With the ship of state taking multiple hits and listing badly it may be time to do a major overhaul. Having been hit buy several torpedos in quick succession the ship is floundering and needs repairs desperately. The housing market seems unable to recover. The truth is it will not recover as long as unemployment is out of control. The liberal unemployment payments are not helping and in the long run may be making the situation worse. The gaping hole from the war in Iraq may soon be sealed, however the bleeding of the economy by the Afghanistan war continues. There is talk of cutting programs and the size of government. This sounds good to many people, however this will only add to the unemployment problem. While downsizing the military may cut expenses in one area, it will raise them in another. As it will put more people on the unemployment rolls. This will not solve the problem it will only compound it and stretch it out over a longer time. Cutting social programs only increases the hardship on those who are already struggling to survive. The out of control student loans and collapsing infrastructure are just two more signs of the need for a major overhaul. It is time to put the Ship of State in drydock before it sinks.
So how do you put the ship of state in Drydock. The only way I see to do it is find a way to bypass the present system, but keep it working. They use that system all the time in construction. A temporary bridge is built to take traffic around a site. Then the regular bridge can be rebuilt without the interference of traffic. My plan provides a way to do that. While the temporary plan is in place Congress can focus on fixing the real problems in a real way. They can cut out all the loopholes, subsidies and other benefits that do not benefit each and every citizen. They can start by eliminating those that just benefit special interest of the wealthy and big business. Big oil for one does not need subsidies no matter how much they complain. Banks and businesses that can not stand on their own merit need to be allowed to disappear. If there is a demand it will be filled by a provider that is able to make a profit because of better practices. So I can not buy a Chevy. That is Chevy's fault. There will still be companies providing cars and they will be doing it at a profit.
Cutting benefits is not the answer. Yes we need to cut the debt, but there are other solutions. It is the obligation under the Constitution to provide for the welfare of the nation. That is where Congress has come up short. Article 1. Section 8, paragraph one, says it is the duty of the Congress to levy taxes and tariffs as needed and to raise a military to defend America while also providing for the welfare of the nation. What is welfare. From my readings of Paine, Franklin and Jefferson they did consider taking care of the old, retired and indigent a responsibility of the state. That being said when you provide welfare for your family you provide, not only shelter, but food, clothing, healthcare and security. These are the duties of a family and of a nation. While a certain Veteran Congressman is able to have seven homes and live high on the hog, while it is not illegal. It hardly seems right. Especially when his fellow veterans are sleeping on the streets because there are no jobs for them. From my experience in America. There are always jobs. Sometimes I have held three or four at one time to make ends meet. The problem is the jobs available do not pay enough for the work involved or require more training than many Americans have. Instead of allowing illegals to fill the menial jobs or documented foreigners to fill the better ones while letting many Americans do without. America needs a jobs oriented education system instead of one dedicated to sucking all the financial resoures of its victims while providing nothing in return.
So how do you accomplish this? I have a plan that does it right now. It is a plan that pays for itself and can be implemented immediately. It will not be popular but anyone who seriously looks at it can tell it will work. The old saying of "no pain, no gain" is true. However refusing to change and continue with politics as usual guarantees even more pain down the road.
My plan accomplishes several worthwhile and needed goals. It sets in motion a "paid for" plan to fix, repair and replace America's crumbling infrastructure. It creates jobs and stimulates business. Fixing the infrastructure requires not only laborers, it requires equipment, materials and cash flow that stimulates the economy. This creates payroll taxes that help the struggling economy. The final thing it does is reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It will encourage the American people to become a serious part of the world economy and to limit our waste and pollution. While also showing the world America is serious about dealing with our problems. A couple of my blog pages explain plans that could save America millions of gallons per day. Not by reducing our standard of living, but by maximizing the energy usage from the what we already consume. Electric cars may help, but they are not the total answer. If you drive long distances electric at present is not the answer. What do you do when you head out cross country and hit the middle of Kansas or Nebraska. You will be parked and have no where to plug in. There are viable alternatives that will work. In France a company builds an air powered car. Yes it runs on compressed air. It will run seventy miles per hour and go one hundred twenty miles on a tank of air. If air stations are built a car can refill its tanks in less than five minutes. Even doing it at home on your own compressor, which comes with the French car, takes less time and equivalent amount of energy to an electric car.
So how does this wonderful program work. This technically does not raise taxes, it creates a new one. For the Republi-can'ts who argue against tax increases. They had no problem doubling the national debt during the Bush Administration. However they did not provide a means to pay for it. It is time to step up to the plate and help solve the problem they created. That being said it is paid for in advance by a tax of $1.00 per gallon on gas. It is immediate. All it takes is being voted in and it can be implemented tomorrow. Based on America's present consumption average per state is about eight million two hundred and thirty two thousand gallons a day. That means the state immediately can pursue projects that are already going or ready to go. Over a year that would generate over three billion dollars for each state to use. The tax can be reduced later if it is doing the job it was designed to do. This tax will provide an incentive to buy more economical cars. This program eliminates a constantly recurring budget drain. This program creates a possibly permanent fund to constantly deal with the infrastructure problems. The tax collected in each state should stay in the state it is collected in. The Federal government other than creating the tax, should have no part in it or access to the funds. The Fed should only be allowed to make sure each state is using the money for what it is designated for. Fixing infrastructure. It should generate enough tax income that each state should be able to fund their own programs. This is a solution and it works now. Its does not take months or years. It will start stimulating the economy immediately.
This is definitely an outside the box program. The thing is it can work while giving Congress time to deal with the real problem which is the budget. The budget needs to be cut and cut drastically. The couple trillion the Congressional Super Committee is supposed to cut is just the tip of the iceberg. It will take cutting over 5.6 Trillion to balance the budget. With 1.2 billion per day paid in interest on the national debt we will be over 4.3 trillion more in debt than when we started the ten years period they are talking about. That is just in interest. That means we have accomplished absolutely nothing. It is time to get real and deal with the problems.
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