taxes and mortgage insurance. The amount could also include a warranty for the car. Once these items are paid off, that additional amount would simply "fall off" of the escrow.
Another way to do this would be to have a permanent escrow amount associated with furniture and car payments. This amount would remain in escrow (and include a car warranty). However, it would also include swapping out the car at some point, replacing it without another one. If the person ever moves, it could be the case that the furniture or even the car simply "stays" with the house and the person leaves. The person could go to another house and move in where that house also has it's "resident car."
In this manner, more and more of what people need to live is financed through the home and gets more protected with each passing year, as the house itself increases in value.