If I Had $700-Billion...

I’ve been staying away from the economy because, well, it’s not funny. But the bailout package makes me kind of sick, and over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about better ways to invest $700-billion in order to bolster our economy. None of these are final solutions, but I think they’re at least halfway decent starting points. All of these ideas are aimed towards increasing the Government kitty while creating new jobs or protecting homeowners. I’m sure we could even combine most of these programs.

1 – A Manhattan-project style effort to develop alternative energies and decrease our dependence on foreign oil in order to create new jobs at home and decrease our involvement and capital in the Middle East.

2 – Venture capital for tens-of-thousands of innovative new businesses that, in turn, participate in a 20-year tiered profit sharing initiative on top of usual taxes.

3 – The outright purchase of defaulted real estate from failed mortgage lenders and the selling/refinancing of those homes with 15-30/45-year mortgages respectively, solely at the federal interest rate.

4 – A new loan program for students entering technical programs that guarantees low interest rates in exchange for high GPAs at accredited universities.

5 – Large tax credits for Americans whose research leads to scientific innovation and publication in peer-reviewed journals.

6 –Tax credits for companies that only employ American taxpayers and additional tax credits if all employees at said company are some percentage above the minimum wage. Accompany this with tax penalties for companies that outsource jobs that could be done by Americans.

7 – Increased funding for the Small Business Innovation Research program and Small Business Technology Transfer Program, particularly for non-defense based projects.

I know it’s too late and I know my blog that’s read by a hundred people really couldn’t do much even if I published these ideas weeks ago but, whatever, I figured I’ll start crafting my platform for my 2016 congressional run.

Labels: economy, editorial, politics

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