President Obama recently released his new plan to create jobs. This plan seems to follow the basic model of the so-called "stimulus" package, in that he's offering Congress an expensive package [$450 billion], short on details and effective provisions and long on items that won't create jobs or stimulate the economy. As with the "stimulus" package, he's urging Congress to pass this bill quickly. Worst of all, the details will be left to the so-called “Super Congress”, which is still struggling to find spending cuts it was tasked with during the deficit debacle.
America has had enough of expensive plans that aren’t particularly effective. We don’t want some good provisions at enormous expense; we want ALL provisions to be effective, and we don’t want it to break the bank. The plan also can’t affect assistance programs that these yet-to-be-hired workers are using to survive. What we need is simple, low-cost job creation and economic stimulation that works from the ground up.
Trickle-up economics has three basic requirements: some money, some people who will spend money, and some people who need work. We start by ensuring that the money makes it into the hands of the people who will spend it. The people spend, creating demand for goods and services. The businesses that produce these goods and services need to hire more workers to meet the demand. These new jobs place more money into the hands of more people who need it and spend it. When they spend their paychecks, this creates even more demand and necessitates the creation of even more jobs, and so on. Sounds good, right? So where do we start?
Immediately stop loaning the Social Security surplus to the federal government, as WE are the ones who will have to pay it back, in essence paying for our eventual benefits twice over, or more.
Immediately end the ridiculous payroll tax cuts. I guess President Obama didn’t realize this, but when a vital program is underfunded in the long run, YOU DO NOT REDUCE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THAT PROGRAM. POTUS Obama, a simple formula for you to memorize: reducing contributions = more trouble. Learn it. Please.
Next, end the tax cap on earnings over $106K. Very few wealthy retirees pass up their Social Security checks, so why should they pay tax on only a portion, when the poor and middle class who make less than $106K pay on ALL their income? Who cares if the wealthy don’t need it; if they are eligible to collect it--and they DO collect it--they need to pay for it just the way everyone else has to. That safety net is there to help them, too.
Finally, increase contributions from everyone by a measly little 1%.
These reforms would end the incentive for Congress to kill Social Security in order to avoid paying back the trillions of dollars in surplus they have borrowed from the Social Security trust funds, as more contributions makes it less likely that we will need to dip into the surplus funds to pay out benefits. It would stabilize Social Security for the long haul. And it would allow us to use Social Security to stimulate the economy by increasing benefit payments to 50% earnings from 1/3 earnings. This places more money in the hands of people who will spend it on goods and services, creating more demand. Demand creates jobs, which places even more money in the hands of even more people who will spend it on goods and services, creating even more demand, and through it, more jobs. This will help jump start the economy, and since the extra money will be received regularly, it will help the economy continue to grow.
2. Create new industries: America was greatest when we had good, stable manufacturing jobs with good pay. To regain these types of jobs, we need to create new industries that produce American goods and services. The creation of new industries would provide temporary and permanent jobs: jobs involved with the construction of facilities, and jobs related to the manufacture and sales of products.
Legalize industrial hemp. This is the version that cannot be smoked, but every portion of the hemp plant can be used to create high-quality, desirable goods, such as durable, decay-resistant rope, soft, long-lasting cloth, textiles, oils, pulp for specialty papers, construction & insulation materials, natural fuels, and even food products, as these seeds are high in essential fatty acids, like fish oil. There are so many uses for hemp that would spawn many new industries and companies, necessitating new job creation. And not just job creation, but permanent manufacturing jobs that pay well, sales jobs, managerial positions, etc. New factories also requires new construction, creating new construction jobs and demand for construction materials. Industrial hemp is not illegal to grow in the U.S., but since 1970 has required a permit from the DEA, which is a complicated process. The federal government can jumpstart the economy by exempting industrial hemp from this permit requirement, and states can remove any legal barriers as well.
3. Grow young industries: Encouraging young industries will also create both temporary, construction-related jobs, and permament, good-paying manufacturing and sales jobs.
Alternative renewable energy technologies: America’s dependence on foreign oil has led to wasting trillions of dollars and over a million lives. Fossil fuels are finite, so what’s the point in subsidizing billions of dollars of exploration for oil companies, who are posting record profits? Speculation on oil has artificially increased oil product prices, and believe it or not, the oil companies are one of the biggest culprits--just ask the transportation industry. Why do them MORE favors? Instead, let’s focus on reducing the cost of alternative energy technologies currently available, and developing, producing and implementing new alternative energy technologies.
Bioethanol from algae is one promising new energy source. Unlike bioethanol from corn, which is extremely corrosive, this biofuel can be used in our existing engines, pipelines and storage systems, it can be produced quickly and inexpensively, it takes up much less production area than biofuel from corn, and it won’t raise food staples prices.
We also need to begin to repair our aging energy transmission infrastructure by implementing proven alternative energy technologies where they will work to their best advantage. Energy independence will not be achieved with a single technology, but can certainly be achieved through a thoughtful combination of renewable technologies: wind, solar, hydro, tidal, wave, geothermal, etc. This will also produce temporary and permanent jobs that pay well.
The best part of a plan such as this is the cost to the government, and ultimately, to the taxpayer.
The federal and state governments can provide low-interest guaranteed loans in exchange for guarantees that all goods will be produced in facilities that will remain in the U.S. [or in the state that guaranteed the loan.] Substantial tax credits would be provided to companies that guarantee that every worker will be paid a living wage for that area, which would include enough net income to cover at least the basic cost of living in that area, plus health insurance and retirement savings. This greatly reduces the need for entitlement and assistance programs, and therefore the cost of these programs to the taxpayers.
Ample tax credits, or, preferrably low-interest, low-payment loan guarantees could also be provided to citizens and businesses for the purpose of purchasing alternative energy technology. This would allow more people the opportunity to purchase and implement these technologies, creating more demand and more permanent jobs, and move America forward on the path to energy independence.
Unemployment is high; underemployment is higher. Far too many people are eligible for government assistance programs, including many who ARE working. Our citizens depend on Social Security and Medicare, because they simply cannot afford to save for retirement. It is absolutely vital that we shock the economy back to health. We know what doesn’t work: trickle-down economics and tax cuts, grandiose plans whittled away into failure by political demands, placing personal gain above the best interests of your country. Focusing on cutting spending and the deficit when we should be spending sensibly, on programs that will help rather than hurt. Shocking the economy requires patriotism. Shocking the economy requires our politicians to also shock the nation and the world, by implementing a common-sense that works.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Farleftside
MeatMonkey
Dr William Lee
Dennis Loo
Mike Lucier
Dan O'Mahony
Salon.com
Comments
I get the feeling uncle sam isn't charging enough for the lease on those wells, nor is it charging much of a damage deposit.
If oil companies paid a realistic damage deposit before being permitted to drill, we could probably have put some of that money toward the debt, paying off the principle, saving money on interest.
Not ALL of it mind you, but a calculated amount on the assumption that ALL the oil wells won't spill at the same time. (We would, of course, have to pay back most of the deposits eventually, but at least we could save some money on loan interest)