This past Sunday, the St. Petersburg Times printed the answers they received when they posed this question to their readers: "What would you do to fix the economy?" The following was proposed by David Otterson of Largo, Florida. It's simplicity just blows me away.
Patriotic retirement: There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force … pay them $1 million apiece severance with these stipulations.
They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings — unemployment fixed.
They buy new American cars. Forty million cars ordered — auto industry fixed.
They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage — housing crisis fixed.
I'm dumbfounded.
Fulling a Lifelong Dreams is... Fulfilling!
9 years ago
How about they give every tax paying and working American over 18 years old about a million- to make the math easy. That's 280 million.
ReplyDeletePeople will pay their mortgages and invest(bank problem fixed)
People will spend(stimulate the economy, car, clothes, vacations, etc)
More spending by consumers, more jobs because they will need the workforce.
This is alot cheaper than that 480 billion they just gave to the banks :)
Editor's note: In February we published reader suggestions — serious and otherwise — for how to fix the economic crisis. This was one of them (not "the winner" as some message boards have suggested):
ReplyDelete"There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force … pay them $1 million apiece severance with stipulations. They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings — unemployment fixed. They buy new American cars. Forty million cars ordered — auto industry fixed. They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage — housing crisis fixed."
We didn't print that it would cost $4 trillion, or less than the bailout. But readers are right that this would cost $40 trillion — nearly three times the national gross domestic product and nearly four times the national debt. So, a fun idea? Sure, just like making pro athletes foot the bailout bill, investing in a national bullet train system or legalizing marijuana — all ideas our readers suggested. An effective one? Not at all. Of course, world leaders' ideas haven't been terribly effective yet, either.
It's not too late to share your ideas at www.tampabay.com/news/business/article973953.ece.