Ten Ways President Obama Can Revive the Economy and Create Jobs TODAY Without Spending ONE DIME

[Mugsy]

Via "Mugsy's Rap Sheet":

Ten Ways President Obama Can Revive the Economy and Create Jobs TODAY Without Spending ONE DIME

One month ago, I asked for your ideas to jumpstart the economy at little to no cost. Everyone (even President Obama now) recognizes the fact that Republicans are more interested in spending the next 14 months making sure President Obama loses HIS job than helping unemployed Americans find one of their own.

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A number of Progressive websites like DailyKOS and Jane Hamsher’s “Fire Dog Lake” have cited economists listing “quick & easy” ways for President Obama to create jobs “on his own” without having to seek the approval of Republicans unwilling to consider anything other than “tax cuts” (but only for the rich; also here). Add to that, Republicans believe The Stimulus (which spent more on “tax cuts” than actual job creation) was “a total failure”, and will NEVER agree to ANY additional spending to save the economy. I looked through KOS’s and FDL’s lists and felt most of their ideas wanting, relying heavily on ending the wars and using the defense budget to rebuild our infrastructure as “a matter of National Defense”. Sounds good, but wars don’t end overnight, and it’s not realistic to think we can.

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So here is my list of Ten Ways President Obama Can Revive the Economy and Create Jobs TODAY Without Spending ONE DIME:

1. You’ve likely seen by now my Petition to re-appropriate the $4 Billion dollars a year we give to oil companies, and spend that money to put *American-Made* solar panels on the roofs of some 40,000 government buildings or issue a contract for 100,000 *American-Made* hybrid mail-trucks. Not only would these contracts immediately create tens of thousands of Green Jobs with a future (not to mention all the tangential jobs), they would jumpstart entire industries, and encourage companies to modernize by investing in new equipment, technologies, and skilled personnel. Such investments would also reduce Greenhouse gas emissions and pay for themselves with the energy savings (saving even more tax-dollars over the long-run.)



2. Raise tariffs on imports from countries that use tariffs to undercut us. You may not know this, but ONE-HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN countries charge import taxes on the stuff we sell to them. Among that list: China, Mexico, India, even Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia all charge import duties on the stuff we try to sell in their countries. Few Conservative ideas have done more harm to the American labor market than “Free Trade”. Economically, it makes perfect sense NOT to charge tariffs on things we can’t produce here at home. But it is INSANE to allow countries like India & China that pay their workers a pittance (who then live in tin-roofed slums) to undercut American workers. The net effect of 20 years of this “free trade” nonsense has left us with a HUGE $53 BILLION dollar trade deficit, with American products undercut by imports made using cheap foreign labor, destroying sales and costing jobs. Republicans LOVE “free trade” because the OWNERS of a company profit no matter where their products are made. And the cheaper they can make it, the higher their profit margin. The only way American workers can compete is if they agree to work for less. Eventually, we’ll all be living in tin-roofed slums if we continue the Republican race to the bottom. You want a HUGE tax cut and economic stimulus? Consider this: Up until the Civil War, 100 PERCENT of the American economy was paid for wholly through import tariffs. Today, our expenses are too high to do that again, yet it is conceivable we could give the Middle-Class a MASSIVE tax cut as revenue is supplanted by import taxes on foreign corporations. Add to that, making it economically feasible to create jobs in the U.S. once again, as American-made products become competitive with cheap imports, rather than giving tax breaks to companies that INCENTIVIZE them to move their manufacturing someplace where the labor is cheaper. (Not to mention, raising the standard of living in the rest of the world as their employers no longer have an excuse to pay their workers pennies a day.)



3. (From KOS) Issue an executive order to “end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.” Economists agree that the best way to stimulate the economy is to redirect federal infrastructure spending to small businesses. Ending this abuse would infuse the nation’s middle class economy with billions of dollars a month in existing federal infrastructure spending. One of the nice things about this idea is that President Obama can do it all by himself with an “Executive Order” without bargaining with obstructionists Republicans.



4. LOWER the retirement age to 55. This is an incredibly counter-intuitive idea frequently suggested by Progressive Radio’s Thom Hartmann. Years of Conservative conditioning has led us to believe that we need to “raise” the retirement age “to save Social Security” and that adding all those people to the rolls would rapidly bankrupt the program. In fact, the opposite is true. As Thom points out, taking all those people out of the workforce would open up MILLIONS of new jobs, with all of those people paying into Social Security. Arguably though, this idea depends upon passing #2 above first (ending “free trade” policies that make it cheaper to hire overseas.)

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Read the complete list and vote on your favorites at MugsysRapSheet.com

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Some Damn good Ideas!!

[mopinko]

2. retire at 55 with full ss, medicare, 401k?

who's gonna pay for that? or are we just supposed to hold our breath till we can touch our money?
besides, we still have tuitions to pay. i'm 58 and starting a new career. on planet milk and honey, maybe, but here on earth? :eyes:

[Larkspur]

3. He said it depended on idea #2

[Mugsy]

4. No.

The topic is much too complicated to explain here, but realize not only do you create jobs, but some of those unemployed people are currently *collecting* money from SS/disability. So if you get them working, you have a double-benefit of people paying INTO the system instead of taking money out.

Also, it might require TWO or more new workers to replace a single more experienced older worker.

Please don't do what so many young Democrats do: pick apart good ideas looking for flaws that end up killing otherwise good ideas. I see WAY too much of that here on DU.

[mopinko]

6. it's just not workable. most people in those years are

scrambling, and wont be ready to retire when they hit 65. most will keep working then.
i appreciate the concept, but unless there is a hefty check, it isn't going to work.

[Mugsy]

7. Punditry

It's not my idea, it's Thom Hartmann's, so if you don't agree, call his show.

Also, it is not "mandatory" retirement, and if only a FRACTION of older workers choose to retire early, it STILL opens up millions of jobs.

So it's not for you. Fine. But that doesn't make it a bad idea.

[bhikkhu]

5. Obama can't do any of those things - congress would have to do them

The popular deflection is responsibility for lawmaking and legislation away from congress and to the president is a subtle RW tactic, which has done wonders for them! It works well with the poor state of civics education in the country.

[Mugsy]

8. I never said that.

I never claimed these were things Obama could do on his own w/o going through Congress (the lists on KOS and FDL are). But they ARE things he can propose to a Congress unwilling to raise taxes or increase spending.

And of course, it would take much pressure & convincing to get the GOP to vote for just about any of them. But you take your case to the American people and get people to pressure their members of Congress to support them. And if you make a strong-enough case, you sway the coming election.

[LiberalEsto]

9. Wow, I could have been retired for the past 4 years

instead of unemployed for the past 3 years.