a quick thought on the economy

'spend!' says the liberal.

'cut taxes!' says the conservative.

'what happened to my job?' says more than 10% of Michigan.

there has been a lot of chatter on what is the right or wrong way to fix the economy. like its a sputtering engine. while an engine is complex, the economy is like a million of them that have to work together. they dont have to be in perfect unison, but if 10% of the cars on the road stop, the rest of us are going to have trouble getting to our destinations and some more will run out of gas on the way. so the real question is how to fix a million sputtering engines so that the roads arent littered with lemons.

as i have debated various virtues of spending and taxing and tax cuts and social welfare programs and mortgage relief and bank failures and auto bailouts and wallaby overpopulation i have come to a conclusion, and as a blogger with no credentials, experience, or pertinent education on the topic, i think i need to tell the world, well, maybe just the US for now, what to do.

first, keep up the individual level social benefits. its important that we dont let more of our citizens fall into poverty where they will be a constant drain on the system. you would want it if it was you. but there has to be an end, you cant support people forever. second, dont dump bailout money into a sinking businesses. as much as i root for the big three and against the banks, let the ones that should fail, save the ones that are viable. dont throw good money after bad. third, fix health care. that shit is too expensive. i think part of it is that people cant really shop around for the right service at the right price. you go to the primary care physician that your insurance company tells you to, then to the specialists that he tells you to. that is if you even have coverage and can take care of your health properly. all that will take the burden off of business and consumers relieving stress and the cost. finally, temporarily eliminate or drastically reduce business and capital gains taxes and quit taxing money twice. think of the spending power that would be generated if the tax burden of businesses was half what it is. think of all the capital improvements they could make, all the people they could hire without needing more money. finally, the government needs to get this stimulus money stimulating. get that money moving. when businesses cant spend, the government needs to.

once all these things kick in, and the economy starts humming along again, you wind the taxes back up to replenish the deficit and combat inflation, and cut back on government spending. in the end, youve eliminated bad corporations, strengthened the remaining ones, boosted business in general, and created a health care system that works at a reasonable cost. so there you go congress and president Obama. now get on this shit ASAP, the traffic is getting thick and i only at have a 1/4 of a tank.