Last night Obama treated us to Stimulus 4.0, Electric Boogaloo. This time he made perfectly clear in aggressive fashion that he once again has no clue how an economy works. Let us compare his ideas to the childhood lemonade stand. Now this stand has no customers. It may well have good lemonade but nobody knows because there is nobody getting any. Now here comes Obama, confidently striding down the street with a plan. He is going to give you a tax credit to hire more workers. That is great you think, if you were making enough money to pay taxes. And even with a refundable credit, it still does not solve the problem of no customers. Where are you going to get the money to hire and pay wages? How is demand going to stimulate? Of course Obama thinks the government enables the private sector, so he is shocked when you tell him you have not any need for employees, as you don’t sell any lemonade.
This plan does nothing to create jobs, aside from narrow crony capitalism aimed at unions. These are temporary jobs and serve no long term goals towards stability. The fact is this is not all Obama, as the average American gets socked for about 50 percent of their income in some form of tax. Sales tax, income tax, phone tax, gas tax, food tax, state income tax, yet still, despite all this spending, poverty continues to increase, and crime continues to escalate and you continue to fall behind. What are needed is tax cuts. Not just for the wealthy but for the middle class. But wait, did he not propose a middle class tax cut? No what he proposed was a butchering of Social Security funding, because he refuses to tell his base the freebies have to be reduced. He would rather cut Grandma’s throat than Lakeisha’s. Is that racist? If you think so. Do I gave a rat’s patootey? What do you think?
The fact is jobs require growth, and quite simply growth requires demand, and that requires more money in people’s pockets. But there is no Peter Obama has ever met he would not rob to pay his buddy Paul. So in effect, his so called tax cut is just dismantling Social Security, which hurts the elderly, which he could care less about. Real tax cuts require real spending cuts, and I would much rather see welfare reformed so Americans have more to spend because demand will increase and many of those welfare recipients will have jobs. But that is a simple approach. Maybe there is a better way. Oh yes tax credits to hire the unemployed. Great give employers a cookie for not discriminating. What is next? Tax credits for youth, for Mexicans? How about we just create a list of who we should encourage the private sector to hire? Let us start with the disadvantaged abused children of single mothers who never made it to college. Let’s give them the jobs. This man does not get it, part of equality is the fact you sometimes lose; equality is the chance to hit, not to be guaranteed a home run. Do I think the unemployed should be protected? Absolutely. Through law. Not tax revenue blackmail.
But wait let us extend the unemployment benefits. Does that create a job? When I was a kid we were hard up. I mean bad. So my Ma and I collected cans. We took those cans and cashed them in and then bought a lawnmower and hawked our landscaping services. We got by. Did we thrive? Nah, but we got by. Did we deserve a handout? No we, we deserved a hand up, meaning some assistance, but geared towards work. We did what had to be done. I will support welfare and food stamps for anyone willing to grab a broom; I will even pay for the day care. But this leeching has got to stop. I will extend your unemployment benefits if you make these people do something; substitute teach, work at a nursing home, even rehab old houses. If the money is going to be spent, see to it the least we get is dignity and self worth in the people we spend it on. Cut the garbage, cut the waste, and take the savings and dump it into people’s pockets. Reward success. Encourage it.
With that in mind here is my counter proposal:
First we cut taxes across the board. I would lean towards a larger cut for the middle class but as I said I believe in equality. We pay for this by streamlining government and cutting waste.
Second we suspend all, and I mean ALL foreign aid. We take that $500 billion dollars and invest in among other things, innovation and small business development. We take many of the chronically unemployed and put them in a newly established entrepreneurial school network. We give them a crash course in management and business operation. We would recruit and choose suitable people for this, but would base it on drive and energy as well. This would allow for real hope.
Third I would immediately convene a convention made up of the sharpest minds in business, and the strongest voices in labor. I would have the two factions meet and discuss candidly the gaps between the two interests. I would ask them to brainstorm ideas for new inventions, tax policies, needed regulatory changes, and wage growth. I would have them formulate a proposal that is passable and present it to Congress to address these goals.
Fourth, I would immediately direct that all state funded secondary education require the fundamentals of business and management as part of any degree.
Fifth, as many areas of our country are reliant upon tourism, I would pass an immediate tax deduction to working families to apply to the the cost of a vacation; I view the opportunity to spend relaxing quality time with family as a necessity to happiness, and this would have a direct stimulative effect on the tourism industry.
Sixth, I would immediately repeal Obamacare. I would replace it with a reform of Medicaid to allow for buy in and co pays based on sliding scale incomes, but the private sector would be left alone. I anticipate this cost to be break even and even deficit positive.
Seventh, I would work to immediately pass an Innovation Sovereignty Act, which would make a deal that all new innovations to not be outsourced for a period of 10 years in exchange for a zero percent income tax rate, and regulatory easing. The program would be voluntary. These could range from technology to medical, and the stimulative impact could be massive.
These are but a few of the many thoughts I have moving forward as to how to reclaim the excellence we Americans are born to pursue. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same things over again and expecting a different result. Clearly Obama is insane, and stuck in the past. It is time to prove that his disease does not afflict us as well. Come 2012, let us prove that we are sane, that we will not do the same thing over and over again. Vote for American excellence. Vote, for American sanity.
Neil Stevens
Jeff Emanuel
Moe Lane
Dan Spencer
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
