Another disappointing jobs number could increase pressure on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to consider another round of quantitative easing. Last week the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed an increase of only 69,000 jobs for the month of May. That number came in well shy of the projected 158,000 and moved the unemployment rate up to 8.2 percent.
Instead of throwing tens of billions of dollars at this problem like we have done the last four years, perhaps a little thinking outside the box is in order. What I am about to propose would normally go against my conservative nature. However, we are facing a world wide recession and rising debt is making it difficult to manage budgets.
My proposal is simple and should eliminate all economic problems in our country. There is approximately 2 million people over the age of 63 in the work force. Let's give them $250,000 a piece severance for early retirement under the following stipulations. First off, they must retire. This will open up over 2 million jobs. Unemployment is now on the downtrend and fewer people needing welfare. With their $250,000 they pay off their existing mortgage. Result, housing crisis is on the mend. Finally, they must buy a new American car. That's 2 million cars ordered, manufacturing fixed and the need to hire more workers which will add to more tax revenue for the government. We already waisted trillions on TARP and stimulus plans that benefited banks and failed green energy companies. And lets not forget that those shovel ready jobs were not so shovel ready.
How do we pay for this? Well it will start to pay for itself immediately. We will have 2 million fewer people on food stamps, unemployment compensation and other government assistance. This plan will also spark economic growth which will increase tax revenue to the federal government. If we still fall short of paying for this we can always withhold foreign aid to countries like Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries.
This maybe to simple for elected officials to grasp. Instead of throwing another tens of billions of dollars down a rat hole which will do nothing for our economy, this simple plan will cost us very little money. This is the kind of thinking we need in Washington.
This is to simple for a politician to grasp. President Obama would never go for this. He wants to spend the money on what he thinks is best. Leaving it up to the people to stimulate the economy goes against his big government thinking of government knows best.
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