wedish President, Veronica Nlund today unveiled her radical new plan to resolve the nation's chronic unemployment problem. Under the unconventional plan, working hours will be linked inversely to the unemployment rate. That is, when unemployment rises, official working hours will be reduced. Punitive measures will also be introduced to discourage overtime and other methods that may be used by companies and staff to circumvent the policy.

The plan will be implemented by the Department of Prosperity headed by Prosperity Minister Matts Mulway. Initially, working hours will be revised quarterly as the program is phased in cautiously. But after two years, revisions are expected to be made on a monthly basis in concert with dynamically delivered unemployment figures. The ultimate goal is to sustain a true unemployment rate of around two per cent.

The program is strongly based on a mathematical formula developed by the department. For example, when unemployment rises by half a percent, working hours can be reduced by 15 minutes (the aim being to restore equilibrium). To ensure compliance with the plan, stronger penalties and disincentives for overtime will also be introduced.

The formula is based on the following equation, though it is certain to be finessed and fine-tuned during the next few years:

President Nlund, in her explanation to the parliament, said "the notion of unemployment is an artificial construct of modern economics. 10,000 years ago, there was no such thing. That is, when a village's workers finished the necessary chores and tasks, they stopped work. If it only took four hours to pick an apple orchard, then work finished. Every single able worker was employed to get the available work done, rather than having anyone excluded.

"In other words, all capable workers laboured until all the work was completed. There was no such thing as the '30 hour week' or the 'six hour day' - notions which today exclude many able and willing workers from the labor market. My government's new economic plan, my government's new employment blueprint, acknowledges this reality and addresses it.

"Sweden, on this historic day, announces this plan with great pride, and sincerely hopes it solves this protracted problem not only here, but offers a model that other countries around the world might care to investigate."

President Nlund denied the plan was a response to the rapidly spreading worldwide protest message that "overtime steals jobs." Anti-capitalism groups have been spreading this mantra and it has taken hold across the world. Governments have been unable to ignn jj i u y yyyy yy tzz zzz zz zzz zh jgrf sdopiutr as 8488 98898= 88 7 5 3 5 6 66555 54 ||\\|| [[[[// ERROR ...

<<<Instability detected in gyrotron control. Vibration exceeded 20,000 units. Clear risk of chronometry warp leakage identified. TRANSMISSION TERMINATED UNDER AUTOMATIC PROTOCOL 842>>>

<<<transmission time .618 secs>>>

<<<WARNING - transmission time exceeded .1 secs>>>

<<<WARNING - transmission time exceeded .2 secs>>>

<<<WARNING - transmission time exceeded .3 secs>>>

<<<WARNING - transmission time exceeded .4 secs>>>

<<<WARNING - transmission time exceeded .5 secs>>>

<<<WARNING - transmission time exceeded .6 secs>>>

<<<WARNING - tt warp may exceed 1.0 secs >>>

<<<WARNING - PROTOCOL 842 ACTIVATED>>>

<<<945828833892766438036878730865432>>>

TimeMachineTribune.com

News of the future

Technology and words undimensionable in the 21st century appear in grey text.

The Tribune appears at random, and Gyrotron transmission is unpredictably affected by solar flares and other interruptions, as well as by the inherent instability of antitime.

Access to the Gyrotron is strictly for authorized personnel as preservation of the continuum is paramount.

Go to first issue

© 2001-2013 David Tyrer  All rights reserved

The Time Machine Tribune website contains audio and is dependent on Flash ™ animation. (Flash is a trademark of Adobe® Systems, Inc. The Flash player can be downloaded from Adobe.com) However, a brief text summary of the sites can be read at turtleportal.com/text_only.html for the vision or software impaired. The text of Loungecast, Time Machine Tribune and Tortoise Islands home page appear in HTML.

DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT NOTICE. All material on this site is purely fictitious. Any resemblance to any living person is entirely accidental and unintentional. Apart from any fair dealing for genuine review purposes (which include the URL: timemachinetribune.com or Loungecast.com) no part of these sites may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright holder. The right of David Tyrer to be identified as the author of this work is asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Time Machine Tribune site shall not be re-transmitted, printed, lent or otherwise circulated without the written permission of the copyright holder, and shall not under any circumstances have these conditions waived for any recipient. The artistic integrity of the work contained herein may not be altered or repurposed in any way, shape or form without the written permission of the copyright holder. No responsibility is taken for any chronometry warp leakage that may occur due to faulty Gyrotron transmission. Time Machine Tribune™is a trademark of Click as a Flash™.

 

There is no such thing as science fiction. Only truth.

Xargenu VII
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 2871