wilkes

you can talk about solutions, possibilities and means of combating the economic woes of the country all day long -without end and still not get to the root cause of the issues.I'ts greed ,pure and simple.manufactures want to increase the profit margin on the products they make,so they send the business overseas where the products can be more cheaply made.Workers who have only their labor to sell,form unions so that they can demand more for their efforts,and the personell who staff the unions work to protect the position that they have come to rely on for themselves.Labor is imported so that the workers can be paid less than an a citizen demands for their labor thus creating a greater profit margin for employers.Politicians work to give more taxpayer funds towards whatever keeps them in power not because it"s good for the public, but beacuse they can enjoy the power and wealth that position entitles.Healtcare in the country is not possible for many because the insurance companies are basicaly bookies who want to welsh on every bet and whose business is not to provide healthcare but to increase the profit margin at All of costs.And we as a people demand every thing that we want as a right of birth,with no consideration as to how it is to be paid for.The simple truth is that we did this to ourselves,every time that we are confronted with the decision to act we seem to say "screw you jack Iv'e got mine"For any republic to survive, you have to care for and nuture for that republic.You must be willing to say "I won't do that "if that action is bad for the country.Too many times people tnink of the government as a big breast that they fasten on to and feed.We have corporations that are overcharging by billions to fight wars in far away places,we have people here at home taking billions from the coffers ment to help the victims of natural distastors,we have the heads of vast corporations seeking public monies to fund their companies,not to serve the economy but to secure their own jobs and greed.Nothing is for free-everyting costs, and untill we as a people come to terms with that fact, we are doomed.And perhaps this is our destiny -maybe this is the end of the republic,this is not about liberal or conservative,both positions have created economic ruin as funds wildly spent on the greed of defence contractors, or the greed that funds the people who profit from expanded social programs.It's not about race, my countrymen of all colors will suffer greatly from the comming crisis.If I were a religious man I would pray for the republic,as it is, all that I can do is too hang on,help the country in any way I can,and turn out the lights when we leave.

NAFTA needs an overhaul, or better yet, to be done away with completely. Bring our manufacturing jobs back.
Welfare/Medicaid/HUD, need a major overhaul. No benefits for illegal aliens or their children. No benefits for people who are just too **** lazy to work. The government should allow the states control of the welfare benefits, as it is a state funded program. Then, a lifetime maximum of benefits should be enacted. Say, 5 years. So throughout your entire life, you are only allowed 5 years to receive government assitance, through welfare, HUD, medicaid, food stamps, etc. And if a woman is on welfare and has another baby, benefits should decrease.
Do away with income taxes completely. Instead, enact a Federal Sales Tax of 1% on all goods and commodities. The guy who started Forbes magazine, I believe his name is John Forbes, did a study on this. If there was a 1/2% Federal Sales Tax, it would wipe out our debt in around 4 years, I believe it was. That way, everyone is paying. The rich will pay more, as they purchase more. It would level the playing field on taxes.

the answer is certainly NOT to give them wall street guys tons of tax money, so that they can turn around and use it to pay their people bonuses of huges sums

long shot - You want to increase gas prices 500%? We import most of our oil.

Educate and Re-educate the people of this country that accumulating debt beyond your means is not the pathway to prosperity. This nation consumes everything and when we run out of money we turn to credit. Until this ends we will never get our economy on the right track again.

The government is giving those of us who have gone over our limit a free pass. This includes businesses as well as personal spending. Bailing out eveyone in trouble is NOT the answer. If we do not let people and businesses fail we are only feeding the opposite theory of what needs to happen. A business as well as people need to be held accountable for their actions.

Pampering by bailing out everyone and anyone is teaching us we dont need to be accountable, what it is teaching us is dependency on the government. The term entitlement has a new meaning now in this country. If you paid your dues to the tax system and have lost your job then the government is there to help you, but to feel as though you should be entitled to these benefits without paying your dues is not acceptable.

Shop at Wal Mart where they only sell American made products and tax all imports 500 %. That would bring jobs back here.

NAFTA, is what we are all screaming right, NAFTA was started to increase trade out side of the US. However it has been pushed to the back so to so over the last several years. What needs to be done is a major overhaul of the system. Companies that packed their bags up to move their productions to India, Mexico, and China needs a swift kick in the butt. Penalize and tax those companies that started the downfall of the US economy, and maybe when the tax burden makes the cost of production in China the same as it would be in the US maybe they would bring the jobs back. NO MORE bailouts point blank. Companies need to cut pay outs starting at the top. I know all companies are in it to make money, but however if a company is not making money, then why do the big top ex. personal get huge, huge bonuses. Then they have to ask the government for money, my personal business that my GF and I have, can't go to DC and ask for money to keep our business open, we have to cut back on our spending to keep our operations going. Finally if you have a job, keep spending money, if you stop then that effects all other business, and more jobs will be lost.

"We also need to find a way to stop all the manufacturing jobs from leaving the country by revising or doing away with NAFTA altogether. "

Amen

We, not the government will be the solution. People have lived beyond their means for decades and the loose lending practices encouraged that and is the root cause of the crises.

Everybody seems to want lower taxes but also want to keep all government programs intact. We can't have it both ways. Our infrastructure is crumbling. We have to replace welfare with workfare. We cry foul when government funds are discussed for corporate bailouts but turn a blind eye to the masses of under-30 baby factories. You tell me. Is it better for a nation to earmark funds to a company that will create jobs, expand the tax base and maintain the economy or to spread that same amount to individuals that contribute nothing but another generation of the same?

A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest, weakest buffalo. When attacked by prey it is these slow, weak members of the herd that are thinned. As a result, the herd instantly becomes faster, stronger and more resilient.

It is this same principle that will determine our destiny. The ratio of working/tax paying citizens to tax liability individuals must increase. It is currently unsustainable.

Another unpopular truth we must address is health care. Increased life expectancies and unregulated, out of control heath care and insurance costs have to be reigned in soon. I disagree totally with the notion that there are plenty of jobs available for anybody. Take a moment a peruse the ESC job list or local classifieds. More than 40% of available jobs are within the skilled healthcare sector. In fact in 2008 only two business segments grew in employment, healthcare and government while all else hemmoraged.

Create more revenue by instituting a National sales tax , and do away with income tax. By paying taxes on goods everyone pays, even the drug dealers, illegal aliens, and organized crime. This would help downsize government in that the IRS would only have to audit businesses to make sure the sales taxes were paid. Do away with NAFTA, and place tariffs on foreign goods so our products would cost the same as theirs. I feel this would give incentive for our manufacturing jobs to come back home. Everyone would have more money in their pocket.

lower taxes, less wasteful spending by the government, government should not interfere with private business, no bailouts, more common sense by leaders and people. less welfare, and remove people from receiving disability benefits, who are really more able to work than I am, but because they paid a big lawyer fee got on disability because they are too sorry to work. There are jobs out there but no one wants to do menial labor anymore.

Here is another idea. We the people should push for a law to be passed that congress and the president only get a raise if the economy grows and more American workers are added to the workforce.

I agree. I do not really like a lot of the things that Arnold Swartzneiger (sp?) gov. of CA has done but one thing I think that I do approve heartedly with was his initial goal to go in there and restructure CA governement's spending to get them from a red spending to black. And he's done a great job.... that state was in so much trouble it was seriously headed for disaster because it's spending was out of control.
Our government is bloated. Hugely overtaxed because they just creating more and more work for themselves. They hire teams to discuss solutions, who hire teams to implement ideas who hire teams to test the water to see if those ideas will work. It's just ridiculous.
I think they need to start at the bottom and work their way up. Criminals. They need to tighten it all up. Put them in pink and purple jumpsuits, take away the TV's, any and all luxuries to include air conditioning. Put them on peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches for lunch and dinner, with spinich eggs for breakfast Or oatmeal (so they get their fiber.) Make it so dang difficult that they will NEVER want to be in prison again. Immediately kill anyone on death row - no more allowing them to sit and hire lawyers for 20 years to appeal their cases. My tax money is paying for their time behind bars, for those attorneys, for all that legal time and hassle.
Just keep going up through every facet of our government's offices - once the criminals get worked over and get themselves behavin' a lot of the other work will take care of itself.
I think that most of our politicians are criminals. They are stealing money for themselves by taking bribes from this company and that company for things that will benefit themselves in one way or another. Those bribes are then put into ridiculous pork barrel spending.
Taxes should be lowered, and would be able to be if they cut out all the crap in government. Businesses are fleeing our country to set up shop elsewhere. Why not? I don't really blame them, do you? Considering they are being penelized for working here and having factories HERE, when they're exporting their goods all over the world, it makes sense for them to set up shop elsewhere. We have to make it enticing for them to come back. We have to allow our people an opportunity for those jobs by making it feasable for that company to work here.
I know we'll never be able to compete salary wise in cheapness to some places (like Mexico) but it is a bit ridiculous when a man working in a auto plant makes 65 dollars an hour, don't you think? I've read of some ridiculous salaries made by auto workers and now they're screaming out about our auto plants going out of business and needing a bailout. Well dang, I can tell you one thing, if I had 20,000 employees earning 30-60 dollars and hour, with another 30,000 employees on retirement pension, I think I'd be going bankrupt too. It's like they set themselves up for it and now we're supposed to bail the stupid idiots out. When does an auto worker make more than a nurse? Sure, it's a skill, but not one they went to college for 2-4 years to learn how to do.
It's the unbalanced things like that, with income disparities, with taxes, with lack of motivation and incentive that is just screwing us all up.

Its a tough question and Im no economist, but from my standpoint taxes must be as low as possible. The government must allow the market to work and encourage the creation of small businesses. Companies who constantly put people to work and operate honestly should be rewarded. We also need to find a way to stop all the manufacturing jobs from leaving the country by revising or doing away with NAFTA altogether.

Okay.... here's a question for you. Without being insultive of other political views, what do you think needs to be done to improve our economy. I don't mean whether or not you like the president or your political party etc. Just basically, what actions will bring our economy back on track.