Check Out PART I here.
PART II:
How to Fix the Economy
Barack Obama's economic plan as I understand will undo a lot of Reagan and the Republicans' mistakes with a combination of Clintonomics, Democratic ideals, and Keynesian economics. What made Clinton's economic policies so great was that he increased taxes in an effort to decrease the national debt which made the American currency stronger. This means that the American dollar went a much longer way in purchasing goods. Also, this is why, at the end of Clinton's presidency, the United States had a surplus of federal revenues. He promoted the job creation which is important (but I'll get to that in a moment). The most important part of Democratic ideals is that government should do more to help out working class citizens with social programs that benefits. And finally, Keynesian economics dictates that government should do more to regulate the economy so that business leaders don't create problems under the guise of serving the people.
Let's Get Back to Regulation
Simple enough, regulations will be put back into place to return a level of quality among products and services that was eroded in previous administrations. This would prevent the rampant abuse of trust by individuals in business who prefer to see their bottom line increase before they deliver substandard products that need to be recalled two minutes after they've been sold because they're killing people.
Fair Taxes
The loopholes created by Reaganomics that afford the wealthy opportunities to evade taxes will be closed. Hopefully, these loopholes will be closed entirely and completely. Also another problem with taxes is that the rich have the luxury of comparatively lower tax rates. There will be a return to the higher tax rates of the Clinton era and possibly the MUCH higher tax rates of pre-Reagan years.
The reality of the situation is that we've all been reminded of the greed of the rich. They're NOT doing their part to help the economy. Even if they were trying to spend money, they wouldn't spend enough to help the economy. How much food can a billionaire buy without giving most of it away? How many homes, cars, yachts, vacations, and so on can a billionaire purchase, reasonably? Giving kickbacks to the rich will not help advance the economy. So, why should they continue receiving the luxury of lower tax rates especially if it does little to nothing to help society?
Corporate Tax Twist
The one good idea regarding Reaganomics came in the form of tax incentives for businesses and corporations. However, the problem of jobs being sent over seas became rampant. Therefore, it was profitable to set up companies in the United States while moving manufacturing overseas. The way companies were able to get away with this was with the promise of lower prices for American citizens. Who doesn't love lower prices? Unfortunately, people lost their jobs in this process, obviously.
Obama's corporate tax plan is to give tax incentives to companies that will set up business and create jobs in the United States instead of sending jobs overseas. For example, when you call Dell customer support, you may talk to a guy in India and your computer may be built in China. Dell may not be receiving any more tax incentives unless they bring those jobs back to American soil. And this takes us into...
...reversing job loss and creating jobs
As pointed out previously, corporate taxes will be used as a tool bring jobs back to American soil.
However, there's another problem causing job loss. If you've ever watched the news when Bush got into office, merger and acquisitions was a huge recurring topic. One company bought out another or two companies merged. For example, AT&T sold their wireless unit to Cingular and then a few years later acquired Cingular. The question we have to ask ourselves, what happened to Cingular employees? Can we remember in the news all of the layoffs? One month, the economy lost 5,000 jobs and then next month it lost 6,000 jobs.
Deregulation of the economy is the reason so many jobs were lost. Companies were allowed to merge and be acquired reducing the need for extra workers thereby creating massive layoffs around the nation. Real regulation may have prevented a lot of these mergers and acquisitions also preventing major job loss.
I think the most ambitious part of Obama's economic policy would be to embrace the future by jumping into new technologies with both feet. This is important because it touches on many issues including the environment.
Bringing It All Together
It becomes obvious in this economy that Republican ideals with Reaganomics simply doesn't work for society. Republicans seek to create a parent economy where the wealthy get to play mom and dad and the middle class and poor do the chores around the house with a childish allowance. While it is true that we, as a people, have to take care of each other, it's better if "we, the people" do it together as opposed to relying on some uncaring minority group of individuals to do it for us.
By developing a fair tax rate for all Americans, instituting stronger regulations and creating jobs, the US economy can get back on track. It all works by:
* Increasing the quality of products and services
* Regulating big business so that it doesn't cannibalize the economy
* Increasing funding for education and social programs
* Paying down American debt and increasing the value of the American dollar
* Investing in new technologies
* Creating jobs so that people can pay for homes, healthcare, and so on.
Despite the stats, I see thousands of high paying jobs posted on employment sites -
www.linkedin.com (networking)
www.indeed.com (aggregated listings)
www.realmatch.com (matches you to jobs)
I see 75K, 100K and 150K jobs. There are jobs if you know where to look.
Posted by: Jennifer | 09/29/2008 at 05:58 PM