According to Mel Brooks' 2000 Year Old Man, the greatest achievement of mankind was Saran Wrap, although he grants that the space program was also good.

Provoking more average folks into brainstorming their favorite ideas for bettering mankind was the impetus behind an innovative contest sponsored by the Service Employees International Union.

The challenge was simple: Put out a national call for fresh, common-sense ideas that would energize the economy or improve the lives of working people, offer very attractive prize money and let 'er rip.

The result was 22,000 varied responses, some extremely sensible, such as indexing the minimum wage to inflation, and others kind of out-there, such as Ron G. of Texas' idea for a "stinger spike system" — a device mounted on patrol cars that could be deployed to puncture the tires of suspects during a high speed chase. It sounds very Batman-like.

The contest was called "Since Sliced Bread" (as in, "It's the best idea for America's families ..."). The prizes of $100,000 for first place and $50,000 for two runners-up have already been awarded, with the grand prize going to Peter Skidmore of Seattle. Skidmore thinks we should impose a "resource tax" on pollution and fossil fuels to pay for local renewable energy efforts and environmental restoration. (All entries, including the 21 finalists, are at www.sinceslicedbread.com.)

The contest got me thinking. What ideas do I hold as received wisdom for making the lives of working people better? None of these suggestions are groundbreaking, but if I ran things, these are the priorities I'd set:

• Education: I don't understand why the richest country in the world isn't producing the best-educated citizenry. By skimping on education, we are handicapping the future for our workers and nation.

There is no real trick to raising student achievement. It takes excellent teachers, a small student-teacher ratio, a vibrant and challenging curriculum and a lengthening of the school day and calendar. (How many of us still need the summers off to help bring in the crop?) Vocational education for those not college-bound should be universal.

We should substantially increase teacher pay while raising teacher qualifications. You want to teach physics in high school? Then you should hold at least a master's degree in the subject. But then your pay should be commensurate with engineers'.

Schools should provide a place where children could be engaged all day long, from say 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with either academic or athletic pursuits. Then working parents wouldn't have to struggle to find after-school care. I'm not suggesting that the formal school day be that long, just that schools offer constructive supervision before and after class, giving working parents a valuable benefit and keeping kids engaged in broadening activities.

• Transportation: Our nation's fixation with the car has taken us all for a ride. We are dependent on unfriendly and undemocratic nations for our energy supply, we pollute the environment and warm the planet, we have paved over America's fruited plains and we waste our lives stuck in traffic.

Since a new rail system isn't practical, a better idea for today's reality is Rapid Bus Transit. Riding the bus can be made desirable by making it convenient, quick and comfortable. There should be a dedicated bus lane on all major roads. A new innovation gives bus drivers the ability to electronically hold green lights, allowing for an even smoother ride in congested cities and an express ride in from the suburbs. Beyond the energy and pollution savings, consider the thousands of dollars every year that a family could defray in insurance, gas, maintenance, parking and car payments by getting rid of one car. (For more information go to www.gobrt.org.)

• Health care: Two words: single payer. The national health insurance programs in Canada, Japan and Britain might not be perfect models, but our system is irretrievably broken. Employer-based health insurance is failing. It is hurting the viability of the private sector, particularly what's left of our industrial base, and holding workers in jobs that no longer challenge them. Imagine the employment mobility and entrepreneurialism that would be unleashed if workers could leave their jobs without losing medical coverage. If much of the rest of the developed world can do it, why can't we?

• Retirement: Social Security's solvency can buy itself another 37 years, to the year 2079, by simply removing the wage cap. In 2006, Social Security taxes will be paid on wages up to $94,200. Eliminate the ceiling and the system's prospects become much brighter.

Most of what I'm offering would take political upheaval and beaucoup bucks. These obvious ideas would provide a helping hand to the backbone of this country — its middle class. But our current crop of leaders isn't much interested in this constituency. They are too busy trying to enshrine tax cuts for the rich. So don't expect benefits like this anytime soon. A better Saran Wrap is about the best we can hope for.

Robyn Blumner's column is distributed by Tribune Media Services.