In this article, I have tried to express what many I have spoken with believe are the problems that we as a people are confronted with, and what we as a nation must do in order to salvage our country.
Regardless of what has happened over the past several years, regardless of who is to blame, our primary task as a nation is to rebuild and rediscover the American Spirit. In part, that will call on certain forms of governmental regulation on business interests, and certain acceptances by the average American about the reality of what was formally defined as "The American Dream".
With the state of our national economy, the American job market, and the national deficit,there are certain harsh realities that must be faced by we, the American People. After 8 years of de-regulation, price gouging, record corporate profits, and the systematic destruction of the middle class, we are left with massive unemployment, tremendous national debt, crushing economic hardship and near complete financial ruin for the nation as a whole.
Rebuilding our national economy and regaining the American Dream will call for sacrifice, hard labor, and acceptance of certain economic facts of life, both by Corporate America and by the American People.
To start, I would address the current problem with the Banking Industry and the Big 3 Auto Makers. First, the auto makers and their need for bail out money. That the going under of these companies would cripple the economy almost beyond repair is beyond question. The projected loss of 3 million jobs, to me, is a conservative estimate. I believe the true number would be closer to 5 and a half to 6 million out of work as a direct result of the collapse of these companies.
I think we should require that these companies be placed in federal receivership until the bail out is repaid in full. No director or employee of these companies would be paid a salary in excess of $250,000 per year while the company was in receivership, with no performance bonuses likewise, until the bail out loans are payed back in full.
I also believe that regulation should be passed for new fuel economy standards for these companies. An example would be a minimum of 42 miles per gallon IN TOWN on gasoline only auto's for any vehicle sold to the public and a 65 mile per gallon minimum for any hybrid. I also think that as long as these companies where in federal receivership, only 50% of their vehicles manufactured could be gasoline only auto's, another 30% would be hybrids, and the remaining 20% would be plug in EV ( Electric Vehicle ) auto's with a minimum 200 mile range per charge ( This is now possible with CURRENT technology and, with mass production brought to bare, would greatly reduce the cost of an EV ).
There should also be 100% financing at 0.1% interest by the federal government for the purchase of any hybrid or EV sold by these American companies in receivership. This would greatly stimulate the growth and acceptance of a transportation technology that is a MUST HAVE for our nations economic recovery.
Some would say why bail them out in the first place if you are going to place restrictions on them that will eventually squeeze them into bankruptcy. To this I say, Toyota, Subaru, Honda, and Hyundai seem to be doing very well, and those companies are working towards these goals. GM could have avoided this cataclysm, but greed got the better of them. General Motors had a sure-fire seller in the EV 1 they built between 1995 and 2001. After they fixed the battery problem the car was a solid hit with every person who leased one ( GM wouldn't give leasers the option to buy ), They ended up torpedoed their own car in the quest of greater SUV profits. The EV would have been greatly profitable had it been sent into mass production, ( again, look at Toyota ) But GM ended up destroying those cars in 2005, even after they had been offered 1.9 million dollars for the last 70 or so pre-leased EV-1's they had. The current low price on oil won't last for ever. In the near future we will see the return of $3.00 a gallon gasoline. Personally, I'd like to have a car I can plug into an electric socket and drive 200 miles .. worrying about recharging it. For 90% of Americans, such a vehicle would serve all their daily transportation needs.
Also, retooling plants and installing charging stations at existing gasoline stations would create thousands of jobs all over the country, jobs that couldn't be out sourced.
The Banking industry needs to be restructuring from the ground up just as the big 3 in my opinion. Predatory lending and almost non-existent regulatory practices MUST cease. Compensation for executives and officers of these financial institutions should be brought to reasonable levels with pay limits and the elimination of "Performance Bonuses". Especially while their lifes blood is being provided for via tax payer dollars. The shameful and irresponsible practices of companies like AIG and CitiGroup are almost unimaginable and must be curbed.
Next, Single Payer or Universal Health Care.
Another issue that's time has long been here. Never mind the obvious benefits of a Canadian style national health policy. Never mind the obvious economic benefits of affordable proscription drugs. Universal Health Care creates JOBS.
If American companies aren't shouldered with the burden of paying for or providing health coverage for their employees, they can offer better wages, and better retirement packages to their workers and STILL save money over what they would be spending on health insurance. This could also make outsourcing jobs to other nations who DO have national or Universal Health care less likely.
I find it shameful that we haven't done this already, that we, as a people, have fought this sorely needed public service as long as we have. The truth of the matter is, in order to competitive in the global job market, the United States MUST have Universal Health Care. I've heard from some that " Obviously it creates new jobs. Who cares though, about the hundred thousand other jobs already employed by free market health care. Who cares if they are let go." I seriously doubt that. Instead of being let go, with greater numbers of people going for health care, the demand for health care professionals would INCREASE, not decrease. This is already becoming a reality with President Obama's call for transfering paper records or "Hard Copy" to a national health data base, the sheer numbers of IT jobs this will create will eventually employ several thousand people. There are some down sides, hospital administrators wouldn't be paid 480,000 a year either, on the flip side, you wouldn't get charged $6.00 for 1 aspirin at the Emergency Room. A national Health Care Policy would also cut down the number of American families who go into bankruptcy every year. The Journal of Health Affairs, estimates that "Medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans every year, if both debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children, are counted." That number will only increase as the full impact of the last 8 years of disastrous economic policies comes to bare.
The Redefining of the American Dream.
Most Americans are brought up in this country to believe in the American Dream, that someday, we can ALL be multi-millionaires if we relentlessly pursue the idea of unregulated capitalism and incessant greed. That every one of us will enjoy "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams".
We need to redefine the American Dream. Instead of the impossible dream of a nation of 340 million "Daddy Warbucks", we need to dream of realistic and very achievable goals. The new American Dream should be one where we all have healthy lives, and decent affordable housing. We need to realize that a large part of the new American Dream should be safe streets and comfortable communities, economic opportunity for every citizen, freedom from the addiction of oil-based energy in transportation and industry, and the possibility to expand our horizons educationally without the crushing weight of educational debt.
We can no longer afford the back-stabbing, price-gouging, unrestrained personal and corporate greed that has resulted in the worse economic meltdown since the Great Depression. We also need to recognize that companies are in business to make a profit, and that we as a nation need to encourage the pursuit of success and prosperity that healthy capitalism can offer. A pursuit that should be for the benefit of our fellow citizens and the growth of our economy, instead of at the expense and eventual destruction of both.
I've heard that what I describe above as being "Socialist". Usually from people who believe in unregulated, no-bars, capitalism. And look how well that's worked. Their argument usually consists of, "Now tell me how in the world you plan on getting anybody to do anything worth while such as inventing new non-carbon emitting cars or important new cures and vaccinations if they know they won't become rich for doing so. I know that if I won't be rewarded, I wouldn't waste my time." My answer would be that I believe in the American economy and I do support responsible capitalism, I believe in the right of every American to turn a profit. But the harsh reality is that the days of unrestricted greed and unregulated capitalism have passed, it's proven to cost to much to the citizenry at large and severely damaging to the national economy over the long term. What I'm saying, and did touch on earlier, is that we as a people need to encourage HEALTHY & RESPONSIBLE capitalism and reward it. We need to have a national atmosphere that encourages innovation and discovery and rewards it. But making billions on shaky paper profits and by driving the majority of the country into debt over education, health care, or energy costs is not a workable option, that's part of what has gotten us into this mess in the first place.