I was thinking about what I’d do to stimulate the economy…

Here are some ideas. They may not be good ideas, but they’re ideas nonetheless.

Make offshoring illegal! 

Ohhhh I know that sounds bad doesn’t it? But think about it. If companies have to use laid off American workers uhhh it creates jobs.

Cancel all New H1B1 Visas, Don’t renew old ones. 

This sounds horrible! Again, if there’s an American worker to take the job you’ve just put an AMERICAN back to work in their own country. 

One of the dirty secrets in High Technology over the past decade or so is that you can hire an H1B1 worker for pennies on the dollar compared to an American doing the same job. It’s created what I think of as a labor force akin to slave labor. 

The corporation has the ever present threat of canceling the workers visa and sending these folks back to their own country. With that threat hanging over their heads… H1B1s work like slaves. 

I’ve seen these people carried out of work by EMTs because they refused to take a sick day. Of course they expose everyone to whatever they’ve got but they keep working until they drop.  

Nobody considers the additional cost of the EMT call, or the lost work because everyone else in the department was sick too.

Lighten EPA restrictions

I’m not talking about to the point of creating Love canals all over the country but how about we give corporations more choices than closing shop or moving to a third world cesspool?

California has lost tons of companies large and small due to onerous regulations regarding so called “toxic” materials in their business.  By “toxic” I mean chemicals that you’d find under your sink. Ammonia, Acetic acid (main component of vinegar), Acetone, I could go on but you get the picture. 

The United States is following California’s lead and making it harder for companies to do business AND be profitable. 

I’ve wondered how much the BP spill in the Gulf was the result of cutting corners to make numbers and how much was just negligence or bad design? I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that really expensive “mandated safety systems” were installed at the cost of overall safety.

Reduce Immigration Quotas

Another hot button. If we have 12% Reported unemployment in this country we probably in reality have closer to 24%. This disparity in unemployment figures is because of the unrealistic way the government keeps count. 

Why not automatically reduce immigration quotas by double the unemployment figures? If we can’t find jobs for the people that are already here what makes us think that immigrants will fare any better?

As for the illegal immigrants (of whatever ethnic origin)… they should be returned to sender. The third time the same person is caught here illegally… they should be clapped in irons and put to work as part of a prison work gang. They’ll be fed, clothed, and they will work, just they’re not going to be sending money home.

Institute a flat rate tax

One tax rate. No state income taxes, JUST ONE flat percentage and that’s it.

No more IRS filing, no more gamesmanship on April 15th. 

Everyone pays the same amount. Corporations, Poor people, Small businesses, Rich people, the Middle class, EVERYONE.

I personally believe that we’ve incorrectly villainized  the wealthy. 

Not everyone was born wealthy. And many of the wealthy became so, by hard work and astute business dealings. I believe that making the wealthy “villains” because they capitalized on opportunity does us all a dis-service. 

We should point to those folks and say “See, anyone can make it with hard work.”

But I think they should pay the same percentage of tax as all the rest of us. 

Make the governments (US and State) spend within their means

With a flat rate tax in place, the government can predict how much they’ve got to spend on an annual basis.

That should mean that  the budget is predictable too. No borrowing, no raiding of social security, no raiding of road taxes. The politicians will know beyond a doubt how much they have to spend, and they’ll have to allocate funds to essential services first. 

If the economy is doing well and the citizens are making more money, then there’s more money to allocate to non-essential services. If the economy is bad then the converse is true.

I think that this would act as a very effective check / balance for the size of our government and would force our legislators to focus on what’s really important. Like the PEOPLE they’re supposed to represent. And…You know, minor stuff like maintaining a growing economy….

Remove immediately any politician that is late on or obstructs budget decisions 

Yes up to and including the President!

The American people deserve better than to be used as bargaining chips in a personal battle of wills between politicians.

When the President threatened to withhold Veterans and Social Security recipients checks. It demonstrated just how far removed he is the common person. It also demonstrated the contempt he has for the American people in general.

So I think it’s time to make sure that politicians KNOW THEIR PLACE! They need to be reminded that they ARE OUR EMPLOYEES. They are paid and employed at the sufferance of the American People. A few instant firings of these arrogant parasites might bring all the others to heel. If not… well then I guess elections come early this year.

Start Charging for Military Intervention

I think we should bill any country where we’re expending military resources. 

I think we should bill the UN for Peace Keeping missions.

I even entertain the idea of us renting our military forces to other countries. 

I’m not talking about currency as payment either. I’m talking natural resources, Oil, gas, gold, silver, rare earths, in short any commodity that our nation could use. 

Why the hell should the United States taxpayers keep footing the bill?

If someone needs our forces to settle a dispute… well they can damn well pay for it.  I also think that our troops should be very well paid for their services and that could easily happen if we were billing countries that asked for our help.

It might also make folks think twice before going to war if they knew their opponent could afford to field our military against them. 

The world has cast America in a peacekeeping role. Lets make it profitable! 

Empty the Prisons

Every convicted prison inmate has two choices:

  1. Military service outside the United States. 
  2. Prison Work gang.

The goal is to make use of the standing labor force that’s just sitting around costing money but returning very little to the society.

I’m sure the ACLU would have a heart attack if any of these ideas ever were implemented.

I don’t know if any of these ideas would work…

I do know that continuing on the way we have been will lead to our becoming a third world cesspool, and I’d hate for that to happen.

Another day MORE negative Cash Flow

Apparently, the California Employment Development Department is much too busy and far too important to actually make good on their promise of sending me a packet in the mail within the time they specified.

Not that I’m terribly surprised…

The Unemployment people are just as screwed up as the DMV. I do find myself asking why I’ve been working so hard to pay my taxes when frankly I get none of the benefits.

Bad roads, terrible commutes, people whining about the “poor” (many of whom do not deserve benefits because they’re not citizens), no police coverage…

Yeah you read that right. No police coverage, at minimum they’ll get to town oh… sometime… maybe…

Oh course that’s if you can actually speak to someone at 911. Most of the time you get a recording to hold and I’ve personally been on hold for 10 minutes trying to report an accident.

Yes all of this is about Californias budget.

What I can’t understand is the philosophy in Sacramento.

When I don’t have money… I DON’T SPEND MONEY!

I start by cutting ALL un-necessary spending.

I focus only on paying the bills and I terminate all services that I can no longer afford.

So applying that logic, why the hell doesn’t the state stop pissing away money on social services that we KNOW are prone to abuse and fraud and concentrate on the core services that they’re supposed to provide?

You know, Roads, Schools, Government services… oh like answering the Damn phone!

I don’t care who’s responsible… Grey Davis, Arnold, Brown, they’re all the same…  They’re all figure heads who were or are being castrated by a house and senate that has not adjusted to the new realities of the RECESSION!

Yes I fucking said it! A RECESSION is what we’re in and you know what?

The sooner these morons in Sacramento AND Washington admit it, the sooner realistic actions can be taken to get us back on track.

So I got some information from EDD

Yet another reason to get the fuck out of California!

I get info from the Employment Development Department. All they send me is a notice that I’m supposed to sign up for their Job Search site. This site 99% of the time is advertising for cleaning personnel or migrant farm workers.

The last time I was unemployed, I applied for jobs from their site and kept getting told that I was over-qualified…

There was absolutely NOTHING about IF I’m Eligible.

Nothing about what I’m supposed to do when/if  the Furlough ends.

No instructions other than that I have to prove my citizenship and eligibility to work.

THAT, I FIND FUNNY!

They let you sign up online BUT then they want to see proof of your eligibility to work I’m assuming IN PERSON. If that’s the case then I should have just driven my happy ass to the Employment office and filled out all the paperwork there with everything in hand and just started the process there and made it a simple one step process.

Meanwhile I haven’t been paid for a month and honestly it’s starting to be a bit of a worry.

You know if I wanted to be fucked I’d sell my ass on Santa Monica Boulevard. Or sign up to spread my cheeks in a porn.

It may come to that anyway at this rate.