What is YOUR great idea to fix the ECONOMY?

[janklow]

War with Germany and Japan. Worked last time.

yeah, but we sort of need them to come through for us and start it

 

[soohot59]

alot of great ideas...

I think you are right!!

 

[tdoto88]

1. End all military prison industrial complex fraud waste and abuse.

A. Close all US military bases in Europe and Japan. We fought a war in these countries in over 50 years and for some reason we're spending millions a year to "protect our allies." At least the Romans and British had the common sense to rape and pillage the lands they occupied.

B. Stop building new weapon systems for wars we'll never fight. Lockheed Martin and Boeing have been raping the American taxpayer for decades.

C. Get rid of all no-bid governmental contracts and start prosecuting the heads of companies who engage in war-profiteering and politicians who facilitate it. Dick Cheney had a serious conflict of interest by being a driving force for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan while still profiting from his former role at Haliburton.

D. End the business of prisons. The cost of running the court system and the social cost of locking up a higher percentage of our citizens than any other developed country is an excessive tax on all of us.

C. Reduce the police presence in all neighborhoods to a few officers who live in the community. Police don't stop crime. They clean up after it happens.

2. Raise the minimum wage. Republicans did a great job convincing the country that a rising tide lifts all boats. Unfortunately they were referring to yachts. We have a consumer driven economy. Put more money in the hands of the consumers. Bring the wealth gap back down to a reasonable level. Workers havent had a cost of living increase in more than 20 years.

3. Legalize Marijuana and tax it.

4. Reduce the cost of college education. Reduce government spending on primary education.

5. Tax the internet. There should be a sales tax on online shopping.

6. Fix our infrastructure. Roads, bridges, subways, power lines, schools, and hospitals are all in desperate need of repair and updating. How about we train all those prisoners locked up for non-violent drug offenses and put them into work-release programs fixing our archaic infrastructure. Same thing with the soldiers displaced from closing bases and ending unnecessary wars.

7. Update our power grid. Stop talking about wind and solar and start building those systems.

8. Require banks to absolve certain debts or reduce the interest to less than 6%. Student loans, minor credit card debts, jumbo and adjustable rate housing loans, car notes, etc.

i agree with most of this except the bolded... spending on education is being slashed as we speak [or type in this case] & public school systems have gotten worse.. not better

 

[tdoto88]

War with Germany and Japan. Worked last time.

why not just do a massive government spending program on infrastructure... after all, that what war is (besides the destruction of peoples lives)

 

[ustreet_monsta]

i agree with most of this except the bolded... spending on education is being slashed as we speak [or type in this case] & public school systems have gotten worse.. not better

Theres no evidence that spending more on education produces better results.

 

[tdoto88]

Theres no evidence that spending more on education produces better results.

i highly doubt that... and there IS evidence spending less on K-12 education leads to worse results

**edit**
Why under fund human capital? How would spending less on education be better for the economy in the long run? Its well known that in the long run education is definitely important for a country's future (I assume you don't know China heavily invested in education years ago [and still do], hence part of the reason they are growing rapidly today). The thing with education is there is no short term benefit from investing into it, which I think you are aiming at, only in the long run can benefits be realized (ie smarter more capable work-force for a country to rely on).

 

[ustreet_monsta]

i highly doubt that... and there IS evidence spending less on K-12 education leads to worse results

**edit**
Why under fund human capital? How would spending less on education be better for the economy in the long run? Its well known that in the long run education is definitely important for a country's future (I assume you don't know China heavily invested in education years ago [and still do], hence part of the reason they are growing rapidly today). The thing with education is there is no short term benefit from investing into it, which I think you are aiming at, only in the long run can benefits be realized (ie smarter more capable work-force for a country to rely on).

I think the issue is that we spend more per student with less results than every country in the world except 4.

Meanwhile:

American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science compared to students in 30 industrialized countries.

America’s top math students rank 25th out of 30 countries when compared with top students elsewhere in the world. [1]

By the end of 8th grade, U.S. students are two years behind in the math being studied by peers in other countries. [2]

Sixty eight percent of 8th graders can’t read at their grade level, and most will never catch up.


We could probably pay quality teachers more money and stop spending so much on programs that havent shown results. It doesnt take thousands of dollars a year to teach a child to read and think. Throwing money at the problem is a lazy and misguided way of investing in our human capital when the real problem is lack of parental investment and institutionalized low expectations.

 

[tdoto88]

I think the issue is that we spend more per student with less results than every country in the world except 4.

Meanwhile:

American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science compared to students in 30 industrialized countries.

America’s top math students rank 25th out of 30 countries when compared with top students elsewhere in the world. [1]

By the end of 8th grade, U.S. students are two years behind in the math being studied by peers in other countries. [2]

Sixty eight percent of 8th graders can’t read at their grade level, and most will never catch up.


We could probably pay quality teachers more money and stop spending so much on programs that havent shown results. It doesnt take thousands of dollars a year to teach a child to read and think. Throwing money at the problem is a lazy and misguided way of investing in our human capital when the real problem is lack of parental investment and institutionalized low expectations.

Okay, now I agree with you especially the bolded. I'm all for getting rid of inefficient programs & investing into those that do work & yield positive results.

Thats the problem with this country's policy as a whole, we throw billions of cash at the problem with no sense of direction...

I remember Obama saying he wants to increase the number of college grads [and high school grads], BUT didnt once say improve the quality of high school & college education

 

[Steve Rojer]

Its quite simple.the people have become too conscious about fashion and glam.Spread this awareness that they should save more and investment will automatically be increased.Cut down the expenditures and make your economy better .

 

[Pond Scum]

bring back slavery