Fix the economy

[bben46]

I did not write this, it is from an email I received

 

This  is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times Florida, US Newspaper on Sunday, May 10th 2009

 

The  Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"

 

I  think this guy nailed it!

 

 

Dear  Mr. President,

 

Please find below my  suggestion for fixing America 's economy.   Instead

of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money

on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following  plan.  You can

call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

 

There are  about 40 million people over 50 in the work  force.  - Pay them

$1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

 

1)  They MUST retire.  Forty million job openings -  Unemployment fixed.

 

2) They MUST buy a  new American CAR.  Forty million cars ordered -  Auto

  Industry fixed.

 

 

3) They  MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage -  Housing

  Crisis fixed.

 

It  can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If  more money is needed, have all members in Congress and their

constituents pay their taxes...

 

If you think this would work,  please forward to everyone you know.

 

If not, please disregard

[exanimis]

That sounds like a great idea but since the people in congress will vote on this, I doubt they would vote to pay taxes themselves.

 

Not to start a religious debate but the ancient Jews had a system where once every seven years, all debts were forgiven. That system wouldn't work in today's economy but what if every debt you owe, that you have paid over half of, were suddenly gone? What would you do with the extra cash? Buy a house? Buy a car? Put in a pool? Sales would go through the roof.

[AzirAphale001]

That would probably work. But the exchange rate could muck it up a bit.

1 million dollars is 0.654921737 million pounds.

It doesn't quite have the same ring to it...

[antonkr]

good idea but shouldn't it be in debate section?

[bben46]

@antonkr I wasn't putting it up as a debate topic, just as something interesting I found. However, If people do start debating, Not a bad idea, I can move it.

Maybe we can do something the congress seems incapable of - Rational Thought.

 

Here is my own take on it

 

1 million each for the 40 million people over 50 that are in the workforce. ( I don't know where he got that number or if it is accurate) That comes to $40 trillion, a steep price. However if the purpose is to get older workers to retire and make jobs for the next generation, We could probably adjust the age upward some - Do we need 40 million new jobs? How about making the cut off 60 instead? For argument sake we will say that cuts the number to 20 million, still 20 trillion, closer to what projections of the actual cost of the bailout is already. Then maybe not 1 million each, but $500,000 each, that cuts it in half again 10 million. Based on what we are giving to the big corporations to support the lifestyles of the wealthy already, it's starting to sound reasonable. I would settle for that, $500,000 buy a house & new car, plus spend more to furnish the house & do some traveling. (And yes, I am over 60 so I would qualify)

[dezdimona]

that guy needs to be our President!

[Blacksnake89]

@antonkr I wasn't putting it up as a debate topic, just as something interesting I found. However, If people do start debating, Not a bad idea, I can move it.

Maybe we can do something the congress seems incapable of - Rational Thought.

 

Here is my own take on it

 

1 million each for the 40 million people over 50 that are in the workforce. ( I don't know where he got that number or if it is accurate) That comes to $40 trillion, a steep price. However if the purpose is to get older workers to retire and make jobs for the next generation, We could probably adjust the age upward some - Do we need 40 million new jobs? How about making the cut off 60 instead? For argument sake we will say that cuts the number to 20 million, still 20 trillion, closer to what projections of the actual cost of the bailout is already. Then maybe not 1 million each, but $500,000 each, that cuts it in half again 10 million. Based on what we are giving to the big corporations to support the lifestyles of the wealthy already, it's starting to sound reasonable. I would settle for that, $500,000 buy a house & new car, plus spend more to furnish the house & do some traveling. (And yes, I am over 60 so I would qualify)

Aha so you just like the idea because you'd make bookoo bucks out of the deal. So now your true face shows. Lol just playin'. I thought politics wheren't supposed to be discussed on the forums though? Granted I've seen a lot of it in the debate section so maybe I was wrong.

 

In all honesty that does seem like a smart idea but there's a problem with it. It was about 8 years ago but I read that on average our government makes about 3-5 trillion dollars. So if we did this it would put us in a decent sized dept that in theory will take 4-6 years to recover from. although the $500,000 idea could help. There's always the arguement that we could just print up the money. Well the problem with printing money that we haven't as a country actually earned depreciates the value of what we have.

[bben46]

We are not discussing politics, we are discussing economics.

 

And the current bail out is costing well into the trillions already. To paraphrase the late Everitt Dirksen, a politician, a trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon we're talking about real money.

 

By inserting money at the bottom of the economy it multiplies it's effect as it rises to the top. Give a poor man a hundred dollars and he spends it all, passing it on to grocers, landlords and such. Then the grocers and landlords spend that same hundred paying suppliers, farmers, clerks etc, and that layer spends the same hundred on the next layer, by the time it reaches the top level, that first hundred has been spent 20 to 30 times. Thus multiplying its effect on the economy. Each layer benefits from the same hundred, so the effect is if it moves through 10 layers, that $100 has the economic effect of $1000

 

Even the taxes taken out at each level keep moving through the system as they are used to pay the bureaucrats who use it to support their families.

[antonkr]

We are not discussing politics, we are discussing economics.

 

And the current bail out is costing well into the trillions already. To paraphrase the late Everitt Dirksen, a politician, a trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon we're talking about real money.

 

By inserting money at the bottom of the economy it multiplies it's effect as it rises to the top. Give a poor man a hundred dollars and he spends it all, passing it on to grocers, landlords and such. Then the grocers and landlords spend that same hundred paying suppliers, farmers, clerks etc, and that layer spends the same hundred on the next layer, by the time it reaches the top level, that first hundred has been spent 20 to 30 times. Thus multiplying its effect on the economy. Each layer benefits from the same hundred, so the effect is if it moves through 10 layers, that $100 has the economic effect of $1000

 

Even the taxes taken out at each level keep moving through the system as they are used to pay the bureaucrats who use it to support their families.

umm isnt that the same thing?

[Vagrant0]

2 words. Giant Robots.

 

First, it would be a massive boon to every engineering and manufacturing sector since it would be a major undertaking for any country that might be capable of supporting it.

 

Second, once built, those robots would have to fight each other in a tiered tournament structure, which would create revenue for other companies who would sponsor it, broadcast it, and provide entertainment for all to help get us over this depression gloom.

 

Third, due to the resulting collateral damage from said fights, construction crews would need to be employed around the clock, housing prices would go back up as whole towns get destroyed, and scarcity would become less of a problem in other places since there would be countless people killed as a result.

 

Fourth, it would just be cool.