Friday, November 4, 2011
Recently, our President unveiled a jobs package which has met considerable resistance in the Senate in particular. The gist of the jobs package, as I understand it, focuses on teachers and construction workers. While both of these skill sets are needed, they will not stem the tide of unemployment. Here is where we need common sense. Here's how I would do it:
Firstly, institute the $.01 National Sales Tax (NST). The revenue generated from this (see previous post) would be roughly $36 billion. We now have the starting "kitty" for the jobs package. A few things need to happen during the first year aside from collecting the revenue from the NST. Firstly, the Federal government needs to interface with the state governments. This means the President HAS to talk to the governors, all 50 of them. It would also be beneficial to recruit the House of Reps and the Senate to talk with their districts. In talking to the governors as well as the Congress, the President would be looking for specific information, primarily unemployment numbers for each state/district. Once this information is collected and sorted, the unemployed need to be categorized. By categorized I don't mean by race, age, etc. By categorize, I refer to identifying those who are able to work, those who are willing to undergo intensive job training, etc. Each state would be responsible for identifying prosepctive candidates within their own state. This first stage creates temporary jobs for the screening process (so far we are off to a better start than our current administration). Next, it would be incumbent upon each state to identify employment shortfalls within the state (i.e. shortages in education, nursing, construction, etc.) By identifying where employees are needed, states can eliminate the "over qualified" or "under qualified" prospective employees that get turned down in hard economic times. Fast forward one year, the NST has been in effect and the revenue is ready for use.
As a side note to the NST revenue, it is incumbent upon the administration to ensure that this money is NOT allocated to other pet projects. This was an issue that arose as banks and auto companies began repaying the TARP funds. Rather than returning the loan payments back to the Treasury as intended and as the Obama administration told the American people they would be, the funds have disappeared. I, as of yet, have not been able to find out where these funds have gone. So, it is of the utmost importance that the NST revenue be held for the Jobs Plan.
Year two of the "Common Sense Administration" and Jobs Plan is in effect. The states have identified potential candidates and employment shortages in their individual states. Harken back to the Great Depression and the Roosevelt era, and you have an idea of what I'm talking leaning towards. Each state establishes/funds job training centers specifically geared towards the employment shortage skill sets. (Wait, did we just create more jobs for teachers?) The programs of study would HAVE to be accelerated in order to produce viable employees in a reasonable amount of time. This does NOT mean the course of study should be "shortened", but applicants/employees should be prepared to work a little harder. Here is an example:
Let's say the state of Kentucky is short on nurses (RNs, LPNs, and CNAs) and has a shortage of 1,500 positions (for the sake of easy math, say 500 positions of each of the above medical specialties). The governor has identified 1,500 applicants who are willing to undergo intensive job training for these positions. The 500 prospective CNA applicants begin training and graduate in roughly 16 weeks (less if the training is held five days a week for several hours a day rather than a night course at a local school). LPNs are usually studying for approximately two years, however, longer and more frequent classes could shorten this time frame, without sacrificing the quality of study. RNs also require around two years of study, but again, could be licensed in a shorter amount of time with intensive study. This intensive course would require the applicants to focus solely on their respective course of study. Here is where Uncle Sam steps in to help. In addition to establishing the training centers (utilizing existing facilities), the NST revenue would be used to help subsidize the students living expenses (to a certain degree) during their enrollment in the Federal training program. Food vouchers for families, federal housing assistance, etc. (we already pay for this for thousands of people who either cannot work or choose not to work, so why not pay for those who are going to be employed at the end of a set period of time). Fast forward to the end of the training for CNAs. As a condition of the Federal job training program, graduates are given assistance in resume' writing and job placement assistance in the identified shortages. Once employed, the newly minted employees are given a maximum of 3-6 months additional Federal assistance. Now employed and receiving a steady paycheck, the employees are removed from Federal assistance. The process is repeated for other skill-sets that are identified by the states. The revenue from the NST is sure to be exhausted, but will continue to be collected as time marches forward.
Many details of this plan have not been listed here, but this is the general gist of the plan. This puts the onus of employing citizens on the state and local governments rather than the Federal government. State governments are in a better position to cater to the needs of their citizens than the Federal government is. Practical job creation using nothing more than common sense and motivated citizens. The lynch-pin in the equation is the willingness of the citizens to work and the willingness of the states to improve the quality of life for those citizens. Think we can do it? As an American, I KNOW we can. Let's just hope we can get someone in office who can implent the Common Sense Stimulus.
I hope to get some feedback/questions on this plan...so, let's get those fingers moving. Spread the word, share the common sense.
Firstly, institute the $.01 National Sales Tax (NST). The revenue generated from this (see previous post) would be roughly $36 billion. We now have the starting "kitty" for the jobs package. A few things need to happen during the first year aside from collecting the revenue from the NST. Firstly, the Federal government needs to interface with the state governments. This means the President HAS to talk to the governors, all 50 of them. It would also be beneficial to recruit the House of Reps and the Senate to talk with their districts. In talking to the governors as well as the Congress, the President would be looking for specific information, primarily unemployment numbers for each state/district. Once this information is collected and sorted, the unemployed need to be categorized. By categorized I don't mean by race, age, etc. By categorize, I refer to identifying those who are able to work, those who are willing to undergo intensive job training, etc. Each state would be responsible for identifying prosepctive candidates within their own state. This first stage creates temporary jobs for the screening process (so far we are off to a better start than our current administration). Next, it would be incumbent upon each state to identify employment shortfalls within the state (i.e. shortages in education, nursing, construction, etc.) By identifying where employees are needed, states can eliminate the "over qualified" or "under qualified" prospective employees that get turned down in hard economic times. Fast forward one year, the NST has been in effect and the revenue is ready for use.
As a side note to the NST revenue, it is incumbent upon the administration to ensure that this money is NOT allocated to other pet projects. This was an issue that arose as banks and auto companies began repaying the TARP funds. Rather than returning the loan payments back to the Treasury as intended and as the Obama administration told the American people they would be, the funds have disappeared. I, as of yet, have not been able to find out where these funds have gone. So, it is of the utmost importance that the NST revenue be held for the Jobs Plan.
Year two of the "Common Sense Administration" and Jobs Plan is in effect. The states have identified potential candidates and employment shortages in their individual states. Harken back to the Great Depression and the Roosevelt era, and you have an idea of what I'm talking leaning towards. Each state establishes/funds job training centers specifically geared towards the employment shortage skill sets. (Wait, did we just create more jobs for teachers?) The programs of study would HAVE to be accelerated in order to produce viable employees in a reasonable amount of time. This does NOT mean the course of study should be "shortened", but applicants/employees should be prepared to work a little harder. Here is an example:
Let's say the state of Kentucky is short on nurses (RNs, LPNs, and CNAs) and has a shortage of 1,500 positions (for the sake of easy math, say 500 positions of each of the above medical specialties). The governor has identified 1,500 applicants who are willing to undergo intensive job training for these positions. The 500 prospective CNA applicants begin training and graduate in roughly 16 weeks (less if the training is held five days a week for several hours a day rather than a night course at a local school). LPNs are usually studying for approximately two years, however, longer and more frequent classes could shorten this time frame, without sacrificing the quality of study. RNs also require around two years of study, but again, could be licensed in a shorter amount of time with intensive study. This intensive course would require the applicants to focus solely on their respective course of study. Here is where Uncle Sam steps in to help. In addition to establishing the training centers (utilizing existing facilities), the NST revenue would be used to help subsidize the students living expenses (to a certain degree) during their enrollment in the Federal training program. Food vouchers for families, federal housing assistance, etc. (we already pay for this for thousands of people who either cannot work or choose not to work, so why not pay for those who are going to be employed at the end of a set period of time). Fast forward to the end of the training for CNAs. As a condition of the Federal job training program, graduates are given assistance in resume' writing and job placement assistance in the identified shortages. Once employed, the newly minted employees are given a maximum of 3-6 months additional Federal assistance. Now employed and receiving a steady paycheck, the employees are removed from Federal assistance. The process is repeated for other skill-sets that are identified by the states. The revenue from the NST is sure to be exhausted, but will continue to be collected as time marches forward.
Many details of this plan have not been listed here, but this is the general gist of the plan. This puts the onus of employing citizens on the state and local governments rather than the Federal government. State governments are in a better position to cater to the needs of their citizens than the Federal government is. Practical job creation using nothing more than common sense and motivated citizens. The lynch-pin in the equation is the willingness of the citizens to work and the willingness of the states to improve the quality of life for those citizens. Think we can do it? As an American, I KNOW we can. Let's just hope we can get someone in office who can implent the Common Sense Stimulus.
I hope to get some feedback/questions on this plan...so, let's get those fingers moving. Spread the word, share the common sense.
5 comments:
I am going to agree with a lot of pundits, But governments shouldn't employ people, people employ the government. Government Should work for US not Vice Versa. We the people get too used to looking to the government for a lively-hood will end up in a Neo-Feudal society, where we look after our local lord aka Governor Bob for our needs.
You want a "Job Creation" bill you find a way to make it viable and profitable to invest in America, make it worth a corporation's while to build their widgets in the USA. Fact is the legal culture the Fed has put on businesses its not profitable (or in some cases as profitable) to do business in the USA. Reward Corporations or businesses that manufacture, sell or provide service in the USA, and penalize companies that do not.
For Example
What if the government would cut the red tape to build 20 Oil refineries across the United states. Now each refinery would employ about 400-500 people directly (80,000-100,000 new jobs). However the added support industry that pops up in each of those 20 communities across the US would possibly each create another 300-500 Jobs in each community. That is 140,000 to 200,000 people now working in good paying jobs, which at best case takes unemployment from 9% to 8.5%. Along with the jobs the US markets will have another 40 Million Gallons of gasoline produced each day. (not that we have shortages but added to the market will reduce prices)
I agree that without investing in our people, our nation will never grow and prosper. The only hitch I see in your example is the construction of refineries. In the era of "green" everything, folks would have a fit about that many refineries going up. Let's also not ignore OPEC. If the United States started cranking out a significant amount of oil, OPEC would simply decrease it's production in an attempt to keep the price where it is, or drive it up. The only way to neutralize OPEC is to find alternative energy, but that is a different post.
But in the jobs realm, trying to find the right people to fit into a waiting job is difficult. But, again, as you stated our government should work for us, not vice versa.
Thanks for the comments Cliff E. Keep them coming!
Actually, between the new finds in the Dakota's and what our Canadian Friends are tapping into, we may be able to tell OPEC to take a flying leap. I was out in Western OK, they are tapping wells that are producing 300+ BBLS per day, these aren't the little pump jacks we have around here that we rode as kids, these are the big boys, with the big dog (name of company) rigs drilling them. An idea of how much Oil they are currently tapping in Roger Mills County Oklahoma within a 3 mile radius I counted 6-10 rigs drilling for new wells, with rigs dotting the landscape all the way back to civilization.
Thats the problem with new refineries in the US, the EPA req's are so tight they have not built a new on since the 1970's.
I would love to see our nation be in a position to thumb our noses at OPEC, but you are correct, the regulations that restrict drilling and exploration are stifling this arena of business. I do think, however, that with the improvement of biofuels, those vast tracts of land (especially the ones that USED to be farmed but were left bare when the govt paid farmers to stop farming) could be used to grow biofuel only crops, increasing availability, lowering prices, and, with an investment into improved efficiency, we could realistically reduce our transportation oil (gas, diesel, etc) dependency by at least 50%. Wouldn't THAT tick off OPEC?
I have a problem with growing corn to put in our cars while people in this country and around the world will go to bed hungry tonight.
Biofuel AKA Moonshine is a great idea but each gasoline refinery pops out about 27,000 bbls of gas a day. Most Distilleries making Ethanol make about 100,000 bbls a year. I'm not sure we can brew enough ethanol to keep up with demand.
I think they need to invest more in wind farms, there God is giving us the fuel to turn generators making power.
Also another resource we can look at to put in our cars is Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) it would be a great idea especially right now the gas market is in the crapper right now, there is a truckload of it in the ground especially in this area..... and and and it is cleaner burning that Gasoline.
My Idea would take the working together of a Major Auto Maker, a Major Fuel Distributor and a Gas Producer to work together to offer CNG at their pumps across the country while the automaker promises to produce more CNG cars/trucks and offer say rebates, then finally the gas producer to deliver the fuel. This situation is a Win Win Win Win. The fourth win is the consumer we pay less to drive our SUV to get to our box chain restaurant where the wait staff wears silly buttons then to get the $6 cup of Seattle branded Italian coffee.
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