After a spirited round of spitting and hissing on my comments, I posted this on my Facebook profile. Since the audience (with a couple of notable exceptions) is so different here, I thought I'd post here as well, just to get a feel for how different the feedback is: A few thoughts on economic stimulus by an infamous know it all...
When the signs of impending economic distress became impossible to ignore last year, the various heads of government agencies overseeing such things gave a shopping list of reasons for why this crisis had occurred. In the mad rush to "do something about it", they passed a bill which began at 750 Billion in the House, and swelled to over 800 Billion by the time it cleared the Senate. It was signed with grand flourish by a grinning President, who with extraordinary hubris, declared "Good Job, Brownie!" once again to the American people, while passing out incomprehensibly large checks to his best friends in the industry on his way out of office. Now, four months later, a new President is championing a new bill which contains many of the same types of barrels of pork as the last one. Although the madcap grin has been replaced by a sense of grim determination, and an impressive mechanism for oversight, there still exists within the hallowed halls of Congress a certain disconnect with reality that this oh so earnest President is not doing anything to counter: http://patriotroom.com/article/pelosi-the-stupidest- thing-any-politician-has-ever-said It's easy to forget that our elected representatives are not economists. They rely on others for data, opinions, input. Each of us has the ability to research, study, theorize and quantify, and based on recent voting commentary, if you read the entire contents of the legislation that your representative voted on in the last full session, you actually did more work than your average representative. With that in mind, here would be the key points in legislation tentatively titled, the Chris Jenkins Economic Stimulus Plan from the Common Man of 2009: 1. The 'Breather Period' - This all started with the mortgage industry, Fannie and Freddie, et al. Any Stimulus package passed now should make a final action on that root cause of the crisis, since all previous action have failed to have any substantial impact on the housing market and banking industry. Money given directly to the banks has been squandered in bonuses and expansion and lobbying efforts by the banks, providing zero relief to the consumers. Therefore, my plan sets forth funds to guarantee the primary mortgage payment of all owners of one home up to $1000 per month for a period of six months. This will provide a temporary guaranteed security on mortgaged based bonds, and will provide a six month respite from what is typically the most expensive bill in the house for middle class families. This portion of the plan will stimulate both retail and savings sectors, and will shore up lending institutions while providing immediate value to securitized instruments. At the end of the six month period, financial institutions who have not successfully purged toxic assets will be expected to bear the financial responsibility for their poor stewardship, as will consumers. Projected Cost: 240 Billion based on 40 Million mortgaged properties. 2. The 'Real Small Business Administration' - One of the most effective ways that Microsoft was able to corner the networking market was to personally sponsor the growth of Microsoft trained engineers via the Microsoft Career Loan Program. It created a trained and ready workforce able to support the products that Microsoft was rolling out to a new market. President Obama has proposed a series of large scale, long term infrastructure projects which could bear fruit, but it takes far less resources, and returns dividends much more quickly, to invest in the American small business infrastructure. The current SBA loan structure qualification rules are here: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode15/usc_ sec_15_00000636----000-.html I'll make it easy for you to understand. You don't qualify for a small business loan. With layoffs and unemployment at record highs, startup small business, freelancing and consultancies are natural channels for skilled workers to continue to participate in the economy. I propose funding be disbursed to the States to provide resources for skilled workers including enhanced funding for SCORE (they are never open, impossible to get an appointment with, and don't have anyone there who understands the internet, much less Web 2.0), low interest long term lines of credit for infrastructure and inventory purchases (secured by inventory), and other "collective" type small business resources. Proposed disbursedment: $10 Million per Representative Projected Cost: 43.5 Billion 3. Passage of HR 5842 and HR 5843 followed by passage in the Senate and adoption into law - This one's a no brainer. Ron Paul and Barney Frank have some common sense legislation sitting in committee right now to take the cannabis issue out of the Federal government's hands, and put it back in the State's hands, where it belongs. Pass the bills, send them to the house, set up the appropriate Federal tax stamps, watch the money roll in. Projected Cost: 0 Projected Immediate Savings: Nearly $10 Billion per year Projected future tax revenue: from $3-30 Billion per year 4. Emergency Family Aid Services - many community based social services such as the Basic Four program are straining to carry the load right now. These programs are critical to the working poor and under-employed, and are running short due to the high demand. I propose funds be disbursed to shore up community services which provide survival level services such as groceries, utility vouchers, emergency rent vouchers, etc. Proposed disbursement: $15 Million per representative Projected Cost: 87 Billion 5. 'The 100 X 100 Social Benefit Grants' - With the proceeds of point 3, this act will pay for 100 grants of 100 Million dollars each, 10 apiece in each of the following categories: Urban Renewal Agriculture Sustainable Development Alternative Energy Telecommunications Infrastructure Mass Transportation Educational Technology Arts and Culture Biomedical Technology An oversight board would be appointed with principals in each field to review the grant applications based on feasibility, rapidity of deployment, total jobs created, and total social benefit. Because these are tax payer funded social benefit grants, the desired end result would be a social benefit which would be free or of inconsequential cost to the taxpayer. Examples include Google's nationwide WiFi network plan, seamless improvements to existing power and telecom infrastructures with no pass through cost, public museums and libraries which provide technology resources, etc. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
