A Solution to the Unemployment Crisis

Raise your hand if you're tired of hearing about all this doom and gloom with the economy... Yeah. Me too. Of course that's easy for me to feel since I'm one of the fortunate ones who still have a steady income. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the national unemployment is at 9.7 percent (from January into February).

That's pretty darn high.

I started thinking of the people that I know personally who are unemployed who are relying on their unemployment checks for survival. One person I know doesn't want to take a job that will earn him less than what he takes in on unemployment.

Eventually, the unemployment funds will run out, and I'm sure he'll then change his mind.

While I've been keeping up with the joblessness and doing my homework about keeping my own finances in check, I got this BRILLIANT fantastical idea (I thought).

What if everyone who was currently unemployed created their own businesses?

I grazed this idea by my boyfriend (because he's the KING-OF-What-Ifs), and he reminded me of the rate of business failures. According to many sources, 90% of business fail within the first 10 years (although, according to GlobalBX.com that stat may be inaccurate).

People don't know how to write business proposals or create business plans, he told me. But I insisted that formal proposals weren't necessary and that anyone could learn to write either. All they had to do was visit their local library.

Then he says to me, "What society do you live in!"

It's a fantasy, man! I couldn't help but laugh. I know every unemployed person is not going to muster up enough courage and discipline to create and maintain their own business models. But I did point out that those pulling their income from multi-level marketing ventures don't need business plans but can still operate as though the business is theirs. It's still self-employment. Right? Well not quite.

The banter went back and forth. No clear winner - but I still think the idea is a wonderful one.

Just think of what a movement like that would do to the unemployment rate... and the morale of the American people. After all, isn't it better to be proactive and create your own opportunities than to send out your resume and hope it stands out from the mountainous stack of other hopefuls and someone picks it up and likes it?

As by boyfriend said, "It's fun to think about."