Introduction: Before you vote again It is November of 2011.

America is teetering on economic self destruction at the hands of a corrupt government that is controlled by politicians who seem to only care about lining their pockets, maintaining political power and look out for the moneyed interests that keep them in power. The economy is temporarily kept from implosion by running unsustainable federal deficits that keep enough people employed to put off the collapse, but bringing that collapse ever more unavoidable by the sheer weight of the debt. There are no other countries big enough to bail out America. Meanwhile America has the economic power if unleashed to create enough growth and wealth to offset these deficits and bring back economic health. However the longer and faster our government speeds our economy toward the cliff of no return, the more unlikely is any hope for the continuation of the American way of life in our lifetimes. I write this paper in hopes of waking up people who could make a difference, and to outline how despite all that is wrong in America, how easily these problems could be corrected. In effect our government has done almost everything wrong in guiding our economy, yet all of these mistakes could be reversed. Instead of heading for a cliff, our country could turn around and head for its greatest times. America has an incredible economic engine that has been bogged down with mismanagement and corruption. Americas economic engine still has time to be revved up and overcome the problems our government has created. In this paper I will avoid issues that I would love to weigh in on, but that are truly too complex or controversial to solve with any single quick fix. I am referring to issues that involve religious and other deeply held viewpoints (such as legalizing drugs, abortion, birth control etc.). I will stick to areas of change, what I will call fixes that clearly bring undeniable efficiencies to our economy and society regardless of someones political or religious affiliations. There could be better solutions than I will propose, but all of the solutions I propose clearly address the Big Picture that I shall outline. I could spend a lot more of my time and the readers time with complex numbers to make my points. Instead I wish to make this paper readable so that at a minimum a person who wishes to be an honest informed voter will be able to see some Big Picture solutions that all Americans could agree on and benefit from. All of the points I will make are really just common sense keep it simple stupid approaches. Below I will propose seven specific areas of changing how we do things in America. Each of the areas of change would demonstrably add five to fifteen percent to our national GDP. It isnt really important if any one of the things will actually add five or fifteen percent. It would take a book on each area of change to discuss the exact impacts and the unintended consequences that could occur. What is important is that each of these fixes will add dramatic improvements to our economy. If we do most or all of these fixes, the cumulative impact of unleashing American productivity could

unleash the greatest boom in Human History. Any one of these fixes would be enough to save America from economic collapse. Moving on all of them would guarantee American Economic Security and political/economic hegemony over the world for at least 100 years. America has gone through many booms that were unleashed by one or two technological changes. The 1990s were a great time for our economy, as America benefited from the fall of communism, no wars and technological commercial breakthroughs in communication and information processing. These events combined with fiscal responsibility put America in a strong position entering the twenty first century. Recent years have seen financial meltdowns along with taxation and regulation policies that have made it very difficult for our corporations and workers alike to compete in a global economy. Reckless financial mismanagement by our government in the last several years has put America on this present course where the interest on our debt alone will begin to grow beyond our ability to pay it. Before you vote again please read this paper and consider the fixes I will discuss. These fixes are not ideological they are simple common sense ideas that should be agreeable to any American that wants America to prosper. Once our country is financially strong and solvent we can deal with Social Justice issues that have been used to divide our attention from these really big issues. This shouldnt be hard to understand if for the benefit of our childrens future we remove the blinders of our political ideologies that have led us to the precarious position we are in today. As I write this in November of 2011, we have had over 50 years of miraculous technological developments in medicine, communications, information, manufacturing, farming, in fact everything. The 1950s are generally considered to be some sort of golden age in American history. Everyone could find a job and provide for a family. Yet in the year 2011, we truly live in an age that would have been thought pure science fiction in the 1950s. We have gone to the moon, we have had communication and information technology revolutions as well as medical improvements that should have increased the standard of living of every American several times over. The fact that the perception is we were better off in the 1950s shows that something is clearly broken in America, and we need to fix what is broken. People commonly refer to the 1950s as a golden age a time when you could support a family on one income, mom could stay home and raise the kids, dad could easily find a job that paid the bills, provided health insurance and a pension. Of course the reality of this golden age was that the average home was small, had one black and white TV, a rug, a coffee table and a sofa. Also each family had one car, the health care consisted of the family doctor with his little black bag, and dads pension was nice but he probably died in his sixties. Today our poor people live longer than the rich people of the 1950s, and have cable TV, computers, cell phones, microwave ovens, X-boxes, VCRs, DVRs, dishwashers, washers and dryers and multiple cars. Yet we arent better off because our government has a deficit burden of over fifteen trillion ($200,000 of debt for every family of four). This debt is increasing at frightening speed and if interest rates go up before we fix our economy then our economy will

collapse because we wont be able to pay our debts. Perhaps our only choice will be to just default on all of our debt. We also arent better off because so many people cant find a good job. This is because of the global Job economy, where millions of jobs that used to be done in our country are now open for global competition. We should all be living after 50 years of progress at multiples of the standard of living we had in the 1950s. The reason this hasnt happened is because people dont look at the big picture, they are hung up and blinded by politicians on issues that simply arent the big picture. Before you vote again, please read on and focus on the big picture, and on simple fixes that can put America back on the path of greatness while providing an ever better standard of living for its citizens. Vote for candidates that will work towards these improvements and against candidates that will block this type of progress. If you have a chance to talk to policy makers let them know that you demand our government fix these problems. Dont be afraid to share these ideas and spread common sense. Let ideas and solutions overcome the darkness of our current political dogmas.

The Big Picture If I am going to write a chapter titled The Big Picture, I guess I need to provide a picture. The image below was the United Stated GDP distribution by sector in the year 2000. Looking at this pie chart, think about how many people actually work in things that contribute to making the pie bigger (this pie being our nations total gross output. It is what we all collectively produce to provide for our standard of living).

I am so tired of pundits on all sides of the political spectrum arguing about things that arent really the big picture. Tired of hearing all the lies, like we can tax our way out of these problems, or we can solve our problems by cutting spending, and on and on. To solve our problems we have to stop all this nonsense and focus on the root cause of our problems and work from there. We will never be able to deal with other issues important to people (Climate Change, Welfare, Social Security, Social Justice etc.) until we get our economic house in order. If we dont focus all of our national attention on averting a financial collapse from the mounting debt we will never have the ability to solve any other problems. Far too many people do not work in this country. We have tens of millions of unemployed. Millions who have just given up looking for work. Millions more who are underemployed. We have millions more that are just professional scammers of the system. There are millions more who work in the underground economy. There also are many tens of millions of workers that add ZERO value to our overall economy. So when you look at the pie chart above that reflects our economic output then you think about the millions upon millions of workers that do nothing to make that pie bigger then you finally start to get the big picture. We need to focus on how we get our people working to make that pie, or our nations total gross output, bigger. Below I will list specific fixes that will each put millions of people to work making that pie bigger. Once we realize the idea is to make the pie bigger, and get rid of the corruption that exists in our political system, we can then move on through our responsible government policy to discuss social justice issues. But first we need to recognize things that contribute to the greater good and things that are just a waste of resources. Some of these things are complicated to solve and some are simple. But first you have to understand the big picture. One of my favorite examples is toll roads. Now toll roads certainly

have their place. They make a lot of sense where you need to reduce the flow of traffic into a congested area for example. So tolls on bridges and tunnels into Manhattan serve to limit congestion and pollution of cars crowding into a very small area. However tolls on the Ohio Turnpike only serve to keep thousands of people from doing anything productive. The Ohio Turnpike is the only toll road in Ohio and accounts for far less than 1% of all roads in Ohio which are paid for by the gasoline tax and other federal and local taxes. Yet the Ohio Turnpike has a whole false economy that provides absolutely no benefit. In fact it adds costs to drivers transportation and extra fuel and wear and tear expense to drivers as they wait in the lines to get on and off the turnpike. Meanwhile all the turnpike toll workers and construction workers that build and maintain the turnpike infrastructure are basically employed in something that provides no advantages but only disadvantages to drivers that have to stop, lineup and pay the tolls. If toll roads were the efficient and best way to pay for roads, then shouldnt we make all roads toll roads? Of course just imagining how preposterous that would be and what an obstruction to commerce that would be helps one understand what a joke the Ohio Turnpike is. Basically we put up with it because it is the only road of its kind in Ohio so the harm it causes is minimized by the fact that there is only one of them. The Ohio Turnpike could have been paid for the same way all other roads in Ohio are paid for. Of course we wouldnt have this huge false economy that provides no benefit. But we need to understand how to look at things and realize when something adds to the greater good, or when something hurts the greater good at the benefit of a few profiting from it like the Ohio Turnpike. The Ohio Turnpike was just someones scam to create a false economy. It does not add to our collective economic output (the pie) but instead it subtracts from it. The only difference between that and building a casino is that at least a casino provides entertainment and is optional. So before I start with my proposed fixes one has to understand what the real Big Picture we must all focus on in this country. We must focus on things that make that pie bigger for everyone. Now what the pie consists of should always be determined by free market principles. The government should not decide what people want to spend their money on. But the government certainly needs to put things in place that help make that pie bigger. The Ohio Turnpike as an example makes the pie smaller because it engages people in doing things that provide no value. Here are examples of things that make our pie smaller: People who are capable of working but dont because they can scam the welfare system. People who cant find jobs but want to work and contribute. People who have no skills to add to the pie. A tax and regulation system that forces work to be done out of this country when it could be done in this country. Energy that is imported at an expensive cost when it could be produced within our own economy. Jobs that are exported that could be done with workers who are otherwise unemployed. Bureaucracies that dont do anything at all. The IRS (how is it that states and local governments can conduct tax collection without many millions of IRS employees, and tax accountants?). Healthcare paper pushers because of an inefficient government mandated system. Corporate paper pushers because of excessive government regulation.

Toll Roads that do not go through congested areas.

The fixes I will discuss would make our pie more than twice the size it is now. With many more people contributing to the much larger pie, most of the economic problems we face today in this country will go away. If we did all of the fixes below we could add 50 million workers in America doing things that make the pie bigger. If tens of millions of workers were paying taxes instead of just collecting benefits we make our debt a much smaller percentage of overall GDP. And this would avert the path towards economic collapse we are on (when interest rates rise and we cannot service our debt). The fixes that follow are all simple to understand and implement. Most people will instinctively disagree without thinking them through. This is because of the brainwashing of ideology and Political Correctness. Most people cannot think outside the box of their indoctrination. To quote George MacDonald, The two pillars of political correctness are: a) willful ignorance b) a steadfast refusal to face the truth. If you read on please try to keep an open mind and free yourself from the confines of your current ideology and Political Correctness.

Fix #1 HealthCare Before I get to the specific solution I recommend, there are 3 criteria that any health care reform must embrace (excluding Medicare and Medicaid at this time). These 3 criteria are simply imperative to overcome inefficiencies and corruption. 1. Health care must not be provided by employers. This is one of the great examples of unintended consequences. Employer-sponsored health insurance where health care was basically free resulted in fantastic advances in health care. However free health care meant that more and more was demanded and the costs went up and up. Then people started living much longer as a result and that really added to the costs. So those unintended benefits were great for 40 years, but now the results are crippling our economy and it is twenty years past time to move health care back to a market driven service. Employer-sponsored health insurance was made exempt from taxable income in 1954. The only reason employers provided it in the first place was because during World War 2 wages were frozen by the government but benefits werent, so companies started giving out benefits to attract workers. This is the single biggest thing that can be done to make American workers more globally cost competitive. 2. Market forces must drive innovation and not bureaucracies. HealthCare is now a huge part of our economy, approaching 20%. Much of that is just wasted because there is limited choice and competition as people are forced to take the health insurance provided by their companies because of the tax advantages which are not applicable if you were to go out and find your own health insurance. Further, it is estimated that 25% of the cost of healthcare is tied to the regulation paperwork and claims industry that works at cross purposes in trying to deny as many payments as possible, since patients have no choice in their options. Introduction of choice, competition and market efficiencies would save billions every year. 3. We must accept that while on one hand we want to subsidize and make health care available to all Americans, that on the other hand we cannot afford to MANDATE that everyone has the same level of health care. The poor simply cannot be expected to have all the most expensive current treatments as that level of health care will alone bankrupt our country simply because our great health care system is allowing people to live much longer than in the past. As life expectancies continue to grow, we cannot afford to spend a fortune on everyone to keep them alive. We must accept that there is a limit to what we can afford, and that we cannot mandate that everyone gets unlimited health care. The above 3 things must be incorporated into our health care system. The easiest way to do this would be the implementation of a system that does the following. Remove the Federal tax breaks for employers to provide healthcare, have no mandates on providing health care, and have all Americans buy their Healthcare on the open Market. These changes will open up competition and choice in the health care industry and bring about efficiencies and innovation. All citizens have their own FSA account that the government will take 2% of GDP and divide equally into all citizen FSA accounts. The FSA (Flexible Spending Account) would work the same as it does now, as a means to save tax free for health care expenses but

would carryover balances unused indefinitely. Each citizen would have their own FSA debit card that they could use for healthcare expenses or premiums. The government would deposit monthly into citizens FSAs from the collected taxes, and workers could add more out of their paychecks just as workers can today. The first bullet point will bring about efficiencies and innovation, but as a country we certainly understand that health care needs to be subsidized to a certain element and especially be available for children. Of course Medicaid still exists for children of the poor. At current GDP levels this would put about $1,000 a year into each citizen FSA account. So a family of 4 would have 4 FSAs they could use to purchase a family insurance account insuring whatever they wanted or use the FSA funds to cover out of pocket expenses. Workers would be able to add up to a reasonable yearly amount to their own FSAs Tax Free and balances could be carried forward. This national FSA plan allows competition and choice, equal access, and prevents corporations or governments from dictating what people purchase but instead gives people the freedom to choose. The biggest benefit from this would be to lower the cost of hiring workers without the cost and overhead of providing health care to their employees. This is Fix#1 to help bring millions of jobs back to America by making American workers more cost competitive with workers now doing jobs overseas that could be done in America. The millions of jobs created in turn would increase the tax base to pay for health care and other public expenses. Instead of a tax on workers, a portion of the corporate taxes would provide the money needed for healthcare contributions redistributed by government. So no Government bureaucracies telling you how to spend it mind you, just divvying up the money that will be the foundation of everyones health care funding. This would also allow innovation and cost savings in the health care marketplace as insurance companies would compete nationally to attract these FSA dollars and corporations (and government) wouldnt be able to dictate health care options. Folks of course would be allowed to add to their FSAs and to spend out of pocket as well as using the funds in their FSA. But this would also allow the non-working to have funds to pay for a basic no frills level of health care.

Fix #2 - Energy Energy used to be cheap. Thats why we started importing oil in the first place because it was cheaper than the oil we were creating domestically. We became addicted to cheap energy. Like any addiction to break it you must first realize you are addicted. Imported energy is not cheap now. Now we are importing something that is expensive that we could be producing in our country. Instead of exporting trillions of dollars of wealth we could be creating trillions of wealth. In addition to the lost capital our economy suffers from by importing oil is the immeasurable cost of being dependent on oil that largely comes from the Middle East. Some people are confused thinking much of our imported oil comes from Canada and Mexico. Oil is fungible, which in practice means every barrel we import is another barrel that must come out of the Middle East. On one hand we have to spend billions protecting the Persian Gulf and other oil lanes. On the other hand we send billions to the Middle East for oil that goes to the pockets of people who hate us, support terrorism and work towards the destruction of Israel. It is far past time to end this cycle. It is not even worth getting into environmental issues regarding oil. Those issues are dwarfed by these simple Big Picture facts: If America can generate its own energy, we can add trillions of dollars to our economy instead of sending trillions out of our economy. If America can generate its own energy, not only will we stop sending money for oil to people who hate us, but strategically we can deal with Middle East threats without worrying about cutting our own throats by driving up oil prices. Also we wont have to spend billions to protect the flow of oil from the Middle East. In fact if China and Europe want those oil lanes protected, they should pay us billions to do that for them. A long term energy plan can allow America to transform its economy to use very little oil and generate virtually all of its energy with renewable and nuclear energy. America needs 2 energy plans: A 5 year short term plan to provide energy independence though all means, still largely dependent on non renewable but at least non renewable American produced energy. A 30 year long term energy plan that will result in cheap energy without dependence on finite resources. At the end of this plan America will have in place cheap clean domestic energy to power the future economy of our children. The 5 year plan is needed because of the urgency to create American wealth to offset our debt problems. Currently we produce about 5.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) and import about 11.5 mbpd. We must increase our production by 5-6 mbpd and reduce our consumption by another 6 mbpd to the point where we dont import oil any longer. We cannot wait for a 30 year plan. Actually the five year plan allows for 6 years to generate all out nations energy needs. I call it a five year plan because within five years we will not need to import energy. The sixth year will be subsidized by drawing down 85% of the strategic oil reserve once we know that we are within a year from achieving energy independence. So in essence the six year plan which will achieve energy independence in 5 years means we have 6 years to double our domestic oil production while at the same time cutting our consumption by one third.

The five year plan will consist of: Adding 5-6 mbpd of domestic oil production by drilling for oil in every state that has oil, in the Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska, everywhere we need to go to reach the new production goals. Current oil prices will make this profitable for American drilling companies, but to make this happen will require relaxation on regulation and environmental concerns until the goals are reached. Environmentalists will have to accept this in exchange for the simultaneous 30 year plan that will eventually phase out most oil drilling. Our country has survived 100 years of oil exploration - it can survive another 30 years. Even if it means fast tracking pipeline approvals so that they can be completed in six years instead of what now often takes up to ten years. This part of the plan does not cost the government any money but will bring in billions of needed tax revenue from all the jobs and oil created. Need to reduce use of fuel oil in home heating by providing a generous tax credit over the next five years to help convert fuel oil home heating to another source (i.e. electric or propane) followed by a significant tax on fuel oil to incentivize these homeowners to convert. 20% of Commercial vehicles need to convert to CNG (natural gas) or electric within six years. This is already on track as low natural gas costs have led many long haul truck fleets to begin converting to CNG. Fleets had been waiting hoping for Congress to provide credits but CNG is so affordable that many fleets are moving on their own. The fact this isnt moving faster shows the impact that uncertainty plays in making business decisions. A small tax credit to move towards the goal of replacing 20% of Diesel fuel with CNG should be put in place mainly so that fleets that are waiting for these credits dont wait any longer. Non commercial vehicles need to be mandated to have a minimum AER (all electric range) of 12 miles (or alternatively CNG or Fuel Cell). This can be phased in. 10% of all non-commercial vehicles sold in 2014 with minimum 12 mile AER 20% of all non-commercial vehicles sold in 2015 with minimum 12 mile AER 60% of all non-commercial vehicles sold in 2016 with minimum 12 mile AER 80% of all non-commercial vehicles sold in 2017 with minimum 12 mile AER 90% of all non-commercial vehicles sold in 2018 with minimum 12 mile AER If we can now mandate air bags for the safety of the driver, we can mandate 12 mile AER for the sake of our economy and our environment. The 12 mile AER is achieved with a small battery such as is used by the 2012 Plug-In Prius. Of course vehicles can exceed this range, but having a minimum range on all vehicles will standardize the model of vehicles with a plug. This is important because not everyone lives in a house where overnight charging is simple. Apartments and work places in particular need to provide places to charge vehicles and this can be done without government intervention just by the customer demand so that people can plug their cars in. One of the positive impacts of electric cars, is that primarily they will be charged overnight using excess power capacity that currently is unused. This will lead to lower electric power costs for everyone. The thirty year plan has as its basis the above five year plan plus the following to create American energy independence with its foundation powered by renewable and nuclear energy. Remaining uses of oil after the thirty year plan could also be replaced by other fuels (bio-fuels, hydrogen etc.) but that would not have to be determined for many years.

Thirty year plan to build out the national power generation requirements where 40% of the capacity is renewable and 50% of the capacity is Nuclear. Most people dont realize that 14% of our electricity is already created by renewable, primarily Hydro and Wind Power. We can expand the current average of 5-10 GW of yearly Wind power construction to about 15 GW yearly over the next 30 years. Allowing the Wind Farms to be built in coastal areas where the wind is plentiful and the distance to the end users is minimal further increases the value of wind resources. Wind already is cost efficient, and the main reason it isnt being built out faster now is because we have enough capacity since our economy hasnt been growing. However over the next 30 years we must plan to replace existing power plants that use coal and natural gas with Wind and Nuclear. The distinguishing characteristic of renewable and Nuclear is that they are expensive up front but in the long run they pay for themselves because they dont burn fuel. Further Natural gas is very cheap now but we should phase it out in the generation of electricity and save the supply and keep the costs low because it will likely be used in Commercial transportation for the next 100 years. Also newer designs for Nuclear power plants are much safer and much more economical than the older ones. And the older ones havent had that bad of a track record. They have been safe and they generate 10% of our electricity today. But we do need to replace them with the newer safer more efficient designs that already exist. And we need to start building these plants by incentivizing the power industry to build them. This can be done by mandating the power industry to provide electricity by the following table and place heavy fines on it if the goals are not met: 16% renewable 10% Nuclear by 2015 20% renewable 10% Nuclear by 2020 25% renewable 15% Nuclear by 2025 30% renewable 20% Nuclear by 2035 35% renewable 30% Nuclear by 2040 40% renewable 50% Nuclear by 2045 Building the infrastructure to move the electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed.

Energy independence means many things. And if we can have Energy independence where the energy is not created by burning Fossil Fuels, we can create a wonderful future for our country with outcomes such as: No pollution from energy creation or transportation. No impact to Climate change. Economic Security as Energy is cheap and reliable, and all the wealth created by the Energy industry stays in our country. We no longer have to fight wars or even maintain 11 Aircraft carrier fleets to protect the flow of oil from the Middle East. We can certainly protect others oil if they want to pay us the cost for doing that. We no longer have to dance with the devil to insure our national security. Currently we have to balance living with threats to our security from terrorist nations like Iran, with rocking the boat with nations that provide our Energy. If we werent dependent on Middle East oil we could do surgical strikes on terrorists or consider any other move in our nations best interest without worrying about what might happen to our energy supplies.

Fix #3 - Tax Policy and Regulation Tax policy and regulation should be crafted to encourage companies to invest, build factories and hire workers in America. Certainly taxes need to be collected. Regulations need to exist and be enforced to deter criminal activities and to promote fairness and the general well being of all Americans. However taxes and regulations must be designed to incentivize American companies to build their plants and hire their workers in this country as long as they can find the workers here to fill those plants. The two pillars of crafting a tax policy are a) having low corporate taxes that will encourage companies to have their businesses and manufacturing in America b) the taxes we do assess should not discourage first looking to fill job openings with American workers. The key changes to tax policy should be: Get rid of the IRS. Note the Big Picture chapter. We dont need millions of workers to enforce tax laws or to assist taxpayers in their filing. We need millions of workers producing goods and services, making the pie larger, and paying taxes. Somehow States and localities manage to assess and collect simple and fair taxes without the immense overhead of the IRS. Herman Cain has it right in that the Federal Government can collect its monies with simple fair taxes in three areas (corporate, income, sales tax). The first area of federal taxation is the corporate tax. However it would be best if the corporate tax was a flat tax on a Corporations Revenues. This would vastly simplify enforcement and collection, and would also vastly reduce the cost of doing business in America. The tax would probably need to be about 5% of revenue. That would more than cover the cost of health care (Fix #1) and the contributions needed to replace employer share of payroll taxes. So what we accomplish here is making America an attractive country to run a business and hire employees. The second area of federal taxation would be a simple 3 tiered flat income tax. 10% of first $50,000 15% of the amount between $50,000 and $150,000 20% above $150,000 The third area of federal taxation would be a 5% consumption tax. Food and housing exempt. The existing employee payroll tax would also be eliminated (thats 7.65% saved for workers along with the employer share which will be covered by the other taxes). A national 5% inheritance tax is also reasonable on estates over $100,000. Anything more is just stealing. It is not right to ruin a family business and tax what has already been taxed. A small enough rate to not have an impact on family estate planning but a fair way to generate some revenue. Lower overall tax rates would more than be offset by the full employment and larger tax base combined with lesser need for unemployment and other social welfare. Also the federal government would be able to put 99% of revenues collected into the general fund instead of about 75% of what is now collected after all the expenditures spent maintaining the IRS. The national sales tax would be collected by the states along with their own sales taxes at no additional cost to

collect. The Corporate taxes actually would be higher for many companies (based on revenue instead of profits) but would more than be offset by not bearing the cost of accounting, legal fees, lobbying etc. (this is estimated at $300 billion now). And of course corporations wouldnt have to bear the cost of health care or the employer share of the payroll tax.

Fix # 4 Off Shoring We are in a global economy. This is really the most significant change that the writers of our constitution could never have foreseen. They could not have foreseen how someone sitting in India could do the job of someone sitting in Chicago. Because of this even proponents of very limited government must see that there are things our government has to do in tweaking our policies to make sure American workers are utilized in the most efficient way. This does not mean government should tax the rich and create worthless jobs to keep people busy. This means government needs to be smart enough to have policies that support American business, protect workers, and negotiate fair international trade deals. If we want American workers to have the best standard of living in the world, then by that definition American workers cannot possibly be as affordable as workers in a country with a very low standard of living. What our national policies must simply do is insure that our workers are being used in the most efficient way. We first do this with tax policy and energy policy as described above, to make American workers more competitive. The fixes described in this paper actually would create a demand for American workers greater than the supply. Part of the demand can be met over time (see Fix # 7 The Family and individual Responsibility) but certainly the reforms suggested in this paper will force companies to go overseas to find workers. Because of the global nature of the work force, our Federal government must continually revise their policies to make sure that American workers are being efficiently used. We certainly want our workers to fill higher paying jobs before they fill lower paying jobs. So industries that employ engineers and skilled workmen should be curried favor by the States when they negotiate their tax incentives to attract business. While that is a function of State government to attract the industries that will provide the best opportunities for their citizens, where the Federal government must come into play is in two areas to monitor Off Shoring and the impact on American jobs and take action where needed to monitor international trade agreements and currency to make sure trade is fair and American interests are protected and enforced by using the weight of American influence In the modern world of instant communication, we have a global job market. Government can shape tax incentives (see Fix #3) so that companies which must do what is best for their bottom line dont undermine society in the process. Of course if a company can save money by replacing a worker with a less expensive machine, thats a good thing. But it is not in best interest of society to replace an American worker with a foreign worker if that American worker is now unemployed. Off shoring is only beneficial to our economy when a worker cannot be found in our country that can do a specific job. Currently our country has over ten million jobs being done overseas remotely because of global communication technology. This doesnt even take into account factories built overseas that could have been built in America. Meanwhile we pay unemployment benefits to people in this country

that can't find work (of course if the fixes described in this paper were enacted we would have the opposite problem of not enough workers to fill the jobs). The parable we all know "Give a man a fish he eats for one day, teach him to fish he eats for a lifetime" is not even applicable because of welfare and unemployment benefits. These programs give "fish" to people but it isn't a gift, it is done by borrowing money and creating a burden on society. Government needs to make sure that business is healthy and providing jobs. That is how government takes care of the people - not by printing or borrowing money. Government must create an environment for business to be able to out-compete their global competition and the ONLY way this can be done is by reducing regulation and taxation that keeps our business from competing on a global scale. Right now government is picking and choosing winners and losers by taxing to death companies and industries that basically don't vote democrat and subsidizing those that do (unions, government workers, educators etc). Also we need to bring back high paying jobs lost overseas that pay taxes instead of having these ex-workers living on the government dole. This can be done by the tax and healthcare policy changes described above. The fixes described in this paper would solve our unemployment problems, but in an ever changing evolving global economy with continued technological progress government must keep a constant policy focus to ensure the efficient use of the American worker. There may be a time when taxes and credits are needed to reward or punish companies that hire or offshore American workers. That time is not here yet since the structural changes discussed in this paper are enough to create more demand for American labor than the current workforce could provide.

Fix # 5 Public Unions and Political corruption Public Unions should never be allowed. In 2011, Issue 2 in Ohio was voted down because of a smear campaign funded by public unions that convinced voters that the issue was ANTI-WORKER. That statement that public unions like to use amazes me because public unions are ANTI-WORKER and ANTI-TAXPAYER. Issue 2 was about government trying to get some control in setting compensation and benefits over union workers. You know, like the kind of control all private sector companies have over non union workers who just happen to be the taxpayers that pay the salaries of both politicians and public sector union workers. Issue 2 tried to open the door to getting union workers to pay towards their health care and pension and allow some measure of job performance to be used in performance pay as well as to allow performance rather than seniority to be the basis for workforce reductions. All these things are the norm in the private sector, but in the public union world are considered an attack on the worker. My point is that the issue should be why have we ever even allowed public unions to exist in the first place? The very concept of public unions is inherently corrupt and against the best interest of all tax payers and voters who often happen to be workers. By allowing public employees to unionize, we now allow federal and state public unions to put billions into the pockets of union leaders and into the campaigns of mostly democratic politicians creating this un-holy corrupt alliance between politicians and unions. How is it ever OK to have a union negotiating with politicians who are elected with funds that were given to them by the very unions that they must negotiate with? Not even taking into account this corruption that public unions have created, poisoning many of our politicians, is the simple fact that public employees should never be allowed to strike. Striking is the basis of union negotiation before the now current method of just buying off the politicians you are negotiating with. President Franklin Roosevelt called the idea of public sector unions "unthinkable and intolerable." Not long after, AFL-CIO President George Meany declared that it was "impossible to bargain collectively with the government." They were both speaking to the morality of public servants making demands on taxpayers' earnings under the threat of withholding public services -- or as FDR put it, "looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it." Unions in the private sector are a completely different animal, and there are two sides to that issue. Public unions are simply an abomination. Imagine if private sector unions could do what public sector unions do. Say that the private sector union wants to negotiate with company xyz for a new contract, so they give millions of dollars to ensure their candidate of choice becomes CEO of company xyz. This CEO is now beholden to the union for obtaining his cushy CEO position and he will certainly make sure the union is happy with their upcoming contract negotiations. But of course in the private sector unions cant pay to have their CEOs of choice. In the public sector this is business as usual.

In addition to promoting governments that are less corrupt and bringing back fiscal responsibility, is it that hard to accept the idea that policeman, fireman, teachers and other sundry public clerks are hired, fired, promoted and paid based on their work record and value that they provide? To give our elected politicians the ability to represent their constituencies and not the dirty money that currently gets them elected, we must have a system where politicians get elected in a way that removes that election having any support of any special interest. We also must provide the ability of those politicians to work in the best interest of all their constituents, not just a few. Elected politicians need the ability to hire the most qualified workers, reward or lay off workers as appropriate and make decisions in the best interest of their constituents, just like any private business must be able to do. We must never again have a government like the current Obama administration which strikes down and impedes factories being built in America because they are non-union (such as the Boeing plant that was blocked from being built in South Carolina), or stop pipelines being built because of support from a Green political base. The following common sense solutions will result in an unprecedented era of good efficient government. Initially by legislation but later by Federal Constitutional Amendment make it illegal for there to be any Federal or State Public Unions. Policeman, Firemen, Teachers and clerks should all be hired and fired on their merits and by market supply and demand like any other Private Sector employee. Initially by legislation but later by Federal Constitutional Amendment make it illegal for any politician seeking a Federal office to collect any funds for the purpose of that campaign or to use any monies even their own for any paid campaign advertisement. Currently Barack Obama has already collected over a billion dollars in campaign donations that he will use to advertise for his 2012 campaign. This is one way that politicians become bought and paid for by special interests. Contributions can be made to a political party but those funds should not be used to assist in Federal elections campaigning. Politicians running for federal office should not win or lose their campaigns based on television commercials paid for by special interests. Politicians can debate for free on cable news networks and via their internet websites. In this day and age government has a huge impact on the creation of jobs. Not only do American companies find it cheaper to manufacture overseas, but also they now are finding that many office and technical functions can also be done less expensively overseas. So we must rely on Government to remove as much as possible the burdens placed on hiring that taxes and regulation have created. Employers simply cannot compete in a global economy with the current high cost of hiring American workers. This twenty first century reality means our economy cannot succeed with a government that is controlled by special interests and other corruption. We must have a government that supports our companies so that they can be successful. Most importantly we must incentivize American companies to hire our own skilled workers and professionals, because the millions of jobs lost in this area to India and other countries have destroyed the middle class tax base that our government needs to provide basic services.

Fix # 6 Defense Spending and Immigration-Border Control We must have the strongest most versatile defense of any country in the world. But we must do this in a way that is more efficient. We must base our military at home but have the means to project strength anywhere in the world. Historically we did that with forward bases, but that has resulted in huge amounts of American wealth being transferred to where those bases exist (i.e South Korea, Japan, Germany, Phillipines etc.). While there is strategic advantages to those bases, the wealth lost in maintaining those bases overseas has been immense, and having those bases doesnt necessarily mean you have the power exactly where you need it. Intelligence services need to be forward based so we have intelligence every where in the world. But our Military strength needs to be stored on American soil and in the American Navy (which does not need American bases in Germany, South Korea or Japan to be able to project their strength worldwide). If countries where America has troop stationed want to pay for them to be there, then our government should consider that. Otherwise our troops should be based on American soil. We can project our power wherever it is needed with technology and our Navy. Immigration-Border control is one of those difficult issues that I promised in the introduction to avoid. What I would say regarding this topic is that we should enforce our existing laws and let our politicians decide how to handle legal immigration in our nations and economies best interest. That would be done by the less corrupt politicians resulting from Fix #5. But I will say in this discussion that if we station troops in America instead of overseas, we will have the manpower to do a better job of protecting our borders if needed. Certainly if we have hundreds of thousands of troops stationed at home instead of overseas it would be easy to allot maybe 5% of these to contribute toward the purpose of closing down our southern border and ending illegal immigration. Let immigration be legal, and in line with what the will of the people want. Personally Id like to see workers let in as we need workers and sent back when we dont need the workers. We should do things in the best interest of Americans. But I promised not to delve into things that could be controversial, and leave it at just simple common sense. So Lets enforce our immigration laws and put an end to illegal immigration.

Fix # 7 The Family and individual Responsibility In the intro I said I would avoid complex issues and stick to things that anyone could agree on regardless of their political or religious views. However there are two responsibilities that the family can do in this country that are of greater value than all the issues discussed above. And these two responsibilities dont impinge on anyones core beliefs (unless your core belief is that all people should have the right to do nothing but live as well off as the richest in the society). These two responsibilities werent neglected in the good old days, the commonly perceived peak of America during the 1950s. Thats because society didnt allow these two responsibilities to be a problem, all Americans believed in these two responsibilities and societal pressure was all it took to keep these problems from becoming endemic as they are today. Today we look at people that fail these two simple responsibilities as victims, instead of the perpetuators of many of todays problems. If we would ostracize people and scold them when they fail to meet these two societal responsibilities instead of treating them like victims, then this problem would pretty much go away. Unfortunately today, when anyone suggests that a poor person should finish school, get vocational training and avoid having children out of wedlock they are accused of being judgemental or of looking down on the poor. This has enabled a whole class of our society to play the victim card and the social justice card and be an unnecessary burden on those who do uphold these societal responsibilities. This is what we should expect from all of our citizens: 1. Do not get pregnant or get someone else pregnant until you and they are at least in your twenties. And try not to have children until you have a good job. 2. Either go to college and get a degree, or get an honest vocation/trade. An honest vocation means become a Barber, a beautician, a mechanic, or a machinist. Choose at least some vocation that makes you employable. If you arent going to college then go to a vocational school and get at least one skill. These two responsibilities are not things that we could or should legislate. These two responsibilities are things we should as a society expect from everyone. And most certainly we should never elect a politician who does not clearly preach these two values. We must not allow politicians like Barack Obama ever to hold office who place individuals that violate these two basic moral values into special victim classes who are owed special benefits extracted from the sweat of those hardworking citizens that uphold these basic values. I am certainly not talking about disabled individuals. I am also not saying we shouldnt help single moms who because of perhaps a momentary slip up of morals and values now have a child to care for. I am talking about people who are too lazy to finish school and too morally bankrupt to avoid starting families that they cannot take care of. That we would put these people into a victim class with special rewards has enabled our country to become weak both in spirit as well as economically. People who do not uphold these responsibilities are not victims they are guilty of doing something wrong. There should be a social stigma against wrong doers. Of course we should encourage any wrong doer to mend their ways. But children growing up should know when they see people who do not uphold these responsibilities, that these people are wrong doers and not

victims. In this way children will grow up with the proper value system like in the golden age of the 1950s.

Summary There are many other things that we could and should address in America. Some are easier than others. But the fixes discussed above are all things within our power to do. We dont need divine intervention or agreement with foreign countries to do them. Certainly these fixes can and should be done. Will they or anything like them be done? I dont know. As Plato said long ago: Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. In this country we certainly are being punished. Below are other things that certainly must be addressed in our country, but require more complex analysis than perhaps the average voter should be expected to carry out. Standing up to unfair trade practices. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Welfare and other entitlements. Illegal immigration Illegal drugs Climate Change Social Justice The issue hanging in the balance is not our standard of living itself but the debt that threatens the stability of our nation. The only way to reduce the danger posed by that debt is to quickly put in place mechanisms to grow our economy at a substantial rate. At the same time we must have responsible politicians that will manage the nations finances so as to avoid the collapse of our society. Otherwise the debt will continue to grow out of control. To repeat what is really the elephant in the room point There is no one big enough to bail us out. We have no choice but to solve our debt problem. I thank you if you have taken the time to consider all I have written here and I hope you can use some of these ideas to make a difference!