Jobs and Finance Reform in that order are the big issues for me, most citizens and are the reason that so many people are tea bagging and showing their racism. Yes the stimulus package stopped unemployment from reaching the teens. For those who are unemployed or "under" employed, this does not matter one iota. For those scared of losing their employment this does not matter one iota. For those whose houses are now worth less and those whose houses are worth less than their mortgages, this does not matter one iota. For those who see bankers receiving millions of dollars after screwing up this does not matter one iota. Global warming does not matter one iota.
Jobs matter. The jobs bill that passed congress and was signed into law will hardly make a difference. States, counties, and cities will lose more jobs than the new jobs law will provide. Employment will either stagnate ore unemployment will rise some more. This is a sad fact of life. Don't believe me, just wait.
The solution is simple. The federal government should plan on spending 6 trillion dollars over the next ten years on necessary programs. The spending should be a trillion dollars this year and next year. Thee quarters of a trillion for the next two years, a half a trillion for the next 3 years, and a third of a trillion dollars until the money is spent. Yes this is a whole lot of money.
But think of what needs to be done. We need a whole new transportation system to be built, focusing or rail and high speed rail. One tiny high speed railway in Florida, hardly makes a difference. We need infrastructure to be built and refurbished. If not bridges will continue to fall down, school buildings will continue to deteriorate, water mains will continue to break, pot holes will grow, and on and on. Education needs to be refurbished with teachers learning better ways to teach, children receiving more physical exercise, school days needing to be lengthened, class sizes shrunk, college education being made free, and continuing education being made a part of everyone's life. A whole new energy infrastructure needs to be created, including more wind mills, more solar panels, more electric lines, more technology breakthroughs, and more science. We need better and more efficient transportation for people including electric cars, Segways and electric assist bicycles. We need better food production based on methods that will not be impacted by global warming. We need better housing. The list just goes on and on.
Yes the US and the world suffered a financial melt down. In large part the melt down happened because bankers, brokers, insurance companies, and other financial institutions took advantage of poor regulations to scam their customers. The executives of these financial institutions made out like bandits while customers were royally screwed. In return we left these executives in charge to take large salaries and bonuses while investing billions in their institutions. Now they lobby for less regulation so they can make millions more. Worse, congress is letting them get away with this crap.
For starters the executives need to be fired. The institutions need to be split up. The US needs to put stricter regulations in place than those in place prior to the Reagan presidency. The US needs to work with the world to provide for strict international regulations to insure that a world wide collapse never happens.
Another issue is currency regulation. China is currently screwing the world job markets, including the US by undervaluing Chinese currency. All currency should be allowed to float in well regulated currency markets.
Finally a word on antitrust. Too many companies are too big and dominate markets. The solution is international antitrust agreements. No company should be allowed to have more than 2% of a world market and 5% of a country's market. Competition will drive down prices.
We democrats need to push for these reforms now.
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