The people have spoken. Deficits matter. Foreign wars matter. Education matters. But jobs trump everything else.
I'm conflicted about the role of the stimulus package (ARRA) in our recent recession/recovery. When my Republican friends promised me that the Bush tax cuts would "spur furious growth that we haven't seen in decades" they were incredibly wrong. Unrepentant, but wrong.
The non-partisan CBO seems to indicate ARRA was a great thing:
http://cboblog.cbo.gov/...
But there are still 14 million unemployed Americans.......
9% unemployment isn't going to bring a landslide in 2012. And we NEED a landslide to prevent the Tea Party nuts from rolling back the clock 150 years.
What's the key? The engine of economic growth is small business growth...we have to grow the millions that we have, we need to add more.
http://www.census.gov/...
**My proposal*
The government offers loans to start a new small business or grow an existing business: 40-year loans of $80K at a 1.5% interest rate.
Repayment is $222 a month... *yearly loan payments of less than $2700.
What's the catch? Each new or existing business would have to hire two currently unemployed people. You cannot reduce the size of your staff over the course of the loan. If you do, you're subject to pretty stiff penalties.
5 million participants would give you the 10 million jobs I promised in the headline. And that's a mere 400 billion dollars. And the best part? Because of the interest, the program pays for itself.
Yes, some people will default. But my proposal is half of the cost of ARRA
Republicans will hate it---of course---but they'll also feel mixed about it. And I think that indecision plus a groundswell of popular support could get it passed.
What do you think?