OK, you are in charge of the economic bailout...What would YOU do?

People like Rush Limbaugh would kill themselves after I got done with them...

I assume the government would have a nice influx of cash, but that won't do much to stimulate the economy.

what I, or anyone else says, your gonna start shit, regardless. So just STFU!

"Higher taxes for the rich". GREAT idea!

Still not sure how that helps the ecomomy, but

:applause:

Thanks to the rise of unions the uberwealthy majority stockholders of corp America were forced to take care of workers more and not surprising, all boats were lifted. The greedy SOB's just couldn't be happy with that so they bought out government and began the work of destroying unions. So here we are, with more and more Americans struggling to provide the minimum for themselves and their families.

The uberwealthy majority stockholders have a choice. They can choose to adequately pay the workers who produce all that wealth so they can purchase their own necessities of life as individuals. OR. We can tax them up the ying yang instead and as a community provide services to workers who aren't paid enough to purchase services as individuals.

individuals"

Ahh - see, now that makes sense - the govt distributing the influx of cash to us little people. Thanks!

I want it NOT to be spent to bail out the predator class and I want it spent on providing medical care, education, transportation, etc to as many Americans as possible as cost efficiently as possible.

The predator class hardly needs a bailout after decades of record profits and buttnormous bonuses even in 2008.

I will have done more for my country than the do nothing obstructive action of the Republicans.

long way and be partially repaid in tax revenue.

I like your idea--and you are damn right.

We had 2.8% growth and a lot of other economic numbers stabilized. Obviously, once Lehman failed that didn't matter much, but it did have an impact.

cities around the idea of green villages.

Because cutting taxes on the rich and wealthy corporations has never worked in my lifetime. And I'd do what President Obama is looking to do - focus on infrastructure which will actually create jobs in all sectors of the economy. I'd also build a high speed rail system connecting one end of the country to the other. We really do need more connectivity, and if we can do it with a incredible high speed, energy efficient train that links cities and states, all the better. I'd also give tax breaks to those businesses and families who 'green up' their buildings and transport. I'd stress recycling and building with recycled materials (see: Earthships) rather than dumping everything in landfills.

Provide a rolling scale of incentives for consumer who make large purchases of US products or services.

Home building/remodeling
Purchase a new vehicle
Send your child to college

Only mandate, the money has to be spent on US made products or services provided wholly in the US.

It is the fastest way to get the economy growing putting people back to work.

and if there's sudden demand for US made products, there will be more supply.

probably to someone who knew what they were doing.

Americans have been letting people "that know what they're doing" do what they want for a very long time with very bad results, usually because what they knew was what would serve their interests best with little or no regard to what's best for the country.

We've been scared and lied into creating the largest military in history of the world, even though we know that military spending is an economic dead end. We've been told that striving for the greater good is impractical or impossible or a waste for so long that many, perhaps most, believe it.

We're told that our financial system is the only way to conduct trade and that inevitably there will always be those that rule over others despite what the others may wish. That the haves are better than others for no other reason than that they do have more.

Surely you have ideas about what should be done, don't discount them just because you're not sure they will work. We already have a long list of things we were assured would work that have been proven wrong.

It's time to try something new and maybe your ideas are those.

They broke it, they buy it.

"The Predator Class" - I like it and plan to steal it.

Short sweet to the point. Thanks!!

1. nationalize the big banks as needed to make low interest loans to businesses
2. nationalize freddie and fannie, workout mortgages to stem the foreclosures and put floor under housing market
3. spend:

o pump money into infrastructure overhaul/upgrade, from mass transit to bridge repair to refurbish/insulate/energy efficiency for older buildings
o pump money into education, especially for key industries (e.g. solar, wind, health care), in the form of increasing size of existing programs (more teachers hired/fewer fired) and student grants (not loans, grants) for displaced workers
o repeal bush tax cuts for the uber-wealthy
o cut taxes on everyone earning under $100K
o penalize companies that ship jobs overseas -- they can pay for retraining of every murikan they dump
o reward companies that hire murikans
o crack down hard on H1B hiring fraud (I can name 2 people, a brit and an australian, in murikan jobs and subsidized, rent-controlled Boston Backbay brownstone to boot!)
o tax rebates for money spent installing solar or wind (yes, only rich can afford right now, but when demand goes up prices will come down plus it will mean new jobs for manufacturing and installation)
o pump money into things like Vista and the Peace Corp, to improve things here and help out abroad
o reinstall 100,000 police in the street program of Clinton. The first people to suffer when * took down that program were single women. We depended on the police for protection -- I for one have been a nonstop crime wave at every level since 2001. It creates 100,000 decent jobs immediately *and* makes it safer to do business
o immediately $500 cash to everyone making under $100K, on unemployment, on welfare, or living on their own dime while trying to regain some footing
o end SS payments to people who have over $50K income

I would change very little of this plan above, with the exception of these nits:

- implementation of a new single-payer universal health care system would be a HUGE boost to businesses - freeing many of the larger ones from the ever escalating costs of employer-provided plans (this money could be used to forestall any layoffs or to help businesses re-invest in themselves and their employees instead of feeding untold Billions a year to the existing insurance middle-men).

- increase ALL forms of renewable energy installation credits (especially enhanced geothermal and low-flow hydroelectric), exclude any bio-fuels that pose a negative EROEI or must use farm land for its creation - IMMEDIATE CUT ALL CORN ETHANOL SUBSIDIES for 2009).

- increase R&D funding for energy projects by a factor of 10X (minimum $100B a year for next 8 years...

(hey, if we can piss away $800B on failed banks, then we can damn well figure out a way to actually INVEST the same amount in energy research!!! We might just be able to develop an economically viable transportation battery system, a smart electrical grid, an electrified light rail system in the 30 largest metro areas, and increase CAFE standards to something in line with 40+ mpg BEFORE 2020!!!)

- I would phase out Social Security payments for anyone using or having investments or any other incomes beyond $30,000 a year to the point that they drop to zero above $75,000 a year.

From the way the "crisis" is being described, it centers around financial institutions not being willing to lend. Well then the response should be a federal loan program. Loans should be made available only to credit-worthy borrowers, and offered at reasonable interest rates. After the financial institutions figure out how to value their junk assets and begin lending again, the federal loans can be sold and the program can be terminated.

Take away the business that they screwed up and don't give it back to them. The government can collect the profits and the banks can pound sand.

...Foreign Relations Committee today. Should be on C-Span soon. http://www.cspan.org/

The recession will end when value = price. All they're doing now is subsidizing failed industries and making the dollar worthless..all at our expense.

Yes, by golly, I think you've got it!

This is what I want!

ALL their holdings, foreign and domestic.

NATIONALIZE -ALL- the companies that are -too big to fail-, and do audit on ALL the CEO's, upper management AND shareholders.

Review ALL visas that allow foreigners to work in this country, and if there is even a whiff of wrongdoing in the acquistion of that visa, deport them AND fine the company that hired them to the teeth.

Kick the tax rates up to 80% for anyone making over 200K per month, and keep it there until we have 100% Universal Health care, Childcare for ALL workers, and union representation, plus a LIVING wage for ALL people who want to work.

Give EVERY family that has been thrown out of work in the last year 100K to start businesses, and build homes.

Dismantle and BAN BLACKWATER.

But I mostly agree with you. The rich, greedy bloodsuckers have been having their way with this country, with the encouragement of Republicans, their numerous Democratic enablers, and the mean-and-dumb types who have brainwashed into their ideology.

It's time they paid for the damage caused by their ruinous thirty-year orgy.

into the very psyche of this country - we just might be doing ourselves a favor if we considered the guillotine. I didn't even touch on my thoughts about the media, but after reading my other post, you can get an idea where that would be. This country has NO idea how well and truly f*cked we REALLY are, right now. And the media is just another bloodsucking enabler of the rapacious monied class.

When we have local school boards throwing crumbs in the form of cheese sandwiches to children who forgot their lunch money (or Gods forbid, couldn't afford lunch) I get f*cking ANGRY. When I see landlords strewing people's belongings in the street because they were a WEEK late in paying their rent, and the State ALLOWS this to happen in the dead of winter -- I get f*cking ANGRY.

When I see a man who bilked people out of MILLIONS get -house arrest- while the poor schmuck down the street gets several YEARS in jail for swiping a loaf of bread to feed his kids -- I get ANGRY.

It's been DECADES since people in this country have unplugged themselves from the TV and realized that they have been SCAMMED and ripped off, and their KIDS will be shackled to pay for the GREED. It's PAST the time to make these people PAY. FAR TOO LONG.

Company A sheds 10,000 jobs, Company B sheds 5,000 jobs---they're hearing news like that every single day.

Here in the Twin Cities, two of our best-known corporations, Target and Best Buy, have announced job cuts.

After hearing that news, they wonder if their job is next, and then they look at their own bank balances, and it ain't pretty.

When they see other companies laying off workers, they join in.

Soon everybody is laying off workers and because of that the economy worsens.

This economic crisis is driven by fear and lack of confidence. The Bush administration fanned the fears and with no transparency was able to distribute billions and billions to no one knows where. Using fear politics they managed to pass a bill which passed out money like candy with no accountability.

Someday we may find where this money went and I suspect the facts will not be pretty. But one thing is for sure, the money didn't solve the problem.

Obama faces an enormous problem. I can only hope that his advisers guide him in the right direction. If he spends trillions of dollars with no effect, he will be a one term President. If he can pull us out of this very serious recession and avoid a depression, people will be considering putting his face on Mount Rushmore.

to do what needs to be done. He's caught up in this mainstream Democratic nonsense about "bipartisanship," a word that makes me crazy after 29 years of Democratic cave-ins.

(office supplies, cars, uniforms, furniture, food and Lord knows what else), pass a law saying that there has to be a preferential option for purchases produced entirely within the U.S. If there are no 100% U.S.-made products available, then the products get preference based on the percentage of U.S. labor involved.

Note that the important point is the amount of U.S. LABOR involved. If a company makes all its products in China, no go. If a foreign-owned company has a manufacturing plant in the U.S. that uses 100% U.S. legal labor, then it gets full points.

technology, for example, most products are made abroad and there is no comparable product made in the USA (I work in federal contracts for an information security company - I could have told you weeks ago that Obama could have kept his Blackberry. :) )

If you'll notice, however, most government officials drive American cars - Chevy and Ford have governmental fleets and Obama's car is a Cadillac. The US government does use American-made products when they're available; however, sadly, many times they're not.

last night (1/27)..while interviewing Gwen Ifill, he suggested that instead of giving billions and trillions to the banks, who are keeping it and not opening up the credit markets, the government out to issue a check to every American to pay off consumer debt. That money would then be returned to the banks. He called it trickle up.

I seriously like this idea. It would prop up the working-to middle-class economy and create jobs.

As far as the 5% go--I just couldn't care any less; they will land on their feet.

doesnt that mean you are screwed for being disciplined and responsible?

same for people who bought more house than they could afford.

Then conceivably those who don't have large debts to pay off would be able to put the money toward some sort of investment (real estate investment property, a non-retirement investment portfolio.) A win-win of an idea, if you ask me...

Whoopi Goldberg was the first person that I heard make that suggestion, BTW.

if we borrow money from Saudi Arabia and give everyone 30 grand, it would be great for the economy... except that the saudis will want to be paid back with interest. but we spent it on stuff and now it's all in the landfill. then what?

i think any stimulus plan has to be strictly investment, just like any business borrows money, they borrow only so they can make products that can be sold. this is what employs people, this is what has legs. i'm down with education, a train system or R&D, but even in that, the US govt. is notoriously corrupt and incompetent, so it's probably better to just sort it out for ourselves, community by community.

The moral hazard argument is one that cripples us into inaction. Yes some people bought a house that they could afford. Some people bought more house than they could afford. Some people were tricked into buying more house than they could afford.

At the end of the day bailing out people who have more house than they could afford is good for the country and good for the economy. If the world were perfect we'd reward people for doing the right thing but if the world were perfect we also wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

in the case of home values, that we prolong the process of setting a true market value for these homes. and in the case of clearing consumer debt, prolong the process of setting the true value of these consumer loans (and the derivatives that they both have morphed into). Society needs an economy standing on its own two feet, not one that is artificial and temporarily appearing to be worth more than it is...ultimately weakening the dollar and driving up inflation and the interest on the debt created dragging on the economy further.

there aint no 'something for nothing' in this world, which is the subtext in the whole stimulus package.

send a kid to college, pay for home repairs, a new car...

3. Acquire all outstanding mbs of a particular series,

4. Contact all homeowners for that series and assess their ability to pay and either take them out and into homeowner programs, renegotiate their terms or assess them likely to pay. This work would be subcontracted to a fully nationalized Fannie and Freddie, which have exactly the expertise to do it, and fees would be remitted as dividends to the federal government owner.

5. Reissue triple AAA rated mbs with full federal guarantee with much smaller pools and more information about homeowners, and more leeway for individual defaults.

6. Repeat, fixing mbs at the bottom (homeowners) and at the top (rating and yield), returning the banking system to normal.

7. Fully nationalize AIG and turn it into a Medicare/Medicaid type government owned universal health insurance parastatal.

8. Bring back a vigorous National Labor Relations Board system whose explicit mission is to encourage unionization and collective bargaining.

9. End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

10. Revisit Clinton's "military conversion" plans of the 1992 campaign -- ie long term plans for converting most military contractors into infrastructure and public transit manufacturers, with a medium term goal of reducing military expenditures from $1 trillion per year to no more than $100 billion per year.

11. Negotiate a long term economic pact with Mexico that involves allowing it to return to a system of inalienable corn lands to reduce the push pressures of immigration and starvation wages in Mexico, and that involves unionization and labor condition and environmental equalization across the border.

12. Negotiate a long term economic security pact with China in which they use some of their $2 trillion reserves to stimulate demand at home in part for US manufactured goods and direct investment in the US, in exchange for assurances about their access to the US market and the safety of their dollar denominated investments.

13. Stop NATO expansion in Eastern Europe and negotiate a security and economic cooperation pact with Russia, covering energy supplies, assurances of no first strikes, no missile shields, etc., further allowing military expenditures to fall world wide.

14. Free beer for all US male citizens during football nights, provided by food stamp-like vouchers.

By nationalizing them you take on their liabilities. JP Morgan is exposed to derivative contracts worth 91 trillion and has assets of 1.7 trillion. Why would the US taxpayer want to take on those liabilities. If the US govt nationalized JP Morgan and dthen Bank America or Citigroup went bust, the US would be bankrupt, if it isn't already. Why not let them go bankrupt and start a national bank from scratch without the liabilities by buying the bankrupt Citi, JP Morgan and Bk of America. They're going bankrupt anyway. There is nothing the US govt can do to stop it. So why not save the money and use it to build something solid from the pieces.

The US cannot afford to nationalize the big banks.

The US government would become the owner by purchasing a controlling percentage of the common stock of the banks. Anyone who owns a corporation has limited liability -- that is, their liability for the debts of the corporation is limited to their investment in the shares, but they are in now way liable for the debts of the corporation, in this case, the banks.

Also, there is a lot of hype about the volume of derivatives. Most people don't understand what they are or how they are used and why the volume simply isn't as big a deal as it sounds. To make a long story short, derivatives are generally used as a kind of hedge, or insurance, when making certain investments or trades. For example, if I purchase one share of IBM stock at $100, hoping it goes to $105, I might also buy a put option to sell at $100, and the put would cost very little, perhaps a dollar. If my strategy turns out to be wrong, and the stock goes to $95, then I can force the seller of the put to buy back the share at $100. If I was right and the stock goes to $105 or more, then I let the put expire.

The point of my example is that most derivatives are designed to expire without being exercised. They are like insurance. So I could also say almost every house and commercial building in America is ensured against fire and wonder whether the insurance company's could ever afford to pay off all those claims. But the entire country has never burned down at once. Of course there are Chicago Fire or San Francisco earthquake or Katrina events, and a recession like the one we're going through is like that for the derivatives market. But surprisingly when Lehman was liquidated, it's derivatives exposure were settled without nearly as much problem as it looked like on paper.

In general though, you are bringing up a dicey issue for the government if it nationalizes because the point of nationalization would be to give some assurances to counter-parties of the banks that the US now stands behind the banks ready to make good on its obligations, so that the credit markets will unfreeze. But a guarantee would actually over-ride limited liability making the government liable.

So nationalization has to be a kind of half-guarantee. It's a political commitment that the US will invest more as need be to keep the bank going, but that if things get really, really, really bad, we're not going to come in a guarantee all its debts. It's hard but it's not impossible. It requires the Treasury to come up with some precise explanation of what we're willing to do -- like rescue employee salaries, deposits, inter-bank counter parties, senior bonds, but not derivative counter parties, junk bonds, preferred stock, and the like.

It's hard but it can be done.

I realise JP Morgan's 80 some trillion exposure to derivatives contracts is not the same as liabilities, but if even 1% is at risk, they're bankrupt. If, say, Citibank or Bank of America were to declare bankruptcy, I assume 1% would be possible.

conduct audits so that the rest of the frauds are exposed now so that people can stop waiting for the next Madoff shoe to drop

Until that's done, no one wants to deal with anyone. Yet doing it will expose the entire financial system as bankrupt, so they can't do it. They're fucked and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Why have uncle sam take money from the individual and then buy stocks with it? LET THE INDIVIDUAL DO IT. Private money would flood into retirement accounts if only the rules would be changed or lifted for a 3 to 5 year period.

Inflation is the risk of printing money (government plan). Private long-term investing has the effect of taking money out of circulation which counter-acts inflation by helping to stablize the value of the dollar.

and then MORE infrastructure..

Give Middle Class/ Working Poor a Tax rebate of $5000 per family, $2500 for single people. Better than the old $1000 per family and $500 per single people that they usually give. Give unemployed people/retirees $1000 per person/family. Expand Medicaid program to provide health care to the unemployed and their families. End the war in Iraq and put savings into a single payer health system.

as part of the deal. Once consumers were caught up with their bills, Wall Street couldn't claim to be in crisis.

et: sp

At the very minimum, wouldn't you think that the credit card companies and lenders benefiting from bailouts would have to turn around and declare an interest-free holiday on current balances? Wouldn't cost them a thing, since the money comes to them FOR FREE right now...

at 5 percent above the federal discount rate.

Congress could do something about this very quickly and really help a lot of people out. Doing this could solve our economic problem by putting a lot of money back into the pockets of consumers. (This would be far better than merely giving people $500 or $1000.)

For hundreds of years, societies all over the world have protected borrowers by limiting interest rates charged by lenders.

But in today's credit card market, American borrowers are on their own.

Less than half of all U.S. states bother to cap credit card interest rates, and few credit card issuers are based in these states anyway.

Most major credit card issuers are based in states without usury laws and without interest rate caps on credit cards. Banks and credit card issuers based in these states can charge any interest rate they wish -- as long as the rate is listed in the cardholder agreement and the borrower agrees.

And thanks to a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision, these the-sky's-the-limit rate policies dominate the credit card business.
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20020320a.asp

We elect people to represent us in Congress. They seem to represent the big banks and the credit card companies.

Every load of outsourced product entering this country would have to pay a fee so large it would make outsourcing economically foolish. The economy will never recover until I can go out and buy a fucking American-made toaster.

I don't have a clue.

some people will put it in the BANK
some people will put it in the STOCK MARKET
some people will buy an AUTO
some people will avoid FORECLOSURE and pay their MORTGAGE
some people will visit their local RETAILER

everybody ends up with a piece of the pie and the Little Guy can breathe easy for a quick minute.

i could use 50K! but, do i have to pay it back? seems like there must be a catch to this somewhere

The 1 trillion is coming from?

or in other words. each person is not given $50,000, each person borrows $50,000.

and has to pay it back. plus interest. plus the people who dont pay there's back bc they die, or can't work for some reason, and interest on there's. for like 50 years. unless we all go bankrupt of course. but when nations go bankrupt, especially the largest economy in the world, it is bad. there's no assistance money for that kind of crash.

if each person invested in a business and became competitive in the world marketplace, it could be golden, but more likely, a lot of new plasma TV's and cars and booze will be bought, and then it is a flash in the pan and then there's hell to pay.

which is why my stimulus plan would mostly be for stimulating small businesses. they employ more than any other and generally make economic life and community life worth living rather than soulless profit-first transnational transfer-their-profits=to=the-Caymens-and-their-pollution-to-Palau corporate businesses.

but they dont have the lobbyists, so it mostly will go to the latter

So, what does a trillion dollars have to do with it? You'd be off by a factor of 10.
GAC

Then ask them politely to start loaning money again.

and make that stimulus package incorporate closer to 80% for infrastructure

... direct aid to consumers. I'd let banks that made bad bets FAIL. After they failed, I would do whatever it took to enable healthy (the ones that didn't fall for this shit ) survived so we'd have a functional banking system.

The problem with what we are doing now is that the bad actors are getting paid off. Not a good plan. The banks that perpetrated this disaster should DIE with their shareholders losing EVERYTHING and their execs OUT OF A JOB WITH NO GOLDEN PARACHUTE.

....socialism and death taxes.

We are experiencing negative growth. I just don't think after the decades of excess anyone can fully fathom what's lying ahead.

and everyone would have to buy an electric car and melt down the old ones:toast:

probably have to build more power plants.

Good luck trying to get me to melt down my 2005 Nissan Frontier with 12,000 miles on it.

- Buy up all mortgages in default and renegotiate to an affordable payment and low interest rate

- Stimulus checks on a sliding scale: poor = more, rich = less -- minimum check - $2500 per person

- Bail out States who are facing fiscal problems

- Tax the wealthy to pay for it - estate tax, cut corporate tax loopholes, capital gains, etc.

- Give tax breaks to, and invest in, companies developing and producing green technology

- Serious cash to infrastructure rebuilding - half a trillion dollars to start

---------------------

That should get things going again.

that only goes from here to there, servicing almost nobody and costing humongous amounts of money.

that idea is an incredibly ridiculous, stupid idea. really, a fucking stupid idea.


the effort has to be about putting people to work. (and not some silly fdr effort about "public works" or "cwa" or whatever. hogwash. that only prolongs a recession/depression and makes it worse.)



energy.

that is the only true answer. its not about "moving" y'all that live in these big cities from here to there at high speed. i don't give a fuck about that.


energy.

wind, solar, nuclear, ocean-thermal... to keep ours warm at night... all comfy...

that's what i would work for. for our future. then maybe we can work out your deal about how to get you to la quick, you know, for you...

and high speed rail is SMART. it's a way better use of public funds than continuing to dump to them into subsidizing the airlines and uses a heck of a lot less energy per passenger, not to mention the greenhouse gas savings.

energy is a key to our long term survival indeed, so i'm with you on fixing that giant problem. but conservation is an inevitable part of that future and high speed rail will save a lot of it.

We are in denial.

Monetize the population.

I would give the stimulus to the different states in increments to put people to work, to pay unemployment benefits, and lastly, to insure that the banking system in each state is sound and secure. Each Governor would be responsible for appointing an overseer for each state financial system with strict oversight and the law to back him up. I would not give all the money to the top banks in the country or the FED. It should go to the states where it could do the most good. So far, nothing is going anywhere.

and do precisely what they say.

Do something useful with the trillion a year it's actually costing the US.

Very first thing - get an accurate measurement of our current prediciment.

The very first thing I would do (Presidential level) is to order each agency to immediately reduce its contracting out by at least half. Then each Agency would be directed to hire Federal Empolyees to do the work they do. Expidited hiring procedures would be put in place so that hiring could begin and be consumated within just a few weeks. Then I'd drop all taxes paid on interest earned by FDIC insured banks. I would then limit bank leveraging, having provided them with reserves with the previous step, to a much lower level than it is today.

Then I'd sit back and measure changes that happened and make adjustments as necessary.

for a very long time. It's silly to tax it at an unfavorable rate. We need savings in the system to make the credit system function.

excuse me, but Federal employees, and include state and local employees in this, are the world's most inefficient workforce. they're _beyond_ inefficient. in may cases their hardest job is to think up work that doesnt need to be done! (not every case, but a large amount of it) i know the GOP jumps on this fact to sell their no-govt. snake oil, but it happens to be true. i've been there, it is mind-boggling how much non-work happens every day, with a fat salary and killer benefit packages. this is a drag on the economy, anything non-productive is a drag. it is like welfare with a bit more dignity. i'm totally for welfare for people who can't possibly work but those who are able to should be producing 8 for 8, not 1 for 8 like so many in govt. workers are able to get away with. it is not exactly their fault, it is a culture and a system. govt. has no incentive to produce like a private company does. govt. supervisors have the opposite incentive, if they dont use up man hours, then they get their budgets cut or eliminated entirely!

like eliminating our dependence on oil. Finding green solutions. Developing technology that the whole world needs and exporting those techs and services to a needy world.

Stem cell technology may be something we can take the lead on as well.

Portable technology innovations.

Find healthcare solutions that do not burden businesses. For the future worker to be able to go where the work is, they need both portable technology and portable insurance. Businesses will then compete over the highest skilled knowledge workers and workers can move freely bringing their own tech and health care with them.

Infrastructure upkeep and upgrade will put people to work immediately and will sustain the portability of future workers. Both technology infrastructure and roads, grids etc need to be upgraded now to support future forward growth and change in the way people work.

Haven't finished my coffee yet, so this is all I can think of for now. So many great ideas here. So on second thought, I would combine all the ideas here into one comprehensive plan and of course call it the DU plan :-)

Great Question. What would you do?

...in my http://journals.democraticunderground.com/BanTheGOP">blog. This particular item I wrote in October. Here are the MAIN steps.

1. Nationalize ALL industries that deal with energy, transportation, and chemicals.
2. In fact, nationalize ALL corporations over 500 employees
3. Eliminate the traditional republicanized corporate boards that advocate profit before employee welfare, environmental considerations, and consumer safety, and replace them with democratic, progressive citizen boards that promote an organization that promotes just wages for employees, does not destroy the environment, and ensure the consumer is not screwed by shoddy product.
4. On the same lines, eliminate ALL free trade agreements with ALL other countries. This will ensure that the other countries develop their own, progressive industry that maintains fairness for their workers and protects the environment.
5. Immediately eliminate 25% of defense spending, instead allotting it to minority-run businesses who promote products to countries who will now be our friends once we eliminate the republican menace.

In addition, follow these edicts:

Tax ALL earnings 100% over 10 Million dollars. NOBODY is WORTH more than 10 million a year, and all monies over that amount should go to helping people, not padding the greed of republicanized bastards.

Tax ALL earnings 70% over 1 Million dollars. Same reason as above.

Tax ALL earnings 50% over $75,000. This establishes fairness in our code.

Tax earnings 35% over $20,000. This helps us fall in line with the rest of the world in economic fairness.

BAN all corporate boards. In fact, for all companies over 50 employees, create a "citizen" or "people's board" to ensure that the direction of the company goes toward creating product that will help the citizenry, not provide dollars for profits of the board members.

Eliminate ALL "golden parachutes."

Establish ACROSS THE BOARD profit sharing for ALL employees, administered by the citizen boards and the US Government.

Ensure that companies maintain a systematic and measurable adherence to environmental protocols.

Eliminate stock movements for corporations, ceding control of the financial stability of all companies to citizen boards.

and the development of new sources.

Rebuilding the inner cities along what has happend in Portland Oregon.

Rebuilding the public education system to what it was in the 1950's, and then make it better.


Investigating and prosecuting violations of the Bush administration, both against the Constitution and International law.

Prosectute the bankers who drove this economy into the ground and imprison them all.

Rehabilitate the people who went to prison and became 'institutionalized' for non violent drug crimes.


etc etc etc

Manufacturing, technology, etc. (penalize, close all loopholes, reform visa programs, etc.) Until we have these jobs back....this economy won't recover. These so-called "infrastructure jobs" won't last forever, or even employ all those that are out of work.

Also....tax the hell out of the wealthy. Revoke those tax breaks!

I'd be pushing for medicare for all, allowing people to buy added supplementals if they want just like the old folks do. This is the best gift to saving businesses big and small we can dream up.

I'd make funds available to help expand the number of credit unions and let the mega-banks slide into the history books by nationalizing them, busting them up into smaller entities and re-privatizing them heavily regulated.

I'd make funds available to help small businesses and laid off workers who want to transition to entrepenuers (sp) and let the majority stockholders of big corps go fuck themselves.

I'd put money out there for infrastructure and stipulate bids must be taken from small business first and only opened to big corps if no small business can be found to do the job.

I'd give tax breaks to the few good corporate citizens we do have that bring jobs back to the US in certain sectors - such as manufacturing, textiles etc.

I'd trash all of our trade agreements and renegotiate based on what's fair, not "free".

Insure those who are not covered under Medicare.

Enable unions.

Overhaul the credit and credit reporting system.

Block grants to states - for employees, and primary infrastructure repair, including school buildings.

Increase the minimum wage, UE, Food Stamps, Energy assistance, and beef up Job Centers to really find people jobs on a priority basis.

Build affordable housing asap. Provide temporary shelter to the homeless asap too.

Make banks foot the bill for their vacant properties. Slap a 90% tax on 8-digit incomes and close loopholes.

And most of all... prosecute those who created this problem, especially at the top... starting with Phil and Wendy Gramm, and take it from there wherever the trail leads, including all lobbyists who took part in writing changes to our financial laws. Hell, I'd charge them with treason. Go after those who profited from it and get the money back.

End speculation on Wall St., and tax short term trades.

Void out all derivatives that weren't owned by the holder of the underlying asset.

Set up a program to refinance any kind of debt at 5%, if there's an agreement not to add more until it's paid off. Set statute of limitations on any non-mortgage consumer debt at 5 years or less, retroactively.

Start Detroit on mass producing super-efficient green cars, and set up low fianancing for median or less income people to buy one, also to trade-in old clunkers to be scrapped.


That's just for starters. I'd eventually nationalize the banks, and prohibit selling our oil on the world market. I'd fund research on how to make every home or building self-powered, and subsidize the components and conversions.

I'd also take back our state universities, hospitals, and other sold-off assets like toll roads - or require limits on fees charged to the public. Limit fees charged by public utilities and transportation. Bring back family farmers. Require "local" or "foreign" labeling of food. And lots more... I'd change a lot of things.

And if Congress couldn't do necessary things, there's always National Security. Which reminds me, I'd reverse the Homeland Security department, repeal the abuses to our rights, and go after military contractors. Of course, move to end the foreign wars. And a small but big thing... I'd give us ownership of our personal information back. Credit reporting companies would have to pay us to use it, and be charged with a felony for reporting false information.

Put patents and copyrights back to 20 years as it used to be.

Citizens of the other western democracies do not have to fear losing their health care coverage--and potentially their health--when they are laid off. If you lose your health you may become unemployable. There are currently lots of Americans who are not going to the doctor or the dentist even though they need to.

I might also try to somehow reverse the offshoring boom of the past 25 years.

And paper, clothes and whatever else can be made from it. I would work with the automotive companies to start making cars either with alternative fuel, electric, or air compressed. I would legalize Marijuana and tax the shit out of it. I would fine employers $100,000 who hire illegals. I would work with Mexico to help them build a better country so they will want to stay, and tourism will go up. Mexico has lots of oil we could use in the mean time to help them get it done.

universal govt paid health care, more investment in green tech, more infrastructure investment, pare down the defense budget to get rid of wasteful programs, bring troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. more taxes for the richest 1%ers, corporate tax relief for creating jobs here, corporate tax increase for jobs sent overseas. For a start. And before the banks go private again they have got to be very toughly regulated.

Its all about not giving money to executives. They've shown they're not worthy of trust.
If the banks are about to tank because of bad mortgages, we pay off the bad mortgages.
The bank gets its money. They can operate normally.
The house goes to the person who was buying it.
As someone defaulting on a mortgage because of vanished income cant pay us anyway, they
keep the place. And they're off the hook to the bank for all that ugly interest.
If GM can't move its cars, we buy them all and give them to people riding old wrecks and gas hogs.
GM gets its money. They can operate normally.
A lot of crappy old beaters are removed from the road.
And a lot of poor people get a much needed break on short term transport requirements.
And so on.
If we have to bail out an industry we buy the output of that industry.
We do not hand a big sack of cash to disloyal republican jerks who will turn it against us.

Single-payer health care. Infrastructure. Cut fees and the payroll tax on the non-super-rich.

There were many people working in the real estate industry (and associated fields). There is an oversupply of real estate related things and labor.

So we are faced with a choice: prop up real estate again or allow people to do things that people are willing to buy.

Cheap mortgages are just proppping up real estate.

What do I do? Short term relief to prevent starvation. Education vouchers. Infrastructure (state and locals decide).


As has been repeatedly proven the economy is too complex for a person or group of persons to understand. It is an informational problem. Command economies do not work for this reason.

This talk of 'green jobs' sounds like fantasy to me at this point. We need our old bread and butter jobs back here now. No more H1Bs plenty of people out there with experience but you will just have to pay them. We have to get wages up in this country, we have to get good paying blue and white collar jobs back here.