Far and away the most memorable slogan of the 2012 election campaign was the Republican candidate Herman Cain’s “9-9-9” plan. It sure beats “Forward” (Barack Obama) and “Believe in America” (Mitt Romney) and is right up there with “Commerce, Education and the… uh, what’s the third one there?” (Rick Perry). Herman Cain and his economic advisor, Cleveland accountant Rich Lowrie, called for a 9% value added tax, a 9% flat income tax, and 9% federal sales tax to replace all existing federal taxes. It has been suggested Cain’s campaign copied the 9-9-9 plan from the default tax structure implemented in the computer game Sim City. Whether or not this is true, no one believes that 9-9-9 is a practical solution to the problems of contemporary society. No one, that is, outside the Herman Cain campaign team and presumably the still-operating 9-9-9 Fund political action committee.

After dropping out of the Republican nomination battle, Cain was invited to deliver the Tea Party State of the Union response in January 2012. Look for a return of the 9-9-9 plan in 2016, with or without Herman Cain. It might raise taxes on nearly all American households while still somehow managing to decimate overall federal government revenues, but there’s no denying that it’s a great slogan. Even if Cain doesn’t run in 2016, expect someone else to pick it up.

Whether or not Cain makes a comeback in 2016, progressives would do well to up the ante one notch by introducing their own 10-10-10 plan. The 10-10-10 plan would require all employers to provide 10 paid sick days, 10 paid holidays, and 10 paid vacation days a year for all full-time workers, prorated for part-time workers as well. Those with well-paid professional jobs may not realize that other people don’t already have 10-10-10, but they don’t. Far from it. For many working Americans, 10-10-10 would be a dream come true. Take sick days. Today just 65%—less than two-thirds—of all American workers have any opportunity to take paid sick days at all, according to official government statistics. This figure covers all workers, both full- and part-time.