My Economic Stimulus Plan for America

First of all let me say that I am not an economist, financial wizard or an expert on fiscal responsibility. I am someone who tries to look at the world from a high perch to see what may need to be done in a particular situation.

For the past six months that Barack Obama has been our president, there has been widespread and heated debate on how to stimulate the economy and get industry moving again. At first glance the problem sounds and looks daunting but I believe there are some simple things that can be done internally to get our economy moving again without further borrowing ourselves into oblivion.

--Freeze Government Salaries and Wages For At Least One Year (maybe two)

There is no better way to cut government spending than to start with the ones who are doing the spending. Government employees to a large degree, make absurd amounts of money, with the exception probably being the president who in my estimation is underpaid at $400,000 a year.

Freezing government wages and salaries would provide money the could be better used to fund necessary programs like health care and education.

Congress should be included in this freeze especially for the fact that they are the only entity that I know of that can give themselves a raise. They vote to make it look like they thought about it for a while but I cannot recall them ever voting down a raise in my lifetime. Can You?

This next point should make you happy.

--Cap All Gasoline and Utility Pricing For One Year

In 2008 when gasoline rocketed up to $4 a gallon, petroleum companies were still turning record profits. The average American family was struggling to keep enough gas in the car and food on the table while oil executives were pulling in outrageous amounts of money.

What if the price of crude oil goes up? Too bad. Oil companies have already made enough money to take them into the next millennium. Let them take the hit next time, not the poor consumer who is battling to stay afloat.

Almost the same thing goes for utility companies. Natural gas and heating oil prices have gone through the roof. The average heating bill in the Midwest where I live is about $400 to $600 a month for a average sized home.

Utility and petroleum companies are quick to say that a lot of the money goes to "research" but my question is research what? I would think if the research was being applied, the prices would go down and the delivery would be more efficient.

The only benefit that I see to the research is that the petroleum and utility companies seem to be able to come up with new ways to further gouge the consumer.

--Ban Sales Tax For One Year On Items Less Than $750

Why $750? It's halfway between 500 and 1000. I thought 500 was too low and 1000 may have scared too many company executives and government types.

Sales tax is paid by you the consumer to the entity that you bought something from and they in turn pay this to the government which charges the tax. These funds are then used to fund various government projects and programs which are unknown to you the consumer who never qualifies to participate in or profit from.

It would seem to me, that money would again be better in the hands of the consumer to spend or save. The tax paid on an item costing $750 is about $51 based on our present tax scale of .068 per dollar. Without having to pay sales tax, that consumer now has $51 more than he would have paying sales tax.

What will the average consumer do with an extra $51? You guessed it spend it. Of course some would save it, but I would guess most would spend it on groceries, gas, dinner, or a pair of shoes. The point is they would spend it which is what the economy needs, people spending money.

Many states would cry foul saying the roads and the parks and all things known to man would cease to exist but the truth is, maybe if we took some money away from they for a year or so, maybe they would learn how to be more efficient with the money they already have.

--Freeze Property tax For One Year

Here again the government types are going to cry foul but the truth of the matter is property taxes in many communities kep going up and community services keep getting cut, so where is the money going anyway?

Many homeowners are getting creamed by property taxes. When you have to take a second mortgage out on your home to pay the property tax and the heating bills it's a sad state of affairs.

Again, maybe with less money to waste, the local governments would find a way to improve the efficiency and productivity of the government departments while putting much needed money back into the hands of the struggling consumer.

I know some of these proposals sound outlandish and maybe they are but I know that there are better answers to the problems we are facing in our economy than borrowing from China and other countries around the world.

America is in enough debt already. it's time we started figuring out how to solve our own problems without throwing them on the doorstep of the world.

America used to be the nation that lent to other countries. how did this thing get turned around?

We need to take a good hard look at what we are doing in this country and figure out how to get this ship righted within our own borders.

city-data.com
wikipedia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/graphics/2008stafflistsalary.html