Businessman Jack B. Robinson Jr. is a Libertarian party presidential candidate whose objective is to get his economic idea considered by voters this year. (Photo by Joey Bunch/The Denver Post)
Jack B. Robinson Jr. is nobody’s fool. Even though he’s hoping to win the Libertarian Party nomination for president, the CEO and inventor from Spartanburg, S.C., concedes he’s a longshot in a political system that tosses aside such candidates.
Robinson is listed among the dozens of candidates . But what he lacks in campaign cash, consultants and the backing of a Libertarian Party machine, he tries to make up for with a bold idea he wants politicians to listen to, even if he can’t win the White House. He’s sure it can eventually break the cycle of poverty, pay for universal healthcare, reverse the national debt, spur massive economic development and give young people a sense of hope for their futures. They would have at least $50,000 waiting on them when they turn 25. He calls it Birth Loop Economics.
Here’s how it would work. When each American child is born, the government would deposit $67,000 with a qualified financial institution in that child’s name. That amounts to $286 billion outlay with a guaranteed return.
The 25-year loan to the bank would pay 3 percent or at least $2,000 a year until the child is 25. Bank interest is where the $50,000 comes from. But for the person to collect their windfall in 26 years, he or she would have to stay off of all other government aide for at least one year, which Robinson said could be a huge government savings.
Ideally, recipients would spend the money to buy a first home, pay down college debt or start a business. But if they chose to waste it, then so be it, Robinson said — it’s an opportunity, not a nanny.
Additionally, recipients could be eligible for another $25,000 from a zero-interest loan that would be repaid over 25 years at $83 a month.
“It’s an ultra-capitalist plan that’s focused on free enterprise,” said Robinson, who was in Denver Tuesday. His son and campaign treasurer, David, is hoping to enroll in law school at the University of Denver.
A long-term interest-earnings plan could also pay for Social Security, Robinson said.
Robinson, 58, has run a cardboard business in Tennessee and South Carolina for 25 years, starting it with $50,000 when he probably needed $2 million, he said. Volunteer Box Inc. is now a million-dollar company with major contracts for padded corners to ship appliances, so he knows what $50,000 can turn into.
“I couldn’t tell you if this idea comes from my background as a CEO or if I was led by God,” he said.
Robinson said he was led to run for president because he couldn’t find another way to get his idea in front of major party candidates. If voters like his idea, maybe other candidates will take notice.
He thinks the plan could unify Americans, because it has the free enterprise and cuts in welfare programs that conservatives like with the hand-up that liberals talk about. Moreover, gridlocked partisan politics, and the solutions major parties have put forward, aren’t going anywhere, he said. A bold new idea that comes neither major party might have shot, he said.
“Nobody else really has an economic plan,” he said. “They have a sentence, but that’s not a plan.”
