America needs an economic strategy, and we need it now

Why America needs an economic strategy

The article above is a really interesting article giving a broad and objective view of America’s strengths and weaknesses in the economy. Sure, patriotism is good, but is pragmatic soul searching. I thought the article a little too broad and never really nailed down the problem (governments lack of a strategy) but I thought it was worth posting anyway.

The best two lines were:

“Republicans keep repeating simplistic free-market thinking, even though the absence of all regulation makes no sense….
[Democrats] seem to think social progress can be achieved only at the expense of business.”

Now, to the above article I would like to add emphasis to the problem and some suggested solutions.

Barrack, for all the browbeating over socialism, is presenting America an economic strategy that basically increases the top marginal tax rate 4.6% and adds an as-of-yet unrevealed percent increase for payroll while giving tax relief to the middle class.

With respect, that’s not a strategy. That’s a happy notion that gets people to vote for you. It’s a free goat. Now the ‘bubble up’ theory might work, might not, but it’s such a small change it won’t do enough one way or the other. The only part of his economic plan that might make a dent is his 15 billion on energy. But again, after throwing 700 billion at a problem last month, 15 is just chump change. And why over 10 years? Can we spend that 150 in 5 years? How about 2 years?

McCain’s is a little better. Dropping the corporate tax code (though he spends too time talking about the issue because Ayers soooo much more important) would actually help America compete on the global market. The lower the corporate tax, the cheaper our stuff is around the globe, the more money we bring in from those countries, and the more jobs we add. A little better though, isn’t enough.

But, as I said, McCain barely discusses this. Though McCain could have won this thing easy by arguing the policies, he chose to go the route of the grumpy old guy yelling at the kids in the street. “Oooh, the people you kids are hanging around with! Why back in my day…” *shakes head sadly*

We are facing at least 43 Trillion in Debt and we really gotta kick-start this economy into high gear. There have to be large-scale programs/policy changes to get people working and earning good wages so we can increase tax revenue.

- We need to fix the tax code first and foremost. We really need to consider a flat tax or the FairTax as the central part of a new economic strategy.
– We really need to start viewing illegal immigrants as a valuable asset. With so many older people retiring, we need as many people willing and able to work to pay into payroll taxes.
– We need to get really serious about education reform and we need to get serious yesterday. And throwing more money at education isn’t the solution, we already pay more than anyone else.
– We need to find a way to cut non-investment costs from our budget, every dollar wasted is a dollar we can’t invest in a high school graduate.
– We have the money, for now. How about we throw 150 billion at energy problems this year and create an american industry of nuclear, clean coal or CNG, wind and solar that will replace the imports from the middle east? We send 500 billion a year to other countries. If we spent 150 billion and was able to keep half of that 500 in the country, the investment would for itself less than a year after completion.

We spend 10 billion a month in Iraq. Whoever wins should spend at least that making big changes over here to move us into a strategically superior position.

~ by centristextremist on November 2, 2008.