President Obama's Job Plan

The big story in the National News this week seems to be President Obama's Job's Plan, and his speech to the nation next week. When is he going to give it, and what is going to be included in the bill tops on the gossip mill followed in a close third by the big question, "What can he get passed through Congress".

The only viable evening for President Obama to present his plan to the American people should be next Thursday evening. My thinking on this is simple. Monday is Labor Day, and most of us will be coming back home from being out of town, or holding BarBQ's in our back yards as we support the workers weekend. Tuesday is the day before school starts for most Americans, which comes with a whole host of duties and responsibilities for both Moms and Dads, so this would not be a good evening for such a speech. Wednesday is the first day of school, and that first evening home brings papers for parents to sign, and kids wanting to talk about their new classes so forth and so on. Fridays are never good for such speeches, which leaves Thursday evening by default. We shall see what the White House decides.

The president's plan is supposed to be about putting Americans back to work. Well, a word to the White House..."Illegal Aliens" are not Americans, and it is time to stop letting them work in our economy when Americans are out of work, cannot find jobs.

"Crucially, potential deportees will not only be given permission to stay in the United States, but also work permits. This at a time when over 22 million Americans and legal immigrants are out of work, many searching desperately to find something."

So, though I know it will not happen, a good place for our president, our Congress and our government to start, would be to start enforcing our immigration laws as they exist on the books, and making E-Verify the law of the land. Deporting illegal aliens, weeding the 7.5 million of them working in our economy has the potential to put some 5 million Americans (almost 25 percent of those currently without jobs) back too work.

Next, stop trying to fix our economy with various and assorted tax gimmicks, and tax breaks to the uber rich...giving rich people more money through lower taxes is not creating more jobs, and the Republicans slogan, "Don't tax the job creators" is a cruel lie. Lets figure out what has to be done to pay down the federal deficit and raise taxes accordingly, and be done with it. It might be some bitter medicine to swallow, but we will all be better off for it.

Corporate America is sitting on some $2 Trillion dollars, and they have no interest right now in creating jobs...instead, they have thrown their ethical and moral responsibilities to America and its citizens down the proverbial toilet, and only care about profits at all cost with no eye on tomorrow. Providing or maintaining tax breaks for the uber rich, refusing to close corporate tax loop holes, providing subsidies to (as example) the oil and natural gas industries is not the way to go.

If the president really wants to pass a jobs bill, really wants to put Americans back to work, then he needs to be bold and decisive. The time has come to rebuild America's public infrastructure, and I am not talking about a few thousand jobs rebuilding our schools. I am talking about a true American Renaissance where we rebuild our roads, bridges, schools and other public infrastructure all across America. We also need to rebuild our industrial infrastructure, put America back on track to being a PRODUCER OF GOODS, rather than a CONSUMER OF GOODS. Green jobs will not save America, will not put some 22 million Americans back to work by itself. Service jobs, and minimum wage jobs in Walmarts across America are not going to pay Americans A LIVING WAGE. We need real jobs that pay real wages, and for that too happen, for us to save the middle class from extinction, we need a jobs plan that REBUILDS AMERICA...both its public sector, and its private industrial sector.

Lastly, if we the citizens of America want to put Americans back to work, we need to take a very big step of our own...43 percent of China's exports arrive on American shores, and we all run to Walmart, Sam's Clubs, BJ's and other big discount stores to scope up these bargain goods...look around you, look at your crumbling nation, look at the jobs that have been shipped off shore, and ask yourselves, "Have these cheap bargain goods been good for us, is the big box model of shopping been good for our communities, or instead destroyed them?" Maybe it is time to get back to some good old American protectionism, time to return to the days when we SHOP LOCALLY at stores that carry goods "Made in America". Sure, an American made widget, gadget or whatever might cost more, but it would keep Americans employed, and KEEP OUR WEALTH IN AMERICA.

Sadly, when the President comes before us next week, it will be more of the same old pablum we people always gets. He will suggest putting a bandaid on a bleeding artery, and tell Congress to end the partisan bickering and pass his jobs bill...blah, blah, and blah. He will not be bold, he will not lay out a plan to save our nation and put millions of Americans back to work, and if there was a Republican in the White House, it would still be the same old story.

One last thought...our government's Federal Reserve is lending OUR MONEY out to banks and other financial institutions at zero percent interest and letting them turn around and lend it to us at greatly inflated interest rates. How about we jump start the economy, jump start the contruction industry by stopping this practice, and instead lending the money to America's citizens...imagine making homeownership a truly attainable goal by having mortgages available directly from the Federal Reserve at say 3.5 percent interest? Ballooning interest rates after a low introductory rate CRASHED the housing market, put families in positions where they could no longer afford their monthly mortgage payments.

In short, the banks killed the real estate market, and secondarily the construction industry...so why are we continuing to lend them money at ZERO PERCENT? Maybe the beginning of a American Renaissance needs to start with a basic reality....we need fewer banks, and we need to stop lending them citizen money at zero percent interest, we need to let American Citizens go directly to the Federal Reserve for loans on the most singularly important part of the American Dream, home ownership.