How to fix the economy from the mind of a crazy old retried guy.
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First you have to accept the premise that the engine that drives the world's economy is the purchasing power of middle class America and Western Europe.
If you accept that premise, then their are only two ways to put things back to normal.
- Lower prices
or
- Raise wages
I mean, the reason we're in the mess, is because most of us dont have enough money to buy what we need or want, right?
I remember working at motion picture studios in the 70s and early 80s, and althought, my basic job category paid less then what I made, before I retired, I had alot more cash in my pocket.
So, what are my crazy ideas?
We need to do some of the obvious things and some that aren't.
Obviously we need to change our laws to bring back manufacturing to America and make it harder to move businesses offshore, along with their tax revenue.
Since Reagan and the PATCO strike telling business that employees (aka people) dont count, only the bottomline (aka money) is of value, my wages and working conditions have continued on a race to the bottom.
If you want to start the economic engine again, we need to raise people, at the very least, to equal the value of money. See I told you I was crazy.
Here are some of my suggestions.
Stop pushing on unions to lower wages, like the UAW. Notice I didn't say not to rearrange the pensions and health care. Pass laws that strengthen unions and encourage membership to grow. Strong unions mean more money in all our middle class pockets, not to mention better working conditions and a MUCH nicer place to work.
Find ways to give business tax breaks for increasing the average salary, until 100k/year, giving workers more money. More wages means that you and I both have the mind with the money to spend it.
We all know that most of us either have made less money or stayed the same, while prices have gone through the roof, ie: gas, food, rent etc. I dont know how a young guy can afford to take a nice young woman out to dinner and a movie these days? Look at what happened when gas prices went up and then down. That sucking sound out of your wallet was not an accident folks
A little deflation is good for the soul.
We need to stop feeding the pharmaceutical companies and health care industries drug habit. FREE MONEY! Lets get real people, they dont have our best interests at heart.
I would like our government to take a look at my Motion Picture Health Plan. We have our own HMO type clinics, our own hospital and our own retirement home. They know they are going to have to pay our medical bills for years, if not the rest of our lives, so their approach is to keep us healthy. When you dont have to worry about paying dividends at the end of the year, you take a long run point of view.
If I am not happy with the doctors Motion Picture refers me too, I have Blue Cross, through Motion Picture, to fall back on. I can go to any doctor of my choice and pay the difference.
Let me say, I have the best healthplan in America and I have yet to be dissatisfied with any doctor MP has referred me too.
The point I'm trying to make, is that dont be afraid of national health, be afraid they may do it wrong.
Even though I was on the Executive Board of a Hollywood union for 20 years, I've never thought business should have to pay for healthcare.
We need National Health and at least half the money saved by business should go to workers wages. In short, take the money not paid for health and increase workers wages.
Like I said earlier, if you want to improve the economy, you have to start by improving our lives. That means, better health, better wages and better psyche.
Some of the ideas supported by our next President are on the right track, but only when ideas that increase the value of people, not just the value of my stock, will things get better.
Now, lets see how many good ideas you can add to my post and maybe some crazy person who counts, will read this and get some not so crazy ideas?