An out cry for change and only this govt can make a difference. bec we have a smart and sensible president. We need a smart & intelligible leader to change this course, who but you Mr.President Obama?
Social security: I often wondered in the two decades I have worked & contributed to this plan called "Social Security", If we call our selves capitalist why are we in a govt prog to save for our future. I can understand a 401k, pension, provident fund etc. but why Social Security, sounds so Russian. The govt is in no better position than any other investor who has lost money in the stock market, bonds etc. Like any other citizen who is in deep waters with their investments, so is the govt today. The trouble has been brewing for quite some years. Perhaps Social Security money has been used for war... Well the glitter of the up market is done with, the invested money ....gone. The Social Security system was truly created for one to invest and to realize its benefits in ones retirement. As time went by Social Security money was being paid by one and was being realized by senior retires, bec their money was spent by the govt. Today my question is why should we invest Social Security money knowing for sure we are not going to see any in another 10yrs. not 2037, I feel this money will be depleted by 2016, at the rate at which we are spending. It wasn't in Economic Times but Vanity Fair had published awareness figures like $14 billion per month spent on Iraq war & $5 Trillion was our deficit in the year 2007. That was an alarm we should have woken up to.Today our deficit is growing $9.6 trillion and ticking.
The govt is making small changes with hope the economy will turn around. It may well turn around, but not too long and too strong. We have to stop the unemployment rate from increasing and work towards creating long term permanent employment. This is only the result of what actions we took for an easy way out to make money, by shipping out our manufacturing to China & other countries, 20 yrs back. Then slowly many sectors were being totally outsourced: Petroleum, steel, technical services, our admin call centers, research, development, technology, production of agriculture,storage of vital information,even our pay roll, automobile we drive, furniture we sit on, clothes we wear, to the souvenirs of this country we treasure and the food we eat. 20 years later,today the result a whole generation is hurt, financially and educationally, A rich country, today much depleted of everything only because of our unwise decisions & reckless spending.20 yrs back no one realized the impact all that would have on a generation of American kids & us today.
The recession we are facing is only the preliminary impact we are experiencing today. How did one think we can have employment & education here and it will survive, if we are paying overseas for all our goods and services. We were for the past decade, surviving on other countries excess dollar invested in this country & merely trading foreign goods, strengthening others economy. The inevitable happened, no circulation of healthy dollar with in the country which led for the longest time to the weakest dollar and the greed artificially elevated inflation. The result economic and fiscal implosion. I am reminded & forced to compare of the first Krakatau's Prelude the largest eruptions in historic times. A mere warning, the real stupendous paroxysmal eruption, a series of cataclysmic explosions happened few months later, it collapsed the island beneath the sea.Just the same the biggest economic explosion is yet to come if we do not change our course or ways, if not it will spell devastation.
Suggestions :
1)Social Security: Effective 2010 Jan 1st, discontinue the prog of Social Security, if you have the interest of the future American generation at heart.a)People who have paid into the prog so far see if it can be paid in some small way, with the premium put away, a plan similar to pension.b)The govt should not touch the money for war or any other govt purpose.c)The prog should be discontinued if the govt can not find a way to do justice to serve the people. Why have a prog which is going to be a failure.
2) Cut budgets on war: If the federal is spending 60cents to a $1, we need to wake up. This country is spending beyond its limits. Osama Bin Laden is one man, has he drained the treasury of this huge and the most powerful country on earth. Is he successful or are we not doing the right thing? The republicans sold Ice cubes to the Eskimos, made Americans believe there was weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for 2 terms. At what cost did we terminate Saddam? I thought the target was Osama. Are the Democrats unable to sell a Ulu to the Eskimos?History does repeat itself, In 1960, did France not demand for payment of its debt in gold rather than its dollar.( when America had unwisely printed money for the Vietnam war & to fund its social prog's) 40yrs later we have not learned our lesson a wrong war in Iraq and a drained economy with weak dollar. Lets not drag it to Afghanistan. Send a special force to finish him(Osama). No need for a war , we do not have the resources, that's a fact.
3)Employment: We have to bring our jobs back to this country. Until then there is no moksha for USA. The CARS for clunkers is a great prog. but a very short term plan. Let us have effective 5years & 10 years plans.a) Bring back manufacturing to this country (composition by sector-Industries GDP is 19.6% 2008est), give incentives for manufactures in this country.We are aware dept. of commerce is putting tariff on smaller industries on various products, not sufficient lets focus on the largest Industry a $500Billion Automobile Industry.Lets reestablish & revive the American automobile brand & production Industry.b)Foreign car companies can export parts and raw materials to USA- but not fully completed cars. Why should we have a Japanese made cars "Toyota" leading in car sales in this country, whose economy are we pampering? why are we proud of it? It's time we begin assembly lines not only for American made cars but also foreign brand cars. Cost of foreign cars will also rise due to domestic productions, The money is in circulation within the country, creation of jobs which will reduce the unemployment growth and this will increase the purchase of power of individuals. c)America has to wake up to support local industries and manufacturing units so any automobile imported in finished product form, the tax imposed is heavy and costly-make it 380% now people will have to buy local cars & the money will be in circulation with in the country.
4)Vital Jobs: Bring back research & development & call centers back, that's our only salvation. Our countries unemployment rate is 9.7% and the fact is 17.8% are below poverty level (54.2million people)(Source:US bureau of labor statistics), Creation of jobs, a way to stabilize & retain a well balanced & sound economy. It will take time to grow but the next generation will be thankful for the change of our actions.
5)Technology:
a)Minimum wage is not an issue here esp in IT industry, because an average employee in an information technology industry makes $50k to $60k if employed in this country, be it an American resident or an individual from another country with work permit and when outsourced from other countries its about $20k to $30k.
b)The next question arises, what %age of computer lit people are available in this country. Well my question is what %age of computer lit are unemployed in this country. Well We got to give first preference to Citizens & Permanent Residents, this will certainly reduce in the incoming employees on work permit.
c)Tax, out sourcing of IT Industry after all IT is a great %age of the service industry which is 79.2% (2008est GDP). The treasury department could find a huge gold mine considering IT industry represents a higher %age of the service industry segment.
6)Money: Track American money invested in other tax heaven countries & bust them, Good job on the UBS Zurich based, Swiss bank. Well that was possible because they made the mistake of opening their banks on the US soil(UBS Bank USA) . Way to go Mr.President. I think its time to put sanctions on tax haven countries, who are helping people launder money & avoid taxes, countries such as Switzerland.
7)Education:Shutting schools & reducing budget on education, Increasing school tuition is not the way to go. we are just making our next mistake which is going to reflect 20yrs from now. In October 2000, some 3.8 million young adults were not enrolled in a high school program and had not completed high school. These youths accounted for 10.9 percent of the 34.6 million, 16- through 24-year-olds in the United States in 2000. This is the status drop out rates over the last decade, between 347,000 and 544,000 10th- through 12th-grade students left school each year without successfully completing a high school program. In the year 2008 it was 1.2 million.
If the United States‘s likely dropouts from the Class of 2006 had graduated, the nation could have saved more than $17 billion in Medicaid and expenditures for uninsured health care over the course of those young people‘s lifetimes.
Increasing the graduation rate and college matriculation of male students in the United States by just 5 percent could lead to combined savings and revenue of almost $8 billion each year by reducing crime-related costs.(Source:National Center for Education Statistics (NCES))
The country has not seen a straight forward, honest & sincere President as you, since Abraham Lincoln. Mr.Clinton was a true gift to this country, We need more than one good President.Time for some real action, Change is powerful, more so if its for the better.The real solid growth in any economy is manufacturing, it is the life line of any country. Let us not worry about high cost of labor in this country, when you make the other alternative of import difficult by raising taxes then automatically our cost is of no issue. It is time to be self sufficient and reliable on our selves. I would love to see good ole "Made in USA"!
