Proposed New Calendar Could Eliminate Financial 'Rip Off' Factor
Researchers have proposed the use a new calendar that will be identical from year to year but will eliminate what they call the financial “rip off” factor which the current calendar facilitates.
Using computer programs and mathematical formulas, Richard Conn Henry, an astrophysicist in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and Steve H. Hanke, an applied economist in the Whiting School of Engineering, at The Johns Hopkins University have created a new calendar in which each new 12-month period is identical to the previous one and remains that way from one year to the next in perpetuity.
If Christmas fell on a Sunday in 2012, in which it will, it would also fall on a Sunday in 2013, 2014 and so on.
"Our plan offers a stable calendar that is absolutely identical from year to year and which allows the permanent, rational planning of annual activities, from school to work holidays," says Henry, who is also director of the Maryland Space Grant Consortium.
"Think about how much time and effort are expended each year in redesigning the calendar of every single organization in the world and it becomes obvious that our calendar would make life much simpler and would have noteworthy benefits."
According to international economic expert, Steve Hanke, the new Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar would be economically beneficial.
"Our calendar would simplify financial calculations and eliminate what we call the 'rip off' factor," explains Hanke.
The current calendar contains complexities and anomalies that create day count problems, explained Hanke.
"Determining how much interest accrues on mortgages, bonds, forward rate agreements, swaps and others, day counts are required. Our current calendar is full of anomalies that have led to the establishment of a wide range of conventions that attempt to simplify interest calculations. Our proposed permanent calendar has a predictable 91-day quarterly pattern of two months of 30 days and a third month of 31 days, which does away with the need for artificial day count conventions."
Hanke told Medical Daily that the new calendar would simplify financial calculations because the proposed permanent calendar, “with a predictable 91-day quarterly pattern of two months of 30 days and a third month of 31 days -- eliminates the need for artificial day count conventions. There is a clear pattern, year-after-year. Past attempts in calendar change has failed because “all of the major ones have involved breaking the seven-day cycle of the week.”
Henry explained that this change was not acceptable to many people because it violates the Fourth Commandment about keeping the Sabbath Day.
"Our version never breaks that cycle,” said Henry.
The current Gregorian calendar has been the same since 1582.
Hanke explained that the main benefit of having this newly proposed calendar is to simplify year-to-year life as we know it with predictability. Refill dates for prescription drugs would be the same day of the month, every month, every year. Business meetings, sports schedules and school calendars would be identical every year. This is in addition to the simplification of interest calculations.”