Welcome to the final chapter of Regans (TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS). Remember greed is good.Well you see, the rich are better at this game than all of us.If you take out regulation and install a (FREE MARKET)theres no one to make rules for the game.Also do the math,after this 850,000,000,000 dollar bail out.Each person paying taxes in the US. owed over 400,000 dollars as soon as it was passed.Do you realy think we can dig our way out of this one? My opinion is we are in for a total colapse with no way out,until this ride is over.Then we start anew.HANG ON its gona be a bumpy ride.
We need to consider carefully how our leaders are chosen.
Too often these appointments seen to be based, not on ability and wisdom, but on political expediency, payback, race, gender and other political correct criteria.
What we need are the best experts available. We have to scrutinize their work and demand real openness and accountability.
We need to rid the world of intellectually comatose, self serving, knee jerking bunglers who are permeating every position of leadership.
There is a culture of jumped up trolley boys running the store.
Morals, trustworthiness, ethics, principles, dilligency and accountability should be top of the list of must have attributes and qualifications of those who preside over the lives and fortunes of people.
They should not be there to line their own pocket, but should be willing to serve the people.
We need to clean the infection from the inside out – not only in Wall Street – but also in a lot of other workplaces.
Ah yes! . . . but who will bell the cat? It will take courage and commitment and a deaf ear to all the yelling from these miscreants.
The immediate cause of this financial crisis was the housing bubble that burst. (The bubble was caused by reckless borrowing and lending that was inadequately disclosed to investors.) The crisis won’t truly be resolved until housing prices stabilize.
One way to move in that direction is for the government to buy properties that are in or on the path toward foreclosure. For many of these properties, the mortgage holders will have to spend time and money to finish the process, evict the owners, and sell the property at auction. The government could buy these properties immediately at the current market rate, saving the mortgage holders the time and expense of selling them later, probably for a lower price.
The government could then resell the properties to the foreclosed-on owners at the original purchase price. The government can borrow money for ten years at about 4% interest per year, so it could loan the money to the buyers at under 5% per year for ten years. Many buyers could afford payments at such a low rate. Interest makes up most of a house payment in the first several years.
After ten years, the properties will probably have appreciated enough that the owners can refinance into a conventional mortgage, and the taxpayers can walk away with a profit.
This plan apportions the losses caused by bad decisions fairly. Mortgage holders take a loss, but they quickly have more money available to loan out (responsibly this time). Assets backed by these mortgages are immediately liquidated at market value. Foreclosed-on buyers have their credit ratings impaired and must pay the original price for their house, but they can afford to stay in it. Taxpayers are protected.
Homeowners who are foreclosed on will probably not be able to buy another property anytime soon, so keeping them in their current home will prevent that home from going on the market and driving down prices further. Not all foreclosed or troubled properties will be appropriate for this kind of plan, but many will. This won’t solve the whole problem, but let’s do the easiest and most effective stuff first!
1. Shrink government! End the socialistic tendancies that have developed over the years. This includes homeland security–just one more attempt to control decent, honest people. If we were going to not allow people to move freely, we never should have settled on this continent to get away from controlling government (kings) & excessive taxes. Anyone remember that part of history?
2. Get back on a gold/silver standard. Fiat money has always ruined every country. Was the nazi government’s money based on gold? Or simply the promises of the government to pay. I think we all know how that ended.
3. Pull the military out of every foreign country & get them back in this country. People think we need homeland security to protect us–isn’t that what the military is for? But how can they do that when they are everywhere BUT in the US–that leaves us with more government thugs controlling our constitution- guaranteed (but not for long!) freedoms. People seem to think more government is always the answer.
4. Tax ALL businesses, including churches!! Look at how controlling churches can get, by learning how the Vatican has gained both power & property over the centuries. The Vatican basically IS another government state.
5. End the “war” on drugs. What a farce that has been & will continue to be! Remember prohibition of alcohol? We now have prohibition of non-prescriptions drugs & the criminals are getting richer every day from it! You say we can’t? Why? What happened when alcohol prohibition ended? There have always been & always will be alcoholics & drug addicts. Look at some of the literature written in the early 1900s–drug addicts have always been around. Even Sears Roebuck sold drugs from their catalogs.
6. People need to be aware of what is going on in this country & speak up! Look at all the news reports about how angry the people were with the government bailout plan & how they were letting their representatives know. And how did they vote? They voted more more pork to “help” the voters in their states. How does that help anyone? I let both my senators know how I felt & they both voted for it anyway, even though they agreed it probably wasn’t the right thing to do! My congressman voted against it TWICE & I can promise you I truly respect him for bucking the rest of congress. I know the peer pressure was probably intense!
7. Get rid of the income tax!
8. Shrink the size of government. Oh, I mentioned that one already? I know, but that’s how important it is! Most people probably forgot I listed it first, by the time they get to the end of this!
The next president should provide incentive for savings so that we become a nation in saving instead of in debt.
I forgot — what do they call central planning and government business partnership?
Still think we need programs, creation, oversight, stimulus, security, protection, intervention, liquidity, stabilization, support, regulation, planning…
Ask for an inch and you’ll get a mile.
People hsve lost all confidence in the U.S. Government, the financial system, and the future of the USA. It’s time to elect a president and vice president that have world-wide knowledge and esteem instead of these regular partisan polititions. On your voting form exert your ultimate power of choice – the write-in space. Vote for Bill Gates for President and Warren Buffet for Vice President These people know enough to get us out of the mess that we’re in. If enough of us do this they will be honored to serve us without all the usual political hassle. Sincerely
STOP IMPORTING MIDDLE EAST OIL. U.S. PAYS $70 BILLION PER MONTH ON FOREIGN OIL. IF U.S. CAN SEND A MACHINE TO MARS, IT CAN CERTAINLY DEVELOP ALTERNATE ENERGY IN 1 YEAR. IF YOU DO THE MATH, U.S. SPENDS $840 BILLION PER YEAR ON FOREIGN OIL AND THIS MONEY IS GOING OUT OF THE COUNTRY. IF THIS MONEY STAYS IN U.S. WITH ALTERNATE ENERGY THINK ABOUT WHAT IT CAN DO TO U.S. ECONOMY AND AMERICAN PEOPLE. QUESTION DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLIC POLITICIANS WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO STOP U.S. DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN OIL. WHAT THEY DO TO STOP SENDING U.S. MONEY TO MIDDLE EAST WHERE THEY HATE AMERICA THE MOST.
SOLUTION: MAKE U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT IN 1 YEAR.
Impose a 90-Day probationary period for ALL elected officials! Whenever we{the people} are hired to a new position this period is required to evaluate our performance. The same should be in place for our elected officials-magistrates to commander-in chief! Don’t get the job done we’ll start over with a new batch!!YOU GET 90 DAYS TO PROVE YOUR WORTH! And please heed the advice of Andre of South Elgin. Truly, the Creator has the answer to all of our problems.
I have worked in Loss Mitigation for subprime loans since 2004, well before the crisis. I am sick and tired of hearing about “greedy lenders” and “unsuspecting borrowers”. What the media and politicians fail to mention are the several classes of borrowers the past several years. In my experience they fall into three categories:
1) The first-time buyer. In most cases they knew full well they were taking out an adjustable-rate mortgage as the notation ARM loan is spelled out in bold caps across the top of the note. In most cases a fast-talking mortgage broker quickly pointed out that the borrower had an ARM but not to worry, the borrower can refinance before the rates adjusts. The borrowers, with no savings and no money down were simply gullible and should have complete more research on mortgages. These people deserve some degree of sympathy.
2) The real estate investors. Most of these borrowers attempted to cash in on the so-called housing boom by purchasing multiple properties at one time in an attempt to either rent or “flip” the properties at a profit. Most of the buyers had no background in Real Estate and were attempting to simply get rich quick.
3) The borrower that refinances ever few years and “cashes-out” (borrows against) their perceived equity in the property. Had these borrowers simply stuck to their original mortgage and not used their house as the proverbial ATM to fund their reckless spending they would not be in this bind. I cannot tell you how many times I have spoken with a borrower in default within a year or two that received $20,000 to $150,000 cash at closing. When I ask about what happened to the money the usual response is simply ” I don’t know, I spent it.” Like Wall Street, these borrowers were hedging with the notion that as long as property values continued to increase and the well would never run dry there was nothing to worry about.
The problem in our country is the fact that we have become a nation of savers to a nation of debtors. We have continued to borrow and live beyond our means for too long. Instead of scapegoating and finger-pointing we need to admit we have a problem and work to resolve it.
I have worked in Loss Mitigation for subprime loans since 2004, well before the crisis. I am sick and tired of hearing about “greedy lenders” and “unsuspecting borrowers”. What the media and politicians fail to mention are the several classes of borrowers the past several years. In my experience they fall into three categories:
1) The first-time buyer. In most cases they knew full well they were taking out an adjustable-rate mortgage as the notation ARM loan is spelled out in bold caps across the top of the note. In most cases a fast-talking mortgage broker quickly pointed out that the borrower had an ARM but not to worry, the borrower can refinance before the rate adjusts. The borrowers, with no savings and no money down were simply gullible and should have complete more research on mortgages. These people deserve some degree of sympathy.
2) The real estate investors. Most of these borrowers attempted to cash in on the so-called housing boom by purchasing multiple properties at one time in an attempt to either rent or “flip” the properties at a profit. Most of the buyers had no background in Real Estate and were attempting to simply get rich quick.
3) The borrower that refinances ever few years and “cashes-out” (borrows against) their perceived equity in the property. Had these borrowers simply stuck to their original mortgage and not used their house as the proverbial ATM to fund their reckless spending they would not be in this bind. I cannot tell you how many times I have spoken with a borrower in default within a year or two that received $20,000 to $150,000 cash at closing. When I ask about what happened to the money the usual response is simply ” I don’t know, I spent it.” Like Wall Street, these borrowers were hedging with the notion that as long as property values continued to increase and the well would never run dry there was nothing to worry about.
The problem in our country is the fact that we have become a nation of savers to a nation of debtors. We have continued to borrow and live beyond our means for too long. Instead of scapegoating and finger-pointing we need to admit we have a problem and work to resolve it.
The answer is so obvious and yet nobody seems to be able to figure it out.Its not big oil or greedy bankers.The answer is metal.When those markets are allowed to go out of control it takes up oil prices because of demand,which drives up oil which drives up everything.The metal market has crashed and although it is not good for use scrap dealers it is very good for the world economy.Now oil will fall,businesses can buy reasonable cost material,people can work and afford to buy a product such as an automobile,refrigerator.house or a million other products.China knows this and will be the new superpower if our elected officials don’t stop the stupidity.Businesses need help because they didn’t pay attention to this very elementary core value.Control metal and you control the world.
I find the lists many people have posted here to be absolutely hilarious. It’s a never-ending lovefest with ideas such as “Make Group X do this” or “Prevent Group Y from doing that.” In reality, it is this type of micromanagement of people’s lives which led to the demise of the USSR, the impoverishment of the Cubans, and is EXACTLY the reason why we are in this predicament.
Keep the politicians’ hands out of the economy and the lives of individuals and I 100% guarantee you that the business cycle would be a thing of the past. Abolish the Federal Reserve system and you wouldn’t have to worry about “inflation,” which is nothing more than the RESULT of the Fed expanding the money supply. Anyone who thinks the U.S. has anything resembling a free economy should look at the length of the tax code, the CFR, and our bloated trade agreements. We’re talking about HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of pages, folks. If you think that’s a “free market,” then you’re quite beyond help. Those regulations were not established to make the economy run more smoothly, but rather, to protect politically-connected organizations.
What’s my plan?
- Abolish the Federal Reserve, which has allowed Congress to spend countless trillions without directly taxing the public.
- Repeal the income tax amendment. Let people keep what they earn. The standard of living for EVERYONE will improve, whether rich, comfortable, struggling, or destitute.
- Eliminate all subsidies. They distort the market and inefficiently allocate scarce resources toward projects which the collective wisdom of the market does not approve. Yes, bankers were effectively subsidized during the housing boom and look how that turned out!
JOIN THE RON PAUL REVOLUTION!
Interesting set of answers: 16% would cost the citizens more in taxes, 11% are unconstitutional, 28% of the solutions seem to “will” the problems away I guess with some kind of “magic fairy-dust” technique, 12% of the solutions didn’t work the first time, 8% are downright socialism at best, and remarkably, 27% of the answers have quite a bit of merit! I especially liked the “Sell Texas to the Chinese for a Bizillion dollars” concept, though I might suggest California since it’ll go down via earthquake before too long and also because Texas is full of some bad-ass hombres that might come in “handy” goiong down the stretch….
My suggestion? Do nothing. Elect either candidate, it won’t much matter, this country’s way of life is already extinct. We have overspent for too long, the power-hungry thieves will end up eating each other’s young, and this country will become a destitute third-world nation before 2010. The young have no skills, many can not read, very few have any ambition, and many more are addicted to (fill in the blank). Hopefully the living grandparents will teach necessary skills to their families before the bloodbath and also hopefully the remaining people will stand up to the despots and modern-day “carpetbaggers” that will roam this beautiful continent. In the end, we will revert to a 19th century economy at best, and probably use gold or energy as the currency standard. I look forward to the improvement and pray the good Lord allows me to help in the a**-kicking.
No matter how good the ideas are, the President will not implement them as long as he can cater to lobbyists and corporations. I don’t know if it is possible to stop the flow of money to politicans in this country. From 2000-2004 financial services firms gave over 9 million dollars to the Republican party. Henry Paulson gave at least 100k. Our govenment is corrupt and has incented corporations to exhaust our resources overseas. Manufacturing and service jobs were exported because wages are not taxable overseas. Our military and tax surplus was dispensed for the oil and defense companies. Our real estate is being sold to the highest bidders, our enemies. Until the corruption is stopped, this government will continue to steal evey last cent of wealth from its citizens.
Stop the banks foreclosing and allow a 6 month period to negotiate with homeowners having trouble meeting payments.
If people have to go bankrupt it worsens the economic recovery as they will not contribute to consumer spending nor recovery of the housing market.
Reduce the size of government at both the state and federal level and provide tax relief to small businesses and consumers now.
Put together a focal group on the economy, pull together economic policy leaders and focus them on the economic ills, politicians dont have the answers.
Why are we always trying to change countries to our way of thinking when they don’t give a flip about our way of democracy. We need to help ourselves. This huge bailout should be headed up by non-government types. How about someone that knows about budgeting????, economics????
The next President needs to spend wisely, account for every penny it spends AND balance the budget. Just as your typical American cannot afford to live outside of their means, our government clearly cannot either.
I’m tired of watching my politicians write checks that my daughter and her children will have to cash.
We also need to gain our independence back! We owe more money to more foreign nations than ever, we send out a annually growing percentage of our own personal dollars to the Middle East buying gas for our cars because our government won’t and can’t find a way to make us at least energy neutral (where we send out at as much as we buy) and lastly, we can’t cry about our unemployment numbers and send our jobs overseas in the same breath.
That’s what our President needs to start doing from day 1.
Increasing taxes on people making $250,000 or more, or anyone for that matter, will be DETRIMENTAL to this economy.
- Cancel the bailout
- Do not allow any further bailouts
- Allow a recession to happen
- Allow homes to drop to affordable market values
- Allow the stock market to drop to market values
- Allow financial companies to fail
- Allow individuals who made bad decisions to lose their homes
Some of these comments are complete fascist bull. I think the author hit the crackpipe a few too many times. One example….Cut the military??? With Iran developing Nukes?? Are you out of your friggin’ gourd? If anything, the military needs to be expanded. This will increase jobs and decrease unemployment. You may need to take that economics class yourself and study the New Deal, also the basics of supply and demand. We need to incent greater a all volunteer military with better pay. The real problem with defense spending is the waste in gov’t contracts. This needs to be managed better and bid better with less politics involved. The problem is that a budget is established and for some reason and for some reason the gov’t thinks the entire budget needs to be spent, even if it is excessive.
Fixing the economy 101:
1. Gold Standard
2. Get us out of the UN. We pay 22% of their tab (source :An Inconvenient Book, Glenn Beck)
3. Bring the troops home from everywhere.
4. Increase taxes on the wealthy Establishment RUNNING ALL ASPECTS OF OUR COUNTRY!
5. Go through with T. Boone Pickens’ Plan.
6. Return outsourced jobs here to the States.
7. Elect a President who will FOLLOW AND UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION!
Invest in energy independence and buying up the foreclosed, and even more importantly, aiding troubled families here at home. Increase cancer research funding and funding for other long-term health care
To pay for this:
-cut the military by 60%: Why aren’t our news media focusing on military spending abuses? Remember the $500 hammer from Reagan years. Worse things are happening NOW. Do we really think the military protects us or causes more harm?
-Increase taxes on people making $250,000 or more.
-stop sending money to oil rich countries that hate us.
-stop subsidizing and supporting regimes that do not support democracy.
-Stop raiding social secirity
Housing:
Make it illegal for publicly traded banks, or FDIC insured banks to loan more than 200% of a persons wages on a house, and also illegal to exceed the tax valuation on a house loan.
Make floating rate loans illegal.
Make interest only loans illegal.
Make any house beyond the first mortgage a 40% down payment minimum.
Economy:
Require a personal finance and an economics class for each grade, 1st through 12th.
Make it as important as Math and Reading and more important than science or social studies.
Make it illegal for a person to hold a credit card unless they have a savings account with 20% of the limit value of the card in the same bank that issued the credit card.
If the person spends any of the 20%, then the credit limit is automatically adjusted downwards.
Make it illegal to make a car loan without 20% down payment.
Make it illegal to make a home loan without 10% down payment.
Make it illegal for union paid representatives to make more than the least paid full time union worker of that same union, without overtime.
Union administrators must be exempt (no overtime) and must be paid out of union dues, not out of the compant that the union is holding hostage.
Unions must use union dues to pay medical fees that are not met by company plan.
Unions must use the remainder of money not spent on medical to support employees that are laid off.
No more than 15% of union dues can be spent on political lobbying.
75% of union monies must be held in trust for those that pay dues.
10% of union monies must go towards higher education of employees and employee dependents.
Any company may hire employees as and when they want, without consultation of any union.
Any employee of a unionized company should be able to elect to not pay union dues and work out their own contract on an individual basis with the company.
Energy:
No tax breaks or subsidies on coal, oil, or nuclear.
A public popular vote for each new nuclear power plant to be built. Simple yes or no votes, with no legal language.
Nuclear waste products must be stored in the state that they are produced in.
Tax an additional 25 cents per gallon federal that goes right towards alternative energy solutions, not research, but actual producers, at zero percent interest loans.
Add a $500 tax for every EPA MPG under 25 that a vehicle gets for new vehicles. THis includes trucks, busses, etc. So a 20 MPG truck buyer will pay an extra $2500.00 guzzler tax. THis tax goes right towards purchases of hybrid, fuel cell, and electric vehicles. Below 20 mpg the tax increases to $1000 per mpg. So a 15 mpg truck would cost $7500 in guzzler taxes.
The recipients of such vehicle subsidies must be purchasing a highway legal vehicle.
The money goes right into the hands of the buyer at purchase.
Administration of this program is paid for out of the guzzler tax, and is calculated at the end of the year and is paid towards cars and vehicles that have 35mpg or better rating.
Between 20 and 35 mpg there is no tax nor is there a bolus. At 35mpg the buyers receive $1000 per mpg above 35. THis money is paid out of previous years taxes, so it would take a year to spin up the program. Once the incentive $ is gone, further purchses are not eligible.
Health:
Provide insurance companies with a minimum health coverage mandate.
Provide caps on medical lawsuits.
Make it illegal to sue a hospital or clinic.
Make individual doctors, nurses, admin and medical staff criminally and civilly liable instead.
Bad clinic? get the perpetrators, not the institution.
Any person holding stock or ownership in a medical provider will lose all ownership rights if convicted of civil or criminal misconduct or incompetence.
Any leftovers after lawsuits have settled are to be deposited directly into public health/medicare.
Cap total damages per person from each lawsuit at $500,000, plus medical fees, adjusted upwards 3.5% per year. Any doctor totaling more than 1 million in damages or one to three guilty convictions loses license depending on severity of misconduct or incompetence.
Class action lawsuits and non class action lawsuits would need to be restrained so that legal advisors, attorneys, partnerships, etc can only receive 5% of the toal award value.
Trial costs paid to non legal entities not to exceed another 5%.
Legal fees paid by the defendant if found guilty, above and beyond the awards given to the victims of the medical malpractice. THis means that on a per victim basis, the most insurance
needed would be $1,650,000. And the practicioner would lose license automatically, no appeals.
Wallstreet:
SHort sales should become illegal.
Executives, to include anyone on a managing board, CEO, CFO, and any other executive officer, should receive zero compensation if a company declares bankruptcy.
Ok, is that enough? I could go on….
Govt backed home mortgages at 4% with 25% equity share going back to the investor upon sale, owner occupied only, stiff penalties if rented, % increase unless for hardship. This would instantly move thousands of existing homes. Only existing homes qualify…no new builds. Skins
1) tax churches, they are a business, and they own a ton of land. As is is now, it is an unfair practice at best.
2) put in place incentives for all americans to save money every month, every year. Tax free CDs? not sure, but something to encourage and reward those that save for rainy days
3) put resources into green technologies with a goal of 5-10 years of being ‘free’ from oil. We’ll never really be free – plastics for instance, but remove the need for gasoline for travel
4) beef up public transportation in cosmopolitan areas
5) ensure the bailout plans will return money to the US gov’t, i.e. tax moneys
6) put in place regulations for credit, banking, and the like
7) prosecute those that break the existing and new laws (see #6) for ill-gotten financial gain.
put resources into education – technology, sex education, health education, ‘regular’ education. We need to educate the people of the US to the same standards as the rest of the developed world – we’re currently close to last, and that is scary.
The next President can have a positive affect the economy if he is able to transfer a genuine feeling that the economy is going to improve. He needs to explain this will happen because he will make it a priority to reward responsible financial practices by institutions and individuals alike, while no longer tolerating the kinds of risky behavior that has resulted in the current financial crisis. He should reward good companies who keep jobs in this country and take away any advantages companies could gain by taking jobs out of the country.
How about a plan everyone can love – http://www.fairtax.org – eliminate all income, capital gains, corporate taxes in favor of a flat consumption based tax. this makes our goods competitive overseas because they leave our shores untaxed, helps everyone out because we no longer lose 40% of check before we see it. Encourages saving and investment at every level and eliminates the IRS and 500 billion dollar annual waste spent on tax filings.
The bill is already in the house, it just needs to be voted on and passed. It would also by necessity have to repeal the 16th amendment. Read up on it at Fairtax.org – now is the time.
Promote individual savings by exempting a portion of interest income from taxation (e.g. CDs, money market accounts, savings accounts).
I would void all unilateral free-trade agreements(they are all unilateral/none is in our favor). Impose a $2 per pound import tax on all imports except raw materials(ores and Oil). Don’t like the tax? It has a huge loophole: BUILD IT HERE!
We could still get the electronics we can’t build now, but everything else would pay. Then take the “Revenues” and pay down these bail-outs, Cocial Security, and give low-interest loans and grants to USA producing Industries. PRETTY SIMPLE and it would work. Of course, the foreign lobbiests would be mad and want all their money back from Obama and McCain.
Legalize Marijuana & place a high tax on it. Pass a bill to directly use the revenues against the deficit. This will provide a completely alternative form of income free from the current system. If the economy also goes into a recession, it should boost moral and drugs/alcohol usually do well in recessionary periods.
12 IDEAS TO SAVE OUR ECONOMY
I leave to the govt plans to get the capital markets working but the REAL issue is keeping the economy going independent of the capital market. In fact in my first few ideas I am proposing things that could go around the banking system.
Whether you like THESE ideas or not please forward them on to whoever you think can get them to someone that could make a difference. My goal is to stimulate IDEAS which is why I have logged unto this blog (though knowing this will get lost in all the commens and political rhethoric). I have looked all over the web and have not seen any (let me know if there is somewhere where people are discussing similar ideas.)
Please note I am not an economist nor do I have enough detail to be able to assess the full financial impact of the suggestions. There are ways to recoup expenditures at the end but I have no ability to tell you if these are tax or revenue neutral. Right now I don’t care. But I am a fiscal conservative (“Blue Dog” Democrat is the term that was bandied about last week) and feel we will need new sources of funds to offset the first 7 programs I am suggesting here. None of the increased taxes would start for a couple of years so as to limit any impact over the short run.
Sorry about the “^” but this format does not do footnotes easily.
12 ideas to help the economy NOW:
1) Govt to offer 2%^^^ financing on all automobiles manufactured in the US^ purchased for next 3 months
a. Funding to made available through car manufacturers financing arms (immediate unfreeze of credit) for lending only (not to be used for operations – that was the other bailout); or maybe to make it happen this week we authorize the use of the already approved $25 billion to be used for this….
b. Subject to approved good credit
c. Likely would be extended but we need to provide incentive for people to buy cars now in face of uncertainty.
2)100% tax credit^^ of all interest on loans for the purchase of automobiles manufactured in the US^ up to 5 years from purchase if purchased over the next 15^^^^ months. This is the real incentive to buyers.
3)Govt to offer FIXED mortgages to US citizens for primary residences at 2%^^^ interest for homes purchased over the next 15^^^^ months. Goal: get housing going and get mortgage lenders fees by getting Americans to buy new homes
a. 15 or 30 year fixed mortgages
b. Traditional mortgage qualification restrictions – no subprime stuff
c. Restrictions applied so everyone can not sell to themselves as a way to get a “new” home
4) 100% tax credit^^ up to a specified limit of all FIXED FIRST mortgages to US citizens for primary residences for new mortgages funded over the next 15 months. Goal: get mortgage lenders fees to shore up the banks.
a. US govt to offer banks and mortgage brokers funds to support (brokers should allow this to go forward)
b. This would apply to refinances
c. Rate determined by the market
d. 15 or 30 year fixed mortgages only
e. Traditional mortgage qualification restrictions – no subprime stuff
f. 100% tax credit for all points and fees (fees to be high but capped)
g. Not subject to Alternative Minimum Tax (or we won’t fix the housing problems in much of CA and other high housing price states)
h. 100% tax credit^^ would apply for mortgages up to $740,000^^^^^ in value, traditional tax deduction would apply for remaining balance.
i. 100% tax credit^^ would apply for mortgages up to 75% of assessed value of the primary residence – anything above that would be traditional tax deduction at most (I would suggest it is not deductable at all or something to discourage bad loans). This would require some form of official disclosure form when the loan is funded.
j. May require sliding tax credit after the 15 months so the new bubble does not burst….I admit that needs to be thought out.
5) Govt to offer FIXED mortgages to US citizens for primary residences at 2%^^^ interest to replace any loan funded since 2003 that is in foreclosure Goal: get housing going and get mortgage lenders fees by getting Americans to buy new homes
a. Funding from Govt to mortgage brokers (immediate unfreeze of credit)
b. 15 or 30 year fixed mortgages
6) Govt to offer 2%^^^ financing on all capital assets manufactured in the US^ purchased in the next 6 months
a.Funding to be made available through special fund program
i.Funding to be provided to 20 of the 25 largest leasing companies and/or major financing arms of manufacturers (GE Capital for example) would be funded for these loans
ii. Banks and financing operations can join program IF they are actively funding other loans as well
iii. Banks and financing operations make reasonable fee for making sound loans
b. Subject to approved good credit
c. Could be extended
d. Likely would have to be capped at some total $ amount.
7) Increase US infrastructure spending by $300 billion over next five years
Immediately double or triple 401k contribution limits to increase US saving rates (required in the long run and will be required to allow people to rebuild their retirement nest eggs.) Goal: get US savings rate up and build up investment capital.
a. Over the age of 40 double the limits
b. Over the age of 50 triple the limits
9) Establish oil tax plan to increase oil import taxes by 50cents per barrel each quarter starting Q2 2009^^^^^^ until additional oil taxes are $10.00 per barrel more than currently paid. Makes the increase forecastable and predictable. Taxes will add to govt revenues AND provides incentive for green energy. Increase federal gas tax (imported and domestic) as well.
10) “Terrorism Prevention Tax” to be instituted to insure every container or large object that is imported into the US is actively^^^^^^^ inspected. Tax to be instituted in July 2010 so people can plan around it.
a. OK I admit I am sensitive to this one because I am sitting overlooking the port of LB and LA harbor.
b. Will probably take until the start date to figure out how to do it but we don’t want to overly restrict global trade
c. Probably should not apply to stuff manufactured in Canada or Mexico
d. This will slow imports into the US so will force US manufacturers to readjust their supply chains
e. Will encourage investment into US manufacturing
11) National Sales tax beginning July 2010 of x%.
a. Encourages consumption now (by delaying the beginning of the sales tax) but discourages consumption once the tax is put in place.
b. Sure it is regressive but so is poverty in old age encouraged by the consumption imperative in America over the last 20 years. Exceptions for items that food stamps can currently pay for should probably apply (or other reasonable .
c. Phased sales tax on real estate to avoid bursting the bubble too quickly.
12) Import/Export Credits program
a. Over time we have to get imports and exports more in balance.
b. I am suggesting a market mechanism (similar to carbon emission credits) as a means to do that.
c. Any company exporting earns “credits” for their exports. These credits could be sold to importers.
d. Federal govt to auction “import credits” equal to the expected trade deficit. Federal govt to announce expected targets over time which presumably would be declining so as to reduce our trade deficit over time. This would allow importers to plan around these issues.
e. Imports not to be allowed without offsetting import credits
f. Major importers like the oil companies, Asian companies and Wal-Mart could import more IF they can find more US exports (Toyota can import more cars if they can figure out how to sell US made cars in Japan or Asia for example).
g. This will have to be phased in and is not really about saving the economy in the short run I admit.
Footnotes:
^: This would apply independent of where ownership of the plant is (Toyota cars made in the US would count; those made in Japan would not). Let other countries subsidize their manufacturers. This is for US manufactured goods only. Maybe we have to make an exception for Canadian and Mexico manufactured cars, not sure.
^^: Sorry if I used the wrong tax language…but this is intended to be a 1 for 1 deduction of taxes. These would be costly.
^^^: 2% is probably too low. This is intended to be ½% above US borrowing costs or so.
^^^^: 15 months is intended to get us through the end of 2009
^^^^^: I think $740,000 is the new limit for mortgages before they go into “jumbo loans” I picked that presuming there was some statistical significance behind it in the first place in terms
^^^^^^: This is the one date that should be sooner. Gas has dropped down significantly so there would be limited pain with the immediate imposition of a tax on gas.
^^^^^^^: “Actively” may require physical inspection of each container AND additional more passive screens such as X-ray and gieger counter review. The fees are not intended to be trivial ($2,500 per container or something).
Its very simple just get on your knees and pray to GOD for forgivness of what we have done to this wonderful country he has given us. Pray for mercy. Pray that we go back to the values of what this country was founded upon and yes I’m going to say his name Jesus Christ Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He (GOD) says only if my people would pray and repent and I will heal the their land. Dont be fooled he is in control.
Stop trying to save the world.
Focus on saving OUR country first.
Move defense spending from foreign democracy-building missions to domestic, economy-bolstering missions.
Elect a president that understands that power is in the purse.
The next president needs to understand what country he is leading: the freest one which most respects individual rights. To understand this is to understand why it is also the most prosperous in history. Freedom from government intervention is what brought us such great wealth, and these massive socialist expansions into the private market will only postpone the recovery at best–or destroy it at worst.
The next president needs to explicitly value freedom from government involvement in our private lives as the basis for rolling back all the layers of regulation, intervention, taxation and intrusion into the lives of the citizens he’s sworn to protect.
Return to the gold standard. A 50% gold reserve backing up our currency is the ONLY way we can shore up our economy. Also, stop government deficits. Demand better accounting from government and pass the flat tax rate. Eliminate all corporate income tax because this is double taxation. Add a 5% tariff to all Chinese imports to help pay for the government bailout.
tax all religious institutions – religion is a business.
either tax interest on savings, cds, money markets at 15% like dividends or make it tax free to encourage saving.
a strong dollar will increase our purchasing power and help us psychologically
No government bail out.
Reform the tax code.
Less big government.
Stand by an agenda and not give in.
Finish the war on terror successfully
and not bargain with others to add to the national debt.
Fed government should only help the people that need help . Elderly,disabled etc.
Education needs to be a major focus for our future.
The same goes for state government and local government.
Government does nothing but waste time and money.
Give this country back to the people,
trust the people.
We dont need no stinkin big government.
stop socialism. we are a government for the people by the people.
not a government for the government by the obnoxious who believe they know better.
Adjust future Social Security benefits so the system will be solvent, without raising taxes. Push the age limit up, and the benefits down, until we can pay out what we are taking in without a deficit. And cut federal spending drastically! Slam the door on this derivatives/house of cards financing that Wall Sreet loves so much. No more complex financial instruments that only exist to generate fees. And PLEASE stop the abortion/flag burning/gay marriage babble!!!
The presidential campaign becomes a contest of spending not managing, fighting not caring, mouth flipping not real actions, doing my way not your way, getting my favor not reaching for everyone. Before we elect the right president, make sure we know what is the right president. Until then, politics will be business as usual in Washington.
The problem is we make the economy to be way more complicated than it is. Truth is it is no more complicated than your household budget. As such, imagine how your household budget would look if you had been overspending for 40 years. Its great your income went up, but it doesn’t do much good if you find ways to spend it all and then some. For starters, we need a balanced budget amendment. That amendment should also require that spending increases be limited to inflation minus one percent for at least the next 20 years to catch up on our debt. Secondly, earmarks should be illegal. The issues should be able to pass on their own merit. The president should have a line item veto for the same reason. Third, energy is the blood of our economy. We should build nuclear plants like there is no tomorrow and heavily subsidize the sale of electric and to a lesser extent hybrid vehicles via a tax credit. You see what a 1-2% decrease in demand has done to the price of oil? 80% of oil goes to automobiles. Finally, we should outlaw exotic mortgages. No more interest only or ARM loans, plus you must have 10% minimum down. If energy is the lifeblood of our economy, credit is the lubrication. Tight credit is causing an arthritic econmy that can’t get moving. As an afterthought, we need to deal with the escalating costs of entitlements that will consume our entire budget by 2052 at current rates.
How do we fix the economy?
First is get control of the hedge funds that are downselling everything in sight. If Wall Street starts to rise, then more money will start flowing to wall street for the profits.
Second, Put our investments into alternative energy, off-shore drilling, new refineries, and increase funding to mass-transportation systems.
Third, Give tax cuts to small businesses to allow them more money to grow their enterprises.
Four, Start charging Iraq for logistic support.
Five, Make the largest increase into educational spending in the history of the country, starting with a new federal lottery to build capital from.
Six, This is controversial but it could be a huge boon for the economy. Legalize Marijuana and make it a controlled product the likes of Cigarettes and Alcohol and have similar laws for their usage, then tax the sale of it like Alcohol and Tobacco. This increases funding 2-fold. It first takes the money that trying to fight marijuana possession and sales in the United States from law enforcement, that they could use on other drugs. Two, a new line of income could be created and a whole new sector of the economy would be developed.
Find the money to offer every homeowner 4% loan for 10 years; refinance loans for people with credit hurt by credit crunch; pay banks to check tax returns for income validity, but get the overall rate paid on home loans way down. Period.
Economy Recovery Plan
* Stop all but emergency spending.
* Cancel all current and past porkbarrel projects payments.
* Suspend ira 70 1/2 yr rule for retirees
*Suspend all capital gains taxes immediately for one year
*Initiate conversion of all current ARM mortgages to a fixed rate. Current rate at 6.25 with no closing
*Implement a immediate small business tax credit on new equipment
*Put all executives and congress members on trial that were part of the sub-prime anything goes mortgages fiasco.
* Suspend all market short selling of all stocks.
* Suspend all speculation on the commodities markets for two years.\
Observation: When the consumer/property owners/investors decided that their real estate and stocks were worth less than they were before the crashes, they effectively “evaporated” 3-5+ trillion in negotiable assets. This actually gave the government license to and even necessitated they create the equivalent in negotiable assets to fill the gap. Otherwise we will tailspin into severe contractions and a deflationary spiral.
In such an environment, the creation of 3-5+ trillion in government securities (government bonds) and the re-investment of the procedes will be required to counterbalance this contraction. There will be no inflationary impact, just an offset.
As normalcy and growth returns, we will be able to retire these bonds fairly easily by normal taxation on this growth. Otherwise the growth WILL be inflationary.
These numbers sound larger, but they are actually pretty small in relation to the overall GDP of 10 trillion dollars. As a matter of fact, we may have to double or even triple these numbers to keep the whole economy from imploding.
1) Spend less on wars, more on domestic homeland security and defensive military. Protect our borders/airports/ports.
2) Apply sensible regulations on the financial/banking systems.
3) Place caps on Doctor/Hospital charges and caps on medical malpractice claims.
4) Institute a flat income tax rate across the board – no exceptions, no loopholes, no offshore havens.
5) Encourage corporations to hire and build domestically.
6) Hold other nations accountable for a common set of human rights and environmental standards if they want to do free trade with the U.S.
7) Encourage sustainable energy technology development through grants, and higher taxes on fuel consumption/ products that use more fuel.
I can think of 50 more things…
One thing I note about the ideas posted here is that most of them seem to be nostalgic, to express a yearning to get this little financial headache over with and get back to business as usual. Back to business as usual is never going to happen. This is a time of change, and change will happen whether we embrace it or we try to run and hide.
A lot of these ideas have to do with the idea of government doing less. This is foolish, and it implies some assumptions about the way things work that have no basis in fact. Government is not inherently bad; it better not be, because we are the government, so if government is bad, then so must we be.
Hardly anybody constrains themselves to live on a balanced budget all the time, even though some of us are suggesting that we should force the government to do so. Were we to apply that rule to individual finance, fewer than 5% of Americans would own homes, for instance. A balanced-budget amendment would be completely impractical.
To focus on reductions in spending and debt under current conditions would be,… well, that’s basically what Hoover did, and what the Bush administration was doing until a month ago. The Bush people labeled their behavior (I can’t call it strategy) “Stay and Pray”, and they sat on their hands, hoping the problem would go away by itself. I think we all have an idea how that turned out. When you’re in trouble and need to act, there’s a moment when you can have maximum impact on your situation, and you should act. After that, the longer you wait, the more difficult things get. At this point, we’re in pretty deep, and we’re having to take some pretty extreme steps. Waiting longer, or refusal to act at all, would just make things worse.
The most profound root cause of the financial fiasco is our foolish infatuation with the free market ideal. Free markets don’t work in the real world, and, oddly enough, they fail for reasons very similar to the reasons communism fails. Both are idealistic philosophies that neglect to account for the imperfection in human nature, i.e., the simple fact that people cheat when it’s easier than being honest. If as has been the case under the Bush administration, no authority acts to keep market players honest, the players begin to cheat on an ever-increasing scale, until they’ve effectively gutted the economy without anybody noticing.
In the current example, the main means of cheating has been an obscure financial instrument called a “credit-default swap.” This is an offer to insure a lender against a borrower’s default. Like any form of insurance, it essentially enables risk to be quantified and traded as if it were a commodity. The trouble with it is that there’s no regulation of how many times the same dollar of capital can be offered to cover multiple dollars in default, i.e., CDS traders can “insure” a loan without having the capital to actually pay a claim against that insurance.
So the bankers have been making loans, insuring those loans with undercapitalized CDS, and proceeding to do business as if all their risks were covered. This is how banks have been able to book so much bad paper without anybody noticing. We can’t address this issue simply by living within our means, because so much money has already been borrowed and spent. If we let things collapse, it will be painful, and it won’t be brief, because a broken economy would leave us with massive debt and no ability to pay. This would debase US currency to the point that we would start looking like Zimbabwe.
We have huge opportunities, and, at least for now, we have the capacity to take up some of the challenges before us. We invented the petroleum-centric economy, exploited it for as long as it lasted, and now it’s over. If we want to continue without defaulting on what we owe, we’re going to have to invent the post-petroleum economy.
Education isn’t optional for the US. If we don’t teach more than basic skills, we abandon our heritage of leadership forever. There is a great opportunity here. If we fund university research to further development of the post-petroleum economy, we will not only get that development done, we will also populate our universities with great minds, make education more challenging and interesting for students, and enable universities to depend less on tuition for operating revenue and reduce the cost of education.
One of the criticisms I aim at free market idealism is that markets don’t do innovation well. Markets tend to have short time horizons, and to be risk averse, but the kinds of breakthrough developments that yield life changing benefits take a lot of investment and a long time to achieve their potential. The integrated circuit is a great example of this. It was a product of the moon race, and was an obscure part of the technological background for more than two decades before it transformed our lives, yet now it’s at the heart of every device we depend on daily, from cell phones to buildings and cars. The integrated circuit could never have come out of market-driven priorities; it was a side-effect of achieving our ambition to put men on the moon, and of the way we came together as a nation to make that happen.
We have to be prepared to come together as a nation to get things done. It’s the only way to get the really huge benefits of inventions that take decades of development to mature.
We have to invest in order to profit, or, put another way, if you don’t bet, you can’t win.
Going all ultra-conservative won’t work, because the status quo is dead.
Keep moving forward.
Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act.
Take control of money away from the privately held Federal Reserve and put it back under government, which is the Constitutional mandate thrown out in 1913 at Jekyll Island.
Put some very stiff regulations on investment and commercial banks and lenders, including limiting the use of commission payments that were the incentive for so much bad lending.
Create a national law like Japan’s that limits executive compensation to a fixed multiple of the same company’s lowest paid employee.
Pursue criminal and/or civil actions to recover the bonuses and perks paid in any form in the last two years to executives of any company that is taking part in the bailout, and use that money to pay off part of the bailout.
End corporate offshoring that allows companies to avoid paying taxes.
Sell something fast clear USA debts. The United States has 50 states, sell one of the states. Sell Texas to China. 12 Trillion is the price, Walmart gets a mega-hub smack in the middle of the USA. 12 Trill clears all existing debt, not including swaps. The Dallas Cowboys go to Los Angeles. So we run along with 49 states for a while. Oh and no more special lobby activities in USA.
1. Item line veto – pork be gone or you be gone;
2. Get experts in all areas of energy, determine the best long-term approach – nuclear,solar, wind,etc and in the meantime utilize and exploit what WE have and begin phasing in the new; Goal – each decade – a new nuclear or solar plant at least each state
3. Get health care under control – that system is absolutely broken; No American should be further traumatized by economic turmoil because they got cancer or were in a horrific accident –
4. Only LEGAL citizens may benefit form ANY governmental service – change laws to mandate this and slap ungodly sanctions to those that do give services – get Central and South America’s governments to fully recognize they need to service their countrymen and make them want to stay in their countries and have a reason to hold their families together in their countries
5. Reform the criminal codes – get rid of loopholes and seriously prosecute the so-called “white collar crimes” – you know a man with a suitcase can steal more money than a man with gun – recognize it and deal with it;
6. The War – I don’t know what to do about that – what I would do, as naive as it sounds, is sit down the main people, be crystal clear – not diplomatic – crystal clear on the outcome of their decision if they don’t get on board on what is expected and simply let them determine the course of their country, once all options are laid at their feet – in the meantime – the outsiders that are interested in Iraq – like Iran – be watched like a hawk – war has changed -change with it – use small specialized groups and feel free to execute those that need to be executed
Funny, I blogged about this just last night…
Rather than filling the coffers of creditors so that they can more successfully practice the bad behavior of leveraging themselves beyond all vestiges of prudence, and rather than validating the bad behavior of those that have made the choice to forego their commitments…it’s time for an American Jubilee.
That’s right, for six months Americans that currently carry a mortgage will be forgiven their monthly mortgage debt…our credit report is to identify that the mortgage is paid as agreed…and there will be no tacking the forbearance to the end of the loan or increasing payment terms.
But what of the Americans that have no mortgage debt or rent? You may ask. If they are 18 or older, have filed federal taxes for the last two years (either jointly or individually), and can prove their citizenship, they will receive a $3,000 contribution to their qualified IRA. If they have no current IRA established they will receive a $3,000.00 (face value) Treasury Bill.
Sound expensive? Maybe, but keep in mind that the current cost to the taxpayer for the proposed and realized expenditures of the bailout easily exceeds $10,000.00. That right, you are going to owe the government more than $10,000 by the time the inferior program is completed.
The net benefit is this…you have the choice. If you are not struggling with your mortgage, then you can save, give or reduce your principal significantly, if you are struggling with your mortgage and nearing foreclosure…you are given a reprieve to get things in order and develop savings as a safety net. The advantage to the lenders is that they will not be forced to revaluate and write down their assets based on the current, and fairly dire, market conditions; additionally they reap the benefits of an increased deposit base which significantly lowers their leverage and increases their equity position. And the benefit to the government and the politicians is that they spend far less on ineffective bailout plans and instead focus on rewarding good behavior and choices rather than bad behavior and choices.
Dream on I guess…but if, as Obama says, the middle class is the economic engine of America…then we need to focus on getting that engine tuned up and fueled…
The first objective in kickstarting the economy is to remove barriers to job creation. The cost of health care has been cited by CEOs and CFOs as the primary reason their companies are not creating more jobs in the United States, and the U.S. can’t expect to compete with countries that do provide health care.
In addition, many retired workers take new jobs in their “retirement” simply because they can’t afford to pay for medical care and prescription drugs on a fixed income. Workers older than 65 are the fastest growing segment of the workforce, and the crash of the housing market and stock market declines will likely delay retirement for many more workers.
National health care would remove a major barrier to job creation, ease the burden on retirees and help older workers retire when they intended, making way for new workers to enter the workforce.
You want to fix everything? Then:
- Abolish all taxes. Government revenue would come from tariffs.
- Reduce the size of the Federal government by 95%. Abolish all departments added since 1800.
- Close all entitlement programs.
- Abolish the Fed.
- Return money to gold and silver. Abolish paper money.
- Begin generating wealth — mine minerals, harvest timber, and drill for oil — and sell on world market to pay our debts.
- Return the bulk of the population to sustainable farming.
- Return power to the States.
- Return power to the people. Teach personal and fiscal responsibility.
- Encourage American innovation, our greatest treasure, whenever possible.
- Demand honesty from our politicians.
- We need a privately funded Manhattan project to bridge the gap between oil and abundant alternative energy. I recommend coal-to-liquid for the bridge technology.
- Bring all troops home from everywhere.
If we take these steps, America will be transformed and returned to her former glory. Implementing all of these steps will be very painful and hence will not be undertaken. I see no leader in the American pantheon who is made of the stuff of greatness. Only an American Winston Churchill can lead us out of our current crises. Most of all, we lack a Winston Churchill.
Short Term – 700 military bases in 139 different countries. Shut down half of these, and use the money to invest in R&D for alternative energy. Countries all over the world, especially in Europe, are thirsty for this technology. We would create jobs, most importantly for the military folks coming home, and we would be competitive in a growing world wide industry.
Long Term – I hate to say it, but put earning caps, in the form of increased taxes on corporate profits. I honestly don’t want to limit success, but if we bail out companies when they have escessive losses, we have to make it back when there are excessive profits. I would truely rather the Government just stepped back and let Capitalism work. But they don’t let it work when the markets correct themselves. If there were size limits, these massive corporations wouldn’t have the margins to make sence of outsourcing jobs to other countries. The only way that is profitable is to have a massive production. All business in America limited to a size that keeps jobs in the US. I hate this, but we can’t let the hypocritical Governement claim that a business is “too big to fail” ever again.
If we were to do most of these suggestions we would be calling each other Commrade in about 8 months.
1). Everytime company lay off people, CEO salary goes down by 20%;
2). Put those guys from AIG, Lehman, Bear Stern, and Fennie and Freddie in jail to show no one no matter how rich he is above the law;
3). Forfeit all their houses, properties and money in bank or anywhere else;
4). Withdraw troops and end the wars immediately;
5). Cut defense budget by 50% for the next 5 years.(that will give us $1T);
6). Cut other gonverment spending as well.
If we do # 4 should we all sit around a fire and sing kum-ba-yah get real hippie.
I have one idea that will help right now: Just SHUT UP!!! If Bernanke and Paulson would only stop trying to explain the plan on what has become a daily basis, the markets might react positively. Instead, what we have are these two jokers, plus a veritable sea of pundits, all yakking this up. The result is confusion, panic and despair.
I would think that at some point in time Mssrs. B and P might awake to the realization that they don’t just monitor the economy; they directly influence it. I recall reading some time back that during Greenspan’s tenure, market analysts would hang out across the street from his apartment building to see if he would turn to the right or the left upon exiting the building. They would then try to extrapolate whether adherence or apparent deviation from his daily routine belied any trends or indicators regarding market performance or economic policy. Urban legend or not (I would tend to think not), my point is, too many people– from self-anointed financial experts looking to sell a book, to misguided Main Streeters who think it’s divine justice that global financial markets should tank, to media types looking for sensational headlines — are driving this economy with an over-abundance of hot air. With each new day comes a new battle plan or a new spin on the previous day’s measure. Occasionally, there’s a glimmer of hope, like last Thursday. Unfortunately, the very architects of our economic recovery plan then feel compelled to undo the healing, open their mouths, and shoot themselves in the foot, thereby thoroughly quashing what little hope we have. What’s worse is that each successive strategy has to top the one that came before. I’m beginning to think the Second Coming would generate about a thirty-point rise in the Dow, followed by a 500-point decline. I would hope both presidential candidates have a plan for fixing the economy. However, given what’s evolved in three weeks’ time, three months of ceaseless chatter and doomsaying may be enough to drive us all over the edge.
Repeal All taxes and federal regulations. Insitute an national sales tax at 12%.
Set up budget limited to current levels of spending for:
1. Defense (armed forces, fbi, nsa,cia etc)
2. Courts
3. Nothing else. States to provide infrastructure spending for themselves.
Use ensuing Surplus to pay off NAtional Debt.
Upon reaching debt of $0. Resist temptation to cut sales tax to a balance budget level. Accrue $ 25 trillion in accumulated surpluses (over many years) based in other nations T-bills and let their interest payments fund our government.
THEN cut the sales tax to acvhieve a yearly balanced budget.
Sit back and watch the elimination of poverty via simultaneous massive economic growth and deflation.
Teach method to the Europeans. Rinse and Repeat with every democratic nation on Earth.
Finished.
help the middle class.thats great that the goverment is helping banks but wait a min.the middle class is 2/3rds of the economy.if people in the middle class cant afford to buy things not on credit helping the banks want help at all. what about the fairtax if you can afford to buy big ticket items you should be able to afford the tax.and illegal,s have to pay taxes which alot dont now.
Well there are a lot of things that have gone wrong. To many people wanting things now that they could not afford to buy but did. To many greedy lenders extended loans to people that they knew would never be able to repay them. So there is enough blame for the lenders and those who bought stuff thaty they could not afford or could barely afford. For many families if they were not on the financial edge they sould see it from where they were.
To compound the problem speculation in oil sent the price to almost 150 a barrel. Cost of fuel went through the roof. The increased fuel cost was then passed on to the consumer in everything you buy.
For many Americans it comes down to the required items. Fuel to drive your car, heat your home, feed your family and medical needs. If any money that was left over after that went to pay bills. For way to many of us there was just nothing left over at the end of the month to pay the bills.
One solution to part of the problem is to end speculation in oil. Why are large investors allowed to purchase oil contracts with very little money out of their pockets with no intention of ever accepting delivery of the oil itself. The only intention is to purchase the oil which takes it off the market for a while and sell it at a higher price. This process skews the supply and demand numbers which compounds the inflated price. These investors plan on making a large profit at who’s expense. The average American consumer. If you don’t beleive that oil speculation is an issue do a Google search and read up on profiting on oil. This brings up another issue that is the oil company’s. The oil company’s control the oil in this country. They have the raw product and the refined products. The oil companies control the numbers which are collected by the government for our weekly score card on how our oil supply is doing. From this score card the price of oil adjusted. Tracking the numbers I have seen the price of crude jump up several dollars on a world wide basis because the oil company’s report to our goverment a drop in crude of a million barrels. Think about a million barrels, that is less than one tanker.
Change the law. For investors in this country if you can not accept delivery of the oil product either crude or refined, then you can not buy it. Stop allowing investors to skew the supply and demand numbers.
One last point. You want to fix the health care system the answer is easy. Fix the cost of heath care. A friend of mine was recently in a car accident and had a broken foot and some cuts. The cost of the hospital and doctor bills is over $102,000 and the bills are still coming in. This person ws in the hospital for 6 days and just the pharmacy bill was over $10,500. A six day supply of pain pills and blood thiner for over ten grand.
Why are the subprime morgage lenders allowed to continue to deceive the unsuspecting borrowers for so long without being noticed by the financial regulators? Corporate greed is rearing it ugly head to bite not just the Americans but the rest of the world by the fallout effects or collaterals associated with the subprime loans.Are subprime loans still being dished out to the poor Americans who can’t afford the loans in years to come whe the interest rates are reset?All CEO’s of big financial institutions must be aware of the consequences of the irresponsible and unscrupulous lending to unsuspecting borrowers who couldn’t afford the subprime loans.All CEO’s of financial institutions should be held accountable for their inactions to deal with the corporate greed and evil that destroy so many American lives.Each is entitled to a decent living except the corporate cowboys who destroyed lives are still enjoying their lurks and perks while the poor morgagees languish in miseries in homelessnesses.
1). Everytime company lay off people, CEO salary goes down by 20%;
2). Put those guys from AIG, Lehman, Bear Stern, and Fennie and Freddie in jail to show no one no matter how rich he is above the law;
3). Forfeit all their houses, properties and money in bank or anywhere else;
4). Withdraw troops and end the wars immediately;
5). Cut defense budget by 50% for the next 5 years.(that will give us $1T);
6). Cut other gonverment spending as well.
Term limits on congress and stop all lobbying. Our goverment is just as currupt as many of the CEO’s on wall street.
I’d start with holding the Pentagon and DHS budgets where they are instead of giving them 10% raises every year at everyone else’s expense. That alone would cut the deficit substantially.
“Drill, baby, drill” won’t save us on the energy front, even in the short-term, although McCain/Palin act like it will. The quickest solution on that end is conservation. It’s counterintuitive, but actually, _raising_ the gas tax might help modernize transportation more quickly AND reduce US oil imports. Fewer cars on the road might also reduce infrastructure needs.
One of the most important factors in ensuring US competitiveness into the future is education. We need to invest in education to truly have a dynamic economy that encourages innovation. It’s a long-term fix, but it’s one that we need to get started on yesterday.
Finally, energy. Nuclear power simply shifts the pollution burden from carbon dioxide in the air to radionuclides in the water. Wind, photovoltaics, etc. have the potential to create huge economic and job growth. Investing in these technologies, as well as an electricity-based transportation system, will go a long way toward fixing our current economic woes _as well as_ help solve one of the more pressing problems of our day (energy).
There is the current financial crisis and the actions to benefit the financial industry, Then there is the foundations of the economy.
It doesn’t take a Ivy-league economist to figure out if your country consumes more than it produces it will go broke over time.
As colonist, England would not allow production, the colonist could only obtain produced goods from abroad for resources. Well, we’re back to colonial status.
Want to fix the economy? Implement a public works project that produces abundant and cheap electricity using wind turbine and improves the grid, and use that as the basis for converting the transportation, goods delivery, and heating needs of the country from oil to electricity.
Good jobs, reduced export of wealth, new industries.
It was wise public works such as the Erie Canal, rural electrification, and the Hoover Dam, that resulted in economic benefits to citizens beyond the cost.
Enough of these stupid tax credits. Do something tangible.
First, the president must recognize Americans are fearful of two visions: the nation becoming a welfare State and the nation being robbed by capitalist pirates. Either prediction destroys the middle-class, and citizens need reassurance.
Second, encourage financial vehicles that appeal to moderate savers and reassert thrift. Citizens worry about our borrowing from foreign countries that don’t share our political and economic philosophies. Maybe create a U.S. bond where Americans can begin buying back their nation.
Third, tackle the fuel challenge with the same national resolve we would wage war. Fossil fuel dependence is an economic and security liability. Corporations motivated by profit in the global markets are not likely to adopt cooperative innovations and make short-term sacrifices.
Fourth, provide financial guidance to average families — people earning $55,000 a year with a 30-year mortgage and a five-year-old car. Most of the TV pundits answer the questions of people with $500,000 trust funds looking for somewhere to invest or loan-strapped students who can’t keep a roof over their heads. There’s a huge population in the middle that pays its bills, makes modest purchases, and tries to put something away. These people aren’t the high-rollers, but they are a tremendous source of investment wealth. The IRS knows it.
Pass a law that prohibits lobbying of government officials. The root of our economic problem is overvalued assets(home values). Writing these assets down to current market values will quickly deleverage our financial system, instead of our goverment trying to prop up these unrealistic asset values which will only delay the inevitable pain that we will all feel. I’m for quick, acute pain rather than long term chronic pain.
Well I see alot of great plans here, with one recurring theme, that is to suck it up and start living within your means and within your seems across the board.
Yet we do not know that there is one leader who has these plans already on the table. Why it is? Because he is not running for one of the two major parties. And if I say his name here, this will certainly not make it past the CNN sensors. All I can say is by voting for a third party will not be the end all of America, it will be a beginning, it will send a message that we the voters really do want change, not just the talk of change.
Short Term
Do exactly what we are doing. Place an appropriate value on assets which people currently don’t know how to value. Even a fake government created value is better than chaotic market fluctuations in the short term.
Long Term
Ensure that risk is properly assessed for investments through regulation, and more open financial practices. As long as people know the risks associated with their investments and decisions, a market will work.
The true root cause of all of this is that we thought mortgages were safe that were risky. We underestimated the risk of house prices declining, and people defaulting on mortgages. That’s it. We can keep giving unqualified people loans as long as we know they are risky, and properly compensate for that.
The rescue plan stinks, but it’s better than having the pendulum swing from boom all that way back to bust, we need to stop it somewhere in-between total collapse and actual market value.
Here are some my suggestions:
1. Social Security — Increase the base amount of income subject to the tax to $500,000 of income. When a person retires, their SSN checks should be tax-free up to the amount of their contributions. Once a person draws more than they contributed, the amount received is fully taxed.
2. Illegal Immigration — It is apparent our economy likes the low prices for food and other work that illegal immigrants perform. However, illegals should not be allowed to stay in the U.S. and work underground. Companies that hire illegals should be prosecuted and steeply fined. A CEO knows what is going on and should not be allowed to “play dumb.” A company should be able to apply for immigrant workers if they are in a seasonal business that depends on immigrants.
3. Health Care — We are a great nation and healthcare should be available to everyone. I believe we do have this since people without health insurance just go to the ERs and get treated anyway. The problem with our healthcare system is that those with insurance are paying for all of those without insurance and this drives up the cost for those paying. If everyone had coverage, the cost per family should go down.
4. Education — We cannot just throw money at this problem. It is not a money problem; it is a parent problem. Too many parents do not take the time and initiative to see that their children are studying, doing homework, etc. For college, Pell grants should be discontinued and there should be more access to loans. Just like healthcare, giving some students a free ride drives up the cost for everyone else. If everyone is paying the same, the cost should be lower for everyone. If a person wants a college education, The US should have money available for loans. Also, there are scholarships available from private foundations and corporations to help those that work hard, study and make good grades. In addition, let’s find a way to make students repay the loans.
5. Iraq — give the Iraqi government a timeline for troop withdrawal and have them draft their own men for military service. Iraq can pay the cost with their oil revenues.
6. Economy — Import tax for those companies that shift manufacturing jobs oversees. Create jobs by rebuilding our roads and other infrastructures, investing in renewable energy. Reduce or eliminate money to other nations (take care of our own first.)
7. Mortgage Bailout — Government should not be bailing out homeowners. One statistic I have not seen — how many homeowners are just walking away because they owe more than their house is worth but still have the ability to pay the mortgage. There has to be some personal responsibility for the decisions a person makes.
The next president will continue to invoke the false memories and dogma from the New Deal era and absolutely prolong this recession/depression. Nobel prizewinner and Useful Idiot Paul Krugman was quoted as saying that the New Deal legislation, including the WPA, will need to be re-enacted to “solve” this crisis.
Unless this next guy focuses on spending and debt reduction, we are totally and irrevocably hosed. My bold predictions: We will be hosed.
1. Reduce federal spending to where we have a surplus each year, and use the surplus to pay down our national debt. This will allow us to reduce our debt to a more reasonable level. Even at just 5%, with a $10T national debt, that’s $500B of our money each year– $1,667 for each of the 300M Americans– that goes to paying our debts instead of paying for services we use. Start with paying back China, and we might get toys or baby formula from them that don’t poison us.
2. Let Wall Street pay for their own mistakes. Let the companies fail, then buy up assets– good and bad– for pennies on the dollar, and spin off a new company. Don’t buy worthless assets for full price and expect the taxpayers (and our grandchildren) to foot the bill when they fail.
3. Short term: drill, baby, drill. Long term: drilling will get us through the next 20-30 years, but we need to have a Manhattan Project style meeting of the minds to build our energy future. The future is definitely NOT oil, and we will remain slaves to the shieks if our brightest minds cannot come up with an alternative plan.
The problem is that we have gotten away from our roots. I am 28yrs old and I remember my grandparents telling me stories about how it was a big deal for them to save enough money to be able to afford their first, yes that is right, I said first television. They had to sacrifice scrimp and save to purchase the things they wanted. They worried about their needs first (home, food on the table, health) and then anything else was a want and you had to work for it not just slap a piece of plastic down.
Today we have a sense of entitlement that is truely gut wrenching. We think that we have to have the biggest and best home, the newest and coolest car, at least a television in the bedroom, kitchen and living room with 3 computers when we make 30-40k a year.
We have the mentality of a 3 year old as a nation it has gone from actually thinking to gimme gimme gimme even if we cant afford it. The next president needs to flat out have the guts to call for financial reform in the home first as well as reform on the national scene in what and how we spend tax dollars. He will need to run the country as more of a business than anything and if the country is in the red then we stop spending and maybe that means that we slow down on some of the “advances” we have come accustomed to but there is something to be said for a more simple time.
If we were to learn a lesson from our parents and grandparents we might actually get back to being a respected country and that “City on a hill” that we have been throughout history.
I guess in closing I am calling for a President that is “retro” to put our country back on the path to prosperity.
Investigate both sides of the isle and expose the massive fraud and huge bonus that were paid the execs who cooked the books. Eliminate all lobbing efforts. Inject capital into the banking system as they are doing but keep congress out of the decision making process. They will only feather their own nests.It is obvious that members of Congress are unable to manage anything let alone billion of tax payers money. Do not give tax rebates to those who do not pay taxes.Prosecute those who have taken bribes now. These actions should help install confidence for the tax paying public.
Cut spending and taxes in the short term.
When John McCain gets into the white house he should combine Reagan’s and Clinton’s play-books. He should shrink the government and reject any budget that is wasteful and not balanced.
The only thing that Reagan failed to do was balance the budget. McCain should learn from this and allow the government to come to a standstill if the Congress sends him a budget that is not balanced and is full of pork.
Personal responsibility is all but dead in this country. McCain should lead by example and demonstrate that government can be responsible.
Housing got us into this, it can get us out. Have the treasury invest the $250 billion in Fannie/Freddie mortgage backed securities which will in turn drive mortgage rates so low (probably below 5%) and see how quickly folks get back into housing.
Short Term Fix:
Reform your own check book. There are too many American households spending more than they bring in. That’s the #1 underlining reason we are in this situation. You dug your own hole.
If you don’t believe me, ask how many of you have credit card debts?
2-4 years Fix:
Flush out the corrupted politicians in the 3 branches of government by voting them out of office. That means all the ones who voted for the bailout.
4-8 years Fix:
Vote third party.
That’s the only way we can avoid a revolution.
1) Get us the heck out of Iraq.
2) Start talking a lot nicer to the other countries of the world, BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR CREDITORS!!!! If we piss them off enough, they may not be so willing to buy our debt.
3) Strap on a pair and tell the American people the TRUTH. Tell them that our standard of living is unrealistic and unsustainable. Tell them that a family of four doesn’t need a 3000 square foot house. Tell them that if you bring home 30K a year and spend 40K a year, you are headed for a disaster!!!!!
4) Invest in green technology. Its the future, its where the money and jobs are going to be. We need to innovate, create, and lead the world in this field.
There is a way to ease the burden on the banks which are holding great amounts of mortgage paper that is threatened with or currently in foreclosure. The federal government should purchase just the top 25% or whatever amount is over and above the current appraised value of the property and set these “2nd” mortgages aside for the homeowners for 5 years interest free and with no payments.The papers could still remain attached to the property in case of sale or when property value accelerate. At that time these 2nd mortgages could be reinstated with payments at a low interest rate. While the mortgagesa are dormant the income tax refunds due to the homeowners, should there be any owing, could be applied to the principal balnce of the 2nd mortgage, instead of being returned to the homeowner. The banks should be forced to rewrite the remainig balance of these loans at a reasonable fixed rate of interest. Having been a mortgage broker for 30 years I can assure you that these banks are not blameless in these foreclosures and are not currently working with homeowners to resolve any issues. We “politely” asked many a bank rep to leave our offices when they presented these poor mortgage programs and instructed our loan officers to lie and cheat and basically commit fraud.
The government needs to reduce the deficit. While I don’t kniow the best way to do it (except that whatever is done will be politically painful), I DO know the money needed just to service the debt is enormous and growing exponentially. Last I heard (a few years ago), servicing the debt costs 1/3 of a TRILLION dollars each year. What do you think debt service will cost now that the government has decided to spend $700 billion more that it doesn’t have? At the rate things are going, the debt service cost will one day soon exceed the entire federal budget. Of course, the government will have defaulted on its loan payments long before that. What do you think will happen to the economy THEN? Why not ask those with a proven track record on handling money like Warren Buffet or super successful CEOs? Why weren’t they consulted about the current crisis?
The best thing our next President can do for our economy is to dramatically increase funding to repair, expand, and improve America’s infrastructure. This will greatly enhance our capacity for economic activity. Think about all of the infrastructure required to support a city like Chicago or New York. Now imagine if our ancestors had not built the subway systems, bridges or ports. Those cities and our economy could never have come close to the level of prosperity currently achieved. An investment in infrastructure is an investment in America’s future. That goes for education as well.
Reform Government – The average person needs to spend within a budget, yet the Federal Gov’t doesn’t seem to have any spending limits. It seems like billions of dollars are spent on wasteful projects or causes that have no benefit for tax payers or the economy. The isssue is not whether businesses or average Americans will have to pay more taxes. I believe that everyone will be forced to kick in their fair share. Our government seems to be out of touch with reality and lacks expertise when it comes to economic growth and expansion. What they have created is an economy where immoral and unethical business practices are rewarded when business is deregulated. The end result is that a small percentage of people will walk away with a huge windfall while the average individual (a much larger percentage of the poulation)gets stuck with the bill. It starts at the top!
Tax the movement of capital!!!!! When capital leaves the USA tax it. This tax will force companies to look at if moving job out of the USA is worth it. The movement of capital to other nations only hurts this one.
Second pass an admendment that would allow the president to line Item veto a bill and then have that new bill get 1/3 the house to approve. This would cut the Pork spending and would still allow bills to pass.
Insist that all program report where all $ have went over the past 5 years. Failure to do so would be a cut in funds or elimination.
Goverment never does anything right so they should stop doing as much as they do.
Are you kidding with this question? First of all the President has virtually no control over the economy. The Fed and Congress and the markets do. Add to the fact we have become a global economy and it diminishes his/her power even more.
This is a complex question. One smart move would be to find a way to deal with unemployment. Use all the tools in the toolbox on that one.
If Americans are not working, they are not earning. If they are not earning, they are not spending. On ANYTHING. When that happens you get what we have now. Everybody loses.
Oh and once you DO get everyone working again, don’t start handing out credit to everyone with a pulse. Force people to save a bit before buying. Require larger down payments and solid evidence of liquidity. If we don’t, we’ll be right back here in no time.
Invest in research for and encourage private business to invest in a cleaner, non oil based energy infrastructure. Build nuclear plants to generate massive amounts of electricity but also build wind, solar-thermal, and solar electric. Upgrade the electricity transmission infrastructure. Grant waivers to prevent enviornmental groups from blocking renewable electricity, nuclear, and transmission line projects. Give railroads incentives to electrify their lines instead of using diesel. Encourage plug-in hybrid and natural gas for cars with the end goal of a hybrid and hydrogen based vehicle fleet. (Generate the hydrogen using the electricity previously mentioned.)
Start random, intermittent deportations of illegal aliens. If a mere 5% are deported in a random fashion (e.g., they can’t predict when or where they might be deported), it might scare half of them into going home. The $ these people are sucking from the welfare, education, and healthcare system is enormous.
Cancel the accumulated social-security and medicare benefits (most accrued by means of ID theft anyway) of illegal aliens. Take the accumulated social security benefits and roll them back into pay for underfunded benefits for Americans. Seize assets of deported illegal aliens (houses, personal property), and use the proceeds to pay ID-theft victims first and then to fund future social security benefits. (Over 5 million illegal aliens bought houses and got mortgages in the past decade.)
Start slowly raising the social-security retirement age to somewhere between 74 and 78. When Social Security was founded, it was *insurance* against being elderly and poor, not a pension program. (life expectancy was 65 and benefits started at 65, so half of people were expected to die before getting any benefits).
Offer younger workers the option to pay reduced social security taxes (maybe half or 2/3 or the current level) in exchange for reduced future benefits. The reason young people can’t save isn’t just personal overspending; it’s that 12.4% of our income (not 6.2%, don’t forget the employer match) is being flushed into a pyramid scheme that will get them nothing.
Eliminate the AMT. Permanently lower long-term cap. gain and dividend tax to 15%. Cut the corporate income tax to something competitive compared to the rest of the world, but leave it the same for companies that outsource jobs during a calendar year.
Allow drug re-importations to force drug companies to charge the same in the US as they do elsewhere. Find a way to force European socialized-healthcare systems to pay a share of the globally-beneficial medical and drug research that is currently being paid for almost entirely by American citizens and employers paying for health insurance.
Slash foreign aid; encourage other “rich” countries (e.g., Europe) to make up the difference if it’s that important to them.
Regulate credit-default-swaps as if they were an insurance business, which they are.
Get rid of the Community Reinvestment Act and other programs that encourage homeownership for people without the assets, credit history, income, or responsibility for home ownership. Abolish federal and state mandated “affordable housing” programs which have inflated home prices and rents for everyone. Allow lenders and landlords to chose their customers using tried-and-true credit scores, not feel-good social goals.
Eliminate the child tax credit, dependent exemption, and earned-income tax credit for any number of children over 2, with an exception for multiple births. Eliminate increases in welfare benefits based on child-count (over 2).
1)Scrap the current U.S.dollar based fiscal system and replace with a Global currency or at least a 5 quadrant currency system to level the global economic playing field.
2) Cancel debt owed by a nations.
Short-term:
- Shut down failing banks and non-banks
- Move the assets over to surviving banks
- Consolidate FRE, FNM, and FHA into one
- Ban all short-selling at least until the current financial crisis is over
- Raise margin requirements on all stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives, everything to 50% at least until the current crisis ends
- Stimulate economy with direct-spending
Long-term:
- Cut immigration, especially illegal
- Declare victory in Iraq … and leave
- Wipe out Al Qaeda everywhere
- No more trickle-down; it doesn’t work
- Raise all vehicle fuel economy standards dramatically
- Cut oil imports from countries we don’t like
- Strongly regulate mortgages and housing
- Strongly regulate financial markets
- Extend Medicare to all citizens of all ages; people who still want health insurance can still buy it
- Beef up Social Security by removing the salary cap; this will result in LOWER payroll tax rates
- Kill privatization of social security once and for all forever
- Provide incentives for creation of jobs onshore
- Provide penalties for job offshoring
- Balance the federal budget
- Cut the trade deficit
- Enact a carbon tax of $10 per ton of fossil carbon (oil, gas, and coal), which is $1.42 per barrel, which is 3.4c per gallon; this will generate $219 billion of new tax revenues per year to pay for the above
Phew !
Short term and long term: Reduce spending. Work for the American people not for the rich as our current president does. No more talking about Wall Street. Do something about health, housing, energy, social security, education, jobs.
1)tear this goverment apart and rebuild it the way our forefathers invisioned it in the first place.
2)hold people accountable for their actions(including the crooked bankers and politicians..also for the criminals in this country are getting a free ride.)
3)do away with nafta. there is nothing fair about it to the american people.(boycott any product that is moved from manufacturing in the usa to overseas.
4)use common sense
5)stop trying to be politically correct and start being biblically correct.
1. Repeal Sarbanes-Oxley.
2. Go back to the gold standard and abolish the Federal Reserve.
3. Switch over to the Fair Tax.
4. Implement a model to phase out Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
You may not want to hear all that, but it is getting down to do or die time, and we have been telling you so. Statism is inviable over the long run.
Everyone is talking about investing in our infrastructure to create jobs. OK but what about the fat, lazy, spoiled, entitled Americans who refuse to take any jobs that might get their hands dirty and would rather just sit around and collect unemployment? Sorry, the truth hurts.
This ain’t your grandfather’s depression…
To Jay, Allentown, PA:
I can’t agree with you more. People really need to listen to Obama’s words in regard to his financial plan. They need to start looking at substance instead of being blindsided by what they think is exciting and new.
Please consider:
In one speech you will hear Senator Obama say something similar to “I will end the war and use the billions spent on the war to give American’s healthcare”.
While in another speech he will tell us that the deficit is out of control because the USA is “borrowing” the billions we are using to pay for the war.
That being said, any intelligent American knows that 1 billion in debt = 1 billion in debt whether it is for healthcare or a war.
How can he reduce the deficit when his plan is to use the money causing the deficit elsewhere?
America needs to produce more of what the world needs, instead of just buying more of what the world sells. The greatest opportunity right now is probably in the area of energy creation technologies and energy efficiency. We should be focusing on sustainable, permanent sources of energy to lower our “cost of operation” and home, while providing services and systems we can sell to other nations to lower or at least stabilize their energy costs as well. What are clearly underutilized now are hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Another area is co-generation, or every building provding some or all of the power it uses locally. Transporation is only about 1/3 of the equation, so focus on the other 2/3 first. And don’t allow large energy commpanies and lobbyists control the discussion.
This country needs alternate energy now. Start with Pickens plan, and expand it, no taxes on alternative energy companies for 10 years, this will stop our money going to OPEC, put Americans to work (who pay taxes) and create American jobs (who pay taxes). This will revitalize the high plains area of this country, cut down on global warming and create high paying jobs. Next is to give a boost to the auto companies by giving them a tax credit for every electric car they make again good for 10 years. Lastly require the electric utilities to pay consumers for power they produce at a the same price as it is delivered this will give biz and home owners the incentives to install solar and wind turbines.
So because my wife and I both make around 130k a year, went out an actually found money for an education…both served in the military at one point, worked hard for what we have, and you want to tax us MORE money to give back to you people that have no desire to succeed in life? Sorry, I am not going to pay for idiots who think that they are “entitled” to something the didn’t work for.
1. Cut corporate taxes so they are lower than all the countries that are taking our jobs. Except oil companies of course.
2. Reduce taxes on those making less than $250,000 to a flat rate of 10%.
3. Increase taxes on those making over $250,000 to 75%, unless you employ people. This would apply mostly to greedy CEO’s, investment bankers, hedge fund managers, Hollywood stars, and overpaid athelets.
4. Eliminate all retirement account taxes for any stocks purchased between now and year-end that are held for at least 5 years.
5. Give people a one time option of rolling their social security accounts into retirement account between now and year-end with investment options that guarantee diversification and lower risk. This will get the incompetent government out of our retirement accounts and, with #4 above stimulate capital investment.
6. Increase short term capital gains taxes on stocks to 30% to reduce stock market volatility and encourage people to invest (rather than speculate) for the long term.
7. Cut government spending across the board by 10%.
8. Mandate that the federal budget balance every year.
Listen…WE NEED TO STOP MIXING SOCIALISM WITH CAPITAISM. Our country is a capitalistic coutry, and socialist policies will only allow us to survive for a limited time. That time is up, and has been for awhile. The reason we are just startnig to see it crumble is because we’ve been crutching it up since the first Bush administration. The crutches have gotten longer and sturdier, because the skeleton has gotten weaker and more brittle.
its nice to see the great comments and support about obama but we are going to need alot more than him to pull us out of this…. surely he is a much better candidate than mccain but i doubt it if obama will make a magical change either….im still for obama and who ever becomes president has alot of work on their hands!!!!
Job One: restore trust…
Reform the credit rating agencies backward business model.
Force publicly traded companies to disclose all credit default swaps.
Force publicly traded and all regulated banks to keep investment vehicles ON their balance sheets.
Most of the other problems cited as supposed causes of this crises are actually consequences of hidden risk and mispriced risk. When the NINJA and liar loans can no longer be buried in AAA rated bonds, we will finally be in a position to dig ourselves out of this mess.
Even the size of the current economic downturn is a result of mispriced risk in the mortgage market driving the housing bubble.
When credit is expensive there are fewer credit junkies spending themselves in to bankruptcy.
Markets. Environment. It all works the same way. Look, no matter what we do to thwart global warming, the Earth will eventually readjust itself and we are looking at another mini ice age like we had in the 18th and 19th centuries. The markets are the same way. It’s cold right now, people are scared to do anything. Let’s let the little bit that we have done already to work itself out and quit pumping money into a system that is going to act independently regardless
First and foremost:
Give the young a history lesson and show how all presidential hopefuls promise the world and are lucky to deliver even a miniscule portion of what is promised. Note Hillary Clinton guaranteed she would take care of health care, not once but twice. She never got anywhere with it. Did she lie? Maybe, but more likely she had good intentions and found that due to the design of our government NO INDIVIDUAL CAN change the government without the House, the Senate and the Supreme Court Justices approval.
Now to show I am not a politician from any party, I will attempt to answer the question asked.
A: Do NOT increase taxes on businesses as it WILL result in them shutting down and moving out of the country.
B: For companies that still choose to move pass a law that whatever goods are produced by the facilities that are moved will be banned from US sales for 10 years. So, if GM or Ford move plants that produce cam shafts to Mexico, they will not be able to sell cars with those cam shafts for 10 years. If Bank of America outsources more of their technical support, the technical support moved will not be usable by the US consumers.
C: Open your eyes and finally realize the currency in the modern world is an electronic cloud, should the debts be called as they are apt to be in the near future, I am not sure there is anything that can be done. There are not enough physical assets to back the currency.
D: Quit talking about giving oil dollars to countries that “don’t like the US”, start talking about the fact that we still give aid to Russia for NOTHING… and how many other countries? Start acting on correcting the issues, and in regard to energy, unlike President Carter and Reagan, don’t stop when OPEC lowers oil prices and increases production.
The big issue here is Big Government! 11 trillon dollars of debt, but if you count all of the un-funded entitlements, it will be closer to 53 TRILLON Dollars! ( see I.O.U.S.A.) The average taxpayers share today for this debt a little over half of what they earn, and beielve me, no matter what the promises from the two campaigns say, our taxes are going up, because the Government’s spending is going up.
But what will the voters do? Will they vote for the same guys again? Obama? Mc Cain? If you what change, then you will have to change your vote, NO Democrats, NO Republicans, and most of all NO INCUMBANTS WHO VOTED FOR WALL STREET OVER THE AMERICAN CITIZEN!
Where do you think the money for the Obama taxes comes from? Will folks making over $250,000 just dig deeper and pay up? No, they will raise prices. CEOs will “gross up” compensation. Money comes from the working class – and higher taxes will come from the working class – one way or the other.
If you think you will not pay when the taxes are raised for businesses and “the rich”, think again.
We need to make very serious fundamental shifts in how this economy is managed. We need an energy conservation plan and good monetary policy. The enrgy plan should reduce dependence on foreign energy sources by creating competetive opprotunities for alternative sources of energy and enrgy efficient technologies. some kind of fossil fuel surcharge where the proceeds of the surcharge would be used to help consumers purchase high efficincy technologies; the higher fossil fuel charge would also allow other fuels to compete at the higer price point. We also need to take advantage of low treasury rates and issue long dated treasury debt to ensure that we will not have to roll into higer rates in the future.
John in Duluth: When you quote Adam Smith, keep in mind that he considered the Theory of Moral Sentiments the superior of his two major treatises. I agree with you about competitive markets; free markets are a Utopian fantasy in which nobody cheats and nobody tries to dominate the markets, which isn’t real life.
In real life, markets and market theory are just tools, not goals in and of themselves. By losing that distinction, we sabotage the real-world market system.
In the long term, America needs to be able to compete. We can’t afford to send our kids to Harvard anymore because education goes up at more than twice the rate of inflation. We create tax loopholes for companies that export jobs to India and China. We allow the cheap import of toys painted with lead. For our long-term survival we need to entirely restructure our priorities and incentivize the things that make the economy strong.
What the government needs to do is to half the mortgage rate for everyone who choose to refinance, getting a new loan for their house or car. The rational behind is to make sure that we encourage homeowners stay in their house and encourage new buyers and thereby encourage the economy get going again. This program would only for a period of 6 – 8 months long and afterwards, the interest rate would rise slowly to the market demand.
Top of the To-Do-List for the incoming administration should be ‘Job Creation’. That does not mean replacing a $60k/yr job with a $35k/ job, as has been the case over the last 5 years +. We need well paying jobs for both skilled and unskilled workers. The most obvious plan of attack to myself would be to invest heavily in our collapsing infastructure, i.e. Roads, Bridges, Levee’s & Dams, Rail System, etc. This approach would hopefully kill two birds with one stone, for lack of a better term. The jobs that this type of investment would create are exactly the jobs that we have been losing in this country over the last two decades(Manufactureing), and would increase the tax base. There should be as few cash payments from the Govt as possible, instead Tax incentives and subsidies should be used to get these projests completed by Private Companies. As for how to pay for all of this, a large portion would have to come from a top-down common sense review of Govt spending & Reducing our overseas commitments. Adding a small Federal VAT tax(Sales Tax),that would encourage savings by Americans, may also be needed. As a ‘True’ Republican it is hard for me to advocate a tax increase, but these our extreme times. The growth this country has experianced over the last 50 years was leveraged on future generations ability to repay, unfortunatly it looks as though my generation will have to take that responsibility or else my children may be having this same discussion in 32 years.
We should begin to make a move from a fiat monetary system to a resource based system. We do not have a shortage of technology, or resources. The problem is that only the most wealth (money) is concentrated in 1% of the population. So they have the most access to resouces, while shutting the rest of the population out.
Most importantly, the next President would need to take an immediate leadership role. The first step should be a speech to the American people about the current crisis. It should include:
1. What caused the situation. (so we know he fully understands the problem)
2. What the President can do, and is doing, to fix the problem and prevent it from occuring again.
3. What we, the American people, can do to help the nation through this period of uncertainty.
Then, there has to be a shift to the future economic situation. The President needs to explain to us where he sees our nation in 4, 8, and 20 years, then walk us through how he’s going to get us there. The emphasis should be on maintaining a stable inflation rate, securing retirement, reducing taxes whenever possible, reducing government spending through improvement in government efficency, and encouraging innovation in small business.
Focus on energy, proper market and trade oversight, infrastructure, and support for innovation. The greatest drain on our finances is the importation of energy; reduction of this drain should be undertaken on an emergency basis. The laissez-faire gutting of market oversight and effective trade policy has to be corrected; neglect of this issue incents market players to cheat, leaving us living in a financial house of cards, and unmanaged trade impoverishes our population. Our infrastructure is in a state of decay, and upgrading it is a matter of life and death for our citizens across the nation. We have also, through neglect, lost our position as the world’s leader in innovation and ingenuity; the last real game-changing technology we produced was the integrated circuit, fifty years ago.
Lots of people will disagree with this, but the people need to take a bigger cut of the cost of imported oil. We need an oil import tariff of around 15-30%, to focus our resources on domestic, or at least North American, energy resources, and to provide a new source of funding for alternative energy development. An exemption for energy imported from NAFTA members probably makes sense.
We need to pursue materially valuable conservation technologies, such as earth-exchange heat pumps, which are more than twice as efficient as traditional HVAC. Geoexchange heat pumps also present massive short-term opportunities for blue-collar employment and long-range opportunities for inventions that take some of the work out of burying all the tubing for ground loops.
We need a disinterested authority to oversee markets and trade. Time after time, people cheat, businesses cheat, and nations cheat, and American citizens pay the price. The ongoing financial crisis has occurred largely because a lot of people, mostly in the private sector, booked bogus promises as assets. Free markets are a Utopian ideal; markets have to be regulated, or they self destruct. Free trade with poorer nations impoverishes our people, so there’s a balance to be struck between free trade with our peers and managing the ascent of poorer nations to free trade peer status.
One lesson we should take from the past forty years is that markets do a poor job of fostering innovation. In energy and many other areas, we need to come together to sponsor innovation, to support the next life-changing breakthrough, and to reclaim leadership in the world of innovation.
Reclaiming our heritage of leadership won’t be easy, and it won’t be cheap. We’re going to have to pay taxes for it. If you don’t think it would be worth paying for, try to imagine what life would be like without the integrated circuit: no computers, no Internet, cheap electronics we take costing ten times as much, etc. When you question whether we can afford to pursue a policy of leadership, also ask yourself whether we can afford not to.
1. nationalize major banks for 18 months, guaranteeing a baseline value of their stock. 2. intensify lending to businesses and qualified homebuyers. 3. increase taxes on the rich, lower taxes on middle and working classes.
4. begin to set the framework for a national health care system following a hybrid model of Medicare/Medicaid to cover everyone. 5. establish foreign profit tax for corporations that take their factories overseas.
5. reduce the number of military bases overseas by 50% or more and the number of standing aircraft carriers from 12 to 6, increase the size of the land army by 1/3, and fund the VA
to appropriate level. 7. tax retirement income well above the present limit of $60,000 to refill/reinforce social security.
8. increse the minimum efficiency thresholds for motor vehicles and put an additional federal “weight tax” on sales of non-commercial motor vehicles exceeding 2000 lbs effective in 2010. 9. tax profits of US corporations based overseas
-prohibit credit default swaps and derivatives sales
-require easy to understand transparency for all investment products
-prohibit media convincing people that they need to invest in the stock market for the “long term” to be absolutely sure that they will make a lot of money
-regulate future leveraging in the stock market and real estate purchases
-educate people that they are responsible for their own actions
-institute the flat income tax
-create a federal reserve product that offers an interest rate equal to or slightly higher than the inflation rate but does not limit the amount people can invest
-insure all personal savings in bank accounts
-educate people that profits on paper are not real money to be spent before the products are sold
To paraphrase a commonly seen bumper-sticker regarding the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars, “Socialism Is Not The Answer.”
I believe the best way to get this economy jumpstarted is to lower taxes for the middle and lower classes and smaller businesses, then raise taxes on society who earn over $250,000. Once people have more money in their pockets, they will breathe life back into this stalling economy and restore credit for banks back by either putting the money in their savings accounts or spending it on Main Street, USA.
Obama should call me and I will tell him all about Adam Smith’s wonderful economic theory of COMPETITIVE markets not FREE markets.
I do get sick-n-tired hearing the inane phrase, “free market.” There ain’t no such thing. We economists are so fond of saying there is no such thing as a free lunch. And that is true. Now if something as simple as a lunch can’t be free then please tell me how a market economy can be free? It can’t be. And I’m not just playing word games here.
In the long run I would expect Obama to be a “compassionate moderate” since our current “compassionate conservative” has been neither compassionate nor conservative. So much for an MBA from Harvard – what was Harvard thinking?????
Spend some of the billions being thrown around to restart the U.S steel production. Start making American products. Make the auto industry create alternative energy vehicles.Create incentives for solar and wind power, force the power companies to buy back the power that the customers create. Investigate every investment institution, bank, etc., and make a mandatory 15 year sentence for the violators of the law. If Martha Stewart had to go, so must the other big “boys.”
We need to fix the economy. We need to make financially sound decisions. We need to buy homes that we can comfortably afford. We need to not pull out our money from the stock market. We need to buy the car that we can afford.
Full scale deployment of nuclear power plants now. Force all automakers, foreign and domestic who sell cars in USA to sell electric cars and phase out gasoline cars in 5 years. The benefits:
$700B/year spent on foreign oil stays in our economy.
Far less expenditure on military operations motivated by the need to insure free flow of oil to us ($10B/mo in Iraq alone)
A major step in solving the climate change crisis.
Solar, wind, green jobs sound great, but cannot produce enough power now to turn around this country’s economy and address climate change in the time frame necessary.
I like Obama, but his energy plan on his web site does not contain the word nuclear, period.
Efforts to unfreeze the credit markets are already in motion. I’m glad to see a Sweden style buy-in is finally being considered.
Now, we must confront a broader issue of global recession. The most effective thing our next president can do in the short term would be yet another ’stimulus package’. Unfortunately, this will have to be made up for in taxes long term.
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Have Fannie and Freddie offer to re-fi every sub-prime, ARM and interest only mortgage issued since 2000 at a 30 yr fixed rate between 5.75 and 6 percent . Make it mandatory that they do so for their own loans, but allow them to accept any other banks’ loan that fails to do so on their own. This forces the end of the foreclosure crisis as those who were duped or made bad decisions now have stability and those who never had the money to be a homeowner are purged from the marketplace. This in turn now establishes a floor value for mortgage backed-securities, which establishes a fair value on the books of the financial companies. Once we know (and banks know) who’s healthy again and who’s not, the fear of lending dissipates and the credit markets reopen.
Bonus: since the government now owns Fannie/Freddie, all that mortgage interest gained from increased market share goes in the taxpayer’s pocket.
Long term: Adopt a strict 10:1 operating leveraging ratio (never to exceed 12:1 at any time with some nasty fines for even the first instance) that can be audited to without notice by the SEC.