America's Simple Solutions

Especially in an election year, multiple voices offer a cacophony of answers to the myriad problems we face at home and abroad. More than ever, there is a need for a non-partisan, common sense view about how to deal with these challenges. Mark Werts, Founder and CEO of American Rag Cie, offers that perspective, based on his unique vantage point as a global businessman and entrepreneur. In his new book, AMERICA’S SIMPLE SOLUTIONS: A Visionary’s Blueprint for a Better Tomorrow, Werts tackles such issues as education, healthcare, immigration, taxes, education, and gun control, and offers simple solutions free of partisan bias, based on how these challenges are handled around the world.

Having lived, worked, and traveled across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, Werts has observed how others have approached the same dilemmas that we face in the United States. “I have come to understand what is practical and works…I have also seen what is impractical and doesn’t work. In our global world, why would America pursue an idea that has been proven again and again not to work in other places?” he writes. Werts also reflects on the views of our country’s Founding Fathers, suggesting that we have forgotten much of their considerable wisdom.

Throughout, Werts emphasizes the importance of expanded freedom, especially for entrepreneurs and business. “Individual freedom produces wealth and economic growth. This typically happens in a free market economy with the least amount of bureaucratic regulation,” he attests, further arguing that people must be encouraged to take risks, and be allowed to keep the fruits of their labor and pass them on to their children. The author also stresses the critical roles played by education and political participation. “A good, solid education for all of our citizens is the ultimate answer to our many challenges . . . and to get the best teachers, we must offer the best salaries,” he writes. And he laments low voter turnout, urging all eligible Americans not only to vote, but to get involved in local boards and commissions.

With freedom, education, and voting as an underlying theme, Werts’ “simple solutions” include:

Taxation: “When it comes to taxes, I think we can all agree that America’s system is deeply flawed and impossible to understand,” argues Werts. He explains that trillions of American business dollars stay overseas to avoid overly burdensome taxes, and that income tax is inequitably distributed. Pointing to Hong Kong’s success with a flat tax – which has even resulted in budget surpluses – he advocates a sixteen percent flat tax, coupled with a consumption tax that would be higher on those who consume more.

Healthcare: Pointing to the unusually high per capita spending on health care in the United States – which is not correlated with a longer lifespan – Werts suggests that much needs to be changed. He urges that the U.S. adopt the Canadian health care system, which gives everyone access to universal health care, and which costs only eleven percent of Canada’s GDP, versus America’s seventeen percent.

Environment: “Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge; it’s common sense,” says Werts. His simple solutions include a high-speed public train system, and making it financially profitable for the private sector to solve our environmental problems.

Gender and Equality: Werts writes that all women in the United States are still impacted by a gender wage gap. At the same time, he contends that men are discriminated against when it comes to such issues as family leave and child custody. He argues for paying women and men equally for the same jobs, and treating everyone the same when it comes to benefits, parenting, and family issues.

Gun Control: While advocating legal gun ownership, the author also supports required safety training, and a mandatory firearms test for gun owners – just as we have driving tests for drivers. “Gun ownership doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” he contends.

In AMERICA’S SIMPLE SOLUTIONS, Werts offers a country-by-country look at other nations – suggesting where the U.S. can learn from their examples. “My goal is not to criticize, but to show how we Americans are doing relative to other countries that are facing many of the same dilemmas, and to tell Americans what has worked elsewhere, and what could work here in the United States,” he says.

Ultimately, Werts believes that we are at a monumental juncture, and that the future of individual freedom is at stake. “We are faced with decisions that could re-ignite the unbelievable success our experiment in democracy has been,” he states. AMERICA’S SIMPLE SOLUTIONS will empower people to get involved, and make the choices that will fuel both growth and freedom.