Let's come up with a better package and submit it to President Obama...
I posted a diary last week about this, and some good ideas were submitted. The list is on the flip. So c'mon all you smart people, have at it.
- REAL MONEY Into Our Pockets, Now.
For 1 trillion dollars you could write a check for between $5,000 and $20,000 to the 70 million households with the lowest incomes (the cutoff would be somewhere under $100,000 per year). And....hold onto your seats....the less you make, the more you get. Think what these people could do with that money. Families behind on their mortgages could catch up. They could pay down their credit cards. They could send their children to college. Start small businesses. Buy cars. Put on a new roof. Put a down payment on a house. Invest in the stock market. Start a savings account. For those on unemployment, the payment could be in lieu of benefits, reducing costs. Results: A big jump in consumer spending; reduction in foreclosures/bankruptcies; get unemployed people off the dole and help them start a business, get some job training/education, or move to a new location where job prospects are better.
- Create Green Jobs.
Rebuilding the energy infrastructure is only one element. We need a comprehensive plan to move the country forward into a greener future. Let's create an army of Green Consultants to work with states, counties, and cities across the country to make these changes. The government could provide free training for these jobs. Many of the concepts of becoming greener are fairly simple: more energy-efficient buildings and cars; low-maintenance landscaping; recycling....the training could probably be done in just a few months. Results: Move a lot of under- and unemployed people into new jobs in a new field; greener communities, reduced energy costs for state and local governments at a time when budgets are tight.
Start a program where you can have your home or apartment made more energy efficient, with the cost on a sliding scale according to income, and the government picking up the rest of the tab. Results: A flurry of work for the construction and landscaping industries; a greener America; lower utility costs for everyone going forward.
A grant program for green ideas and new products. Formerly, the oil industries would buy the patents for any invention likely to cut into their profits by reducing energy usage...and stick them in a drawer. We need a new process for moving these ideas forward, including incentives for big corporations to do their part. This would be a partnership between the inventor, the government, and industry so that these ideas can finally become reality. Results: Encourage people to become "green entrepreneurs"; harness the creativity of Americans to solve our problems; partnership, rather than everything coming from the government.
- Save the Auto Industry
Have the government become a partner with the auto industry to help them move into the future. But they need to sell those corporate jets, slash executive salaries, bring on some fresh-thinking CEOs, and produce a viable plan for making cars so good, so energy-efficient, so safe, and so inexpensive, that everyone in the world will want to buy them. Don't tell me it can't be done. This is America. And just like any partner, the government will share in the profits. Results: Autoworkers rehired; the resurrection of a whole industry; something we can actually export to other countries.
- Bring Outsourced Jobs Back to America
Get rid of overseas tax shelters, loopholes, and incentives to outsource jobs. If you want to be an American company, you need to do business here, hire workers here, and pay taxes here.
- Since We're All in the Mood for Change....Let's Gut the IRS
Yes, it's the flat tax. Make a simple sliding scale for individual income taxes and take it out of each paycheck. End of story. No yearly returns. No tax deductions. Your W-2 allows for dependents. Corporations and the self-employed would still need to file, but on a simplified basis. Results: Slash the size of the IRS, which would save millions of tax dollars. Lower rates for the poor and middle class, coupled with higher rates (and no loopholes) for corporations, would put more money in the pockets of the people who actually drive this economy, and would likely result in a net revenue gain.
- No More Bank Bailouts
Let 'em fail. A financial institution that can't manage money, frankly, shouldn't be in business. They're not lending anyhow from what I hear; not even to each other. There are plenty of sound local banks that would welcome your deposits.
- Build the Energy Grid of the Future, and Automate Medical Records
These are the only parts of the current plan that are worth a damn. Keep those.