How To Fix The U.S. Economy Fast

Goal; Make businesses feel confident that there is a bright economic future and that they can feel comfortable hiring new workers. Strategies Cut spending. Go across the board and cut the budget for every program 10%. Federal and states must take the same tactic. Eliminate special interest spending that does not benefit a large percent of the population. Focus assistance on the poorest and neediest of the citizenry. Expand exports and tourism. The dollar is cheap compared with other currencies; focus on getting our goods to the world and the world's population here to enjoy our hospitality and natural resources. This will not only boost GDP but introduce the beauty of the USA to the international community. Spend some government money on a broad based infrastructure improvement program that will create jobs and improve our country. Improving green initiatives such as wind power and rail will cut down on pollution, energy consumption, and reduce traffic congestion. Create incentives for banks to lend. The banks have gone to extremes with their tight purse strings. In fact the lending requirements are so unreasonable that even the most worthy borrowers cannot get funding. The bankers have to psychologically realize their prior problems were initiated due to lending to unqualified and unsubstantiated borrowers and selling these securitized mortgages to the unwitting public. Restore fair lending standards and the default rate will return to normal standards. Leave the tax code alone. All the fiddling with the tax code is just a band aid on top of a tourniquet. Taxes are not our problem. And, the battle to repair the tax system is overwhelming. Last, and most controversial; raise the retirement age for social security. It is insane to keep the full retirement age at 65 when the life expectancy has increased from age 62 in 1935 (http://demog.berkeley.edu/) to 78.7 in 2009 (Google public data). Politicians need to worry less about the short term and more about the enduring health of the United States. Does this sound too simple? These ideas are not too or revolutionary. In fact, they have been proposed by many others. The reality is this, everything the government does is going to be unpopular with some, yet if we want to return to strong economic growth and solvency, then hard decisions have to be undertaken.