One should not complain unless they can offer solutions. This is one principle I try to live by. I will admit that I’ve done a lot of complaining. I am very frightened with what I am witnessing. I am seeing a blitzkrieg by the President. Without a doubt, he is using this crisis, and some say he has intentionally worsened the crisis, so that he could push through, let us say, the New Deal II or the Great Society II. I firmly believe this because of his associations. You know those annoying little associations that his supports dismissed. Since it is too late, and the progressive liberals now have control of the government, we can only dream.
The economy is huge, massive, and complex, but regardless of its size and scope, it runs on certain undeniable basic principles. It is very simple; you need people to buy things. These things can range from clothing items, to brand new houses. As well, this just doesn’t apply to Americans, after all, something like 40% of our economy relies on exports.
The housing market collapse is what ended this last wild ride. In the nineties, the dot com collapse pushed us into a recession. Since the creation of the U.S. there has been a total of 17 recessions, lasting a total of 84 years, not counting the current one, with the average recession lasting almost five years from start to finish.
The reasons for some of these recessions are broad and range from the deflation of the Bank of England, embargo’s by the U.S., foreclosures and bank failures, lack of confidence in U.S. currency, bad speculations, a failure of a railroad, to OPEC quadrupling the price of oil in the 70s. Out of all of these recessions, some of which spanned the world, there was only one great depression.
There are two choices facing us. We can either embrace socialism wholeheartedly, or Capitalism. I would invite you to tour Europe if you prefer socialism, but not as a tourist rather as a buyer. You are after all about to invest everything into the single biggest purchase of a lifetime, not only for yourself, but also for everyone in the nation. Do not be so hasty to jump over the fence because the grass looks greener.
As for capitalism, I would suggest cutting capital gains to zero for five years. I would also suggest cutting dividend taxes and business taxes for the next three years. I would suggest cutting FICA in half for three years for both businesses and employees. Furthermore, I would suggest tax credits for companies that hire new employees, and or expand their business.
I would suggest a first time homebuyer’s down payment assistance program. Money needs to be up front. Under the current administrations rules, a person needs to have the down payment and only after the purchase of a home, can they file an amendment to their previous taxes to receive a credit back.
I would create a program that allowed and encouraged banks to put a moratorium on foreclosures for at least two years. Furthermore, I would have the FHA create lending programs to assist in the rewriting of mortgages regardless of how late the owners are, or the actual value of the property. These loans would be written at a lower interest rate and over 30-50 years depending on individual circumstances.
I would encourage state, county and city governments to follow suit, and lower taxes on businesses, and to create free enterprise zones to help attract businesses back into their areas. An example of doing the opposite is Multnomah County in Oregon. They have just instituted three new taxes on business within the county. They are already oppressive towards business and they have driven out many businesses into neighboring counties. Oregon has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation; one only needs to say TAXES, to understand why.
We need to free up trade so that our products can flow out and drive up the need to produce more. We need to drive up demand in the U.S. as well. Wall Street and Pennsylvania Ave are not going to magically spin up demand, which will lead to and need for supply.
Of course, we should implement some of Obama’s infrastructure plans, but his social engineering is worthless. Tax breaks that put $500 into a person’s hands isn’t going to work anymore than it did when Bush did it last year. We need a president that is speaking positive and not trying to feed us doom and gloom in order to push a social agenda. We need optimism, and right now, no one is giving it to us.
If Obama really cared about people, he would fix the economy first, and try to socialize America second, and only with the peoples support. Instead, it seems he is trying to use the crisis to socialize America first. In his mind, this will lead to a fix. After all, if the government is in control, the U.S. will not need businesses anymore. If the Government is paying for our homes, our food, our health care, it no longer has to rely on the free markets. This is communism at its core.
Commonsense, not communism
