Stimulating Ideas
"Not a single Republican voted with the majority last week when the House approved (the) ...$819 billion combination of tax cuts and new spending."
Yahoo News, Feb. 1, 2009
Although there is widespread agreement that the US government must pump money into the economy to alleviate the current recession, Republicans in the House would rather cut taxes than spend money on government programs. Still, Gov. Sarah Palin (R, Alaska) came to Washington to urge fellow Republicans to support aid to the states, especially Alaska.
I would support both tax cuts and public works programs provided that they were in accordance with these principles:
1. Tax-cuts for business must be tied to increasing employment.
2. Tax-cuts for individuals must be directed to the lowest-income tax-payers.
3. Public works programs must be geared toward reducing dependence upon oil and reducing pollution.
Here are some specific examples of stimulus provisions I want to see in the final bill:
1. Cut social-security taxes from about 15 % of base pay (including both employee and employer portions) to about 11%. This would encourage businesses to hire more workers, and would reduce the tax burden for all workers, including those who earn too little to pay income tax. Raising the taxable pay-base from about $100,000 to about $150,000 would soften the impact to the Social Security Trust Fund without hurting low-income workers at all, or deter firms from hiring them.
2. Emphasize public mass transit in allocating federal transportation grants. For example, the New York City subway system, which provides essential transportation for millions of commuters daily, needs massive repairs and modernization. Public regional transit authorities also need money to keep riders from driving to work instead, which helps to hold down oil consumption and air-pollution. Federal money could enable these systems to replace old gas-guzzling buses with hybrids and electric vehicles.
3. Establish Summer Boot Camps to provide college and trade-school students with two months of military training each summer, between academic years. Participants would receive the same pay as army recruits, but would not be required to enlist in the military. The program should be integrated into ROTC, so those who successfully completed eight months of training over four summers and graduated college would be eligible for officer commissions in the National Guard or any other branch of the service.
Although participation would be entirely voluntary, I predict that many of the young people who completed the training camps would find military life attractive and would enlist after college. (If the civilian economy does not improve in the next four years, there should be more than enough young people to fill enlistment requirements.)
Even those who do not enlist would be in better physical condition as a result of the boot camps, which is highly desirable anyway in view of the current physical state of many young adults today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo News, Feb. 1, 2009
Although there is widespread agreement that the US government must pump money into the economy to alleviate the current recession, Republicans in the House would rather cut taxes than spend money on government programs. Still, Gov. Sarah Palin (R, Alaska) came to Washington to urge fellow Republicans to support aid to the states, especially Alaska.
I would support both tax cuts and public works programs provided that they were in accordance with these principles:
1. Tax-cuts for business must be tied to increasing employment.
2. Tax-cuts for individuals must be directed to the lowest-income tax-payers.
3. Public works programs must be geared toward reducing dependence upon oil and reducing pollution.
Here are some specific examples of stimulus provisions I want to see in the final bill:
1. Cut social-security taxes from about 15 % of base pay (including both employee and employer portions) to about 11%. This would encourage businesses to hire more workers, and would reduce the tax burden for all workers, including those who earn too little to pay income tax. Raising the taxable pay-base from about $100,000 to about $150,000 would soften the impact to the Social Security Trust Fund without hurting low-income workers at all, or deter firms from hiring them.
2. Emphasize public mass transit in allocating federal transportation grants. For example, the New York City subway system, which provides essential transportation for millions of commuters daily, needs massive repairs and modernization. Public regional transit authorities also need money to keep riders from driving to work instead, which helps to hold down oil consumption and air-pollution. Federal money could enable these systems to replace old gas-guzzling buses with hybrids and electric vehicles.
3. Establish Summer Boot Camps to provide college and trade-school students with two months of military training each summer, between academic years. Participants would receive the same pay as army recruits, but would not be required to enlist in the military. The program should be integrated into ROTC, so those who successfully completed eight months of training over four summers and graduated college would be eligible for officer commissions in the National Guard or any other branch of the service.
Although participation would be entirely voluntary, I predict that many of the young people who completed the training camps would find military life attractive and would enlist after college. (If the civilian economy does not improve in the next four years, there should be more than enough young people to fill enlistment requirements.)
Even those who do not enlist would be in better physical condition as a result of the boot camps, which is highly desirable anyway in view of the current physical state of many young adults today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Labels: stimulus
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 2:31 PM
2 comments
