My own stimulus long and short

There may not be much on the short term to fix a lot of things in our country. We have seen years of neglect on our country and its policies. Some of what I will say will sound repetitive, but at least it takes a little of the democrats and the republicans. I could have a stimulus of around 300 billion dollars.

It must be understood that Obama (or for that matter any president) is trapped in a corner. We have had 8 years of tax cuts and we are back into a recession. The tax cuts for 8 years is spent and it is borrowed money creating deficits. We have had a war that has cost us 800 billion dollars and will cost more-depriving our economy. We have a financial crisis with banks and housing. The democrats, republicans, and Alan Greenspan fictitiously targeted the housing sector. They ignored the real problem of free trade and globalization. It was Bush for years saying "free trade is good" but ignored the factories closing. It was the nerds on Wall Street and in Washington that said we are going to be an information society. Well, I don't know that that means in the Midwest. We are losing jobs and the middle class. And for some reason Republicans still do not understand why they lost the election. "It is the economy stupid." Obama has also been given deficits and debt and not a surplus inherited from Clinton and Gingrich. And add to that, little in investment for the future.

Bush did the old "guns and butter" trick. LBJ did this with the Vietnam War and his Great Society programs. LBJ had the fed print the money and you had 20 years of inflation, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment. Bush has done the same with borrowed money (deficits) for his tax cuts, his war, never cut spending, and added that donut to Medicare. The deficits and debt was ignored and in fact Cheney had said "deficits don't matter." So we know what they were up to. And you hardly heard a word from Limbaugh or Hannity. 

The other problem is that after 8 years of tax cuts and being back into a recession and with our jobs going overseas. You have to wonder what tax cuts will do with creating jobs. How much more can you cut taxes after 8 years of stimulus. Certainly spending needs to be cut, but we have to add new spending to stimulate somewhere and we are not out of war. If 8 years of tax cuts did not prevent a recession, just how is it going to get us out of recession. And what jobs can be produced here that China cannot do?

Another problem is that the fed has lowered interest rates to their lowest. They have no more to give. It may work if we can find a bottom to the financial crisis. Also you will have to worry about inflation in outlying years.

In short, the tax cuts have been overdone and are less effective. The Fed has done all it can do to stimulate.

Globalization (putting aside our financial crisis) is the single most challenging economic problem we face. We cannot compete with third world wages. And we cannot compete with 1 billion Chinese and 1 billion Indians. We see today the loss of jobs, wages, healthcare, and pensions. And cities and states are going broke as industry leaves. South Korea has a battery plant for cars. I do believe Michigan is going to build one. China is building the largest nanotechnology plant in the world with federal dollars. China is teaching english to its kids. Mexico says it will teach all students english. In Hungary, you cannot go to college unless you know english. We and our jobs are being targeted and we have done nothing. You cannot live on tax cuts alone.

1. I would not have a middle class tax cut. This is the same old idea of what we have had for 8 years. And that is to borrow money from other countries and give it to our people to stimulate the economy. It didn't work last year, and I doubt if it will do anything this time. The stores are full of Chinese goods, so spending money on them will not help us out much. It seems like the republicans like tax cuts but they do little else. I suppose they don't believe in government planning. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that we need to cut spending, and to invest in the future. And if government planning is verboten by the republicans, then you have to wonder why they had neocons trying to manipulate the Mideast with a Wolfowitz doctrine. 

On financial concerns I would not be for a middle class tax cut. On political terms, we in the middle do deserve a middle class tax cuts after the imbalance of tax cuts of the last 8 years and the loss of jobs.

2. I would cut the corporate tax rate for all businesses that stay inside the country.

3. I would have infrastructure spending, but we don't need a bridge to nowhere. Having said that though, the American Society of Engineers think the cost to our infrastructure, aviation, etc., will cost 2.2 trillion dollars.

4. I am for anything for energy independence as long as it makes sense and is cost effective. I think the projection is to have 30 nuclear plants beyond the 100 sum we have today. Sounds good to me. I am for all offshore drilling and drilling in ANWR. However, the consequence of this is to get royalties to pay for alternative energy. There also may have to be a price set at the pump to stop the highs and lows in energy prices. We cannot control the market, but the price can be set at the pump. This would prevent the whipsaw for the auto manufacturers in building small and large cars. All royalties and all monies should go to alternative fuel, research and development.

China is building a car that gets 63 miles to a charge at a reasonable price. We don't have that and we are losing in the competition area. 14 U.S. technology companies want 1 billion dollars to create a new battery. I think that is money well worth spent.

I think Boone Pickens has the right idea for natural gas for heavy duty trucks and we use 20% of imported oil for that. 

We can also find an alternative source of fuel for the airlines and make them more profitable. We can also upgrade the air traffic control system so that more airlines can fly and more directly. And this helps the tourist industry. This would make the airlines more profitable and they can buy new aircraft as the U.S. airlines have some of the oldest aircraft in the world.

5. I am for mandatory vocational training. We are losing our manufacturing and you can no longer rely on manufacturing for a job. This is talked about by the Hudson Institute. We need an educated society. If we don't we lose. By the time a student is a junior, with the help of a school counselor, that student should pick or have knowledge on 2 vocations.

6. I am for embryonic stem cell research. Singapore is pouring money into this research and they are taking away some of our scientists. Bush banned or vetoed the government funding for this research which was done previously by the NIH. We need to compete in the world. We cannot have religion dictating science. And this gets to another point for those that do not like government planning. We saw how a social conservative runs a country. And a social conservative, I do not believe, cannot make the right decisions. Because religion will make the judgement and not pragmatism. And this is just as much goes to those on the environmental side on those on the left, who are against nuclear or for drilling for oil. We need to do the best we can do make our country better, independent, and more secure.

7. I am for all innovation, research, and development. You have to make new materials to replace and create new jobs. Sitting here and watching the flowers grow with laissez-faire makes no sense. The tax cuts alone will not solve this problem. You will need alliances with government and industry. The government can provide the money and the industry the expertise. We have cooperation with NASA, the military, and the NIH. New materials and medicines are created and we have to be the best at it. We need new energies, new medicines, and new materials. 

8. All government programs need to be looked at and worked on. Medicare is the hardest area to work on as it involves individuals, insurance, doctors, and hospitals. Social Security is just a matter of tinkering with the numbers.

We will all have to feel the pain if you want to reduce the deficit. That means no F-22's. I hate saying that, because it is jobs. Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex. Also we should fix what we have instead of building some other boondoggle. The B52's are 50 years old and will need replacement. 

If you want to cut spending, then spending has to be cut in the military as well as the social programs. 

9. We know 3 things that will happen. One is an attack on our soil, perhaps every 50 years. Another is a depression every 80 years or so. Another is pandemics every 50 years or so. We need to keep our country safe. Not only from enemies, but also from unknowns like superbugs, the loss of honeybees, and the Avian flu in which you could have one more jump from human to human contact that will be a pandemic. 

You have to be forward thinking and think outside the box. And that means dropping welfare policies by the democrats and dropping laissez-faire by the republicans.