Today's Weather

Click for Sierra Vista, Arizona Forecast

Ways to fix our economic ills

Published/Last Modified on Saturday, Nov 29, 2008 - 05:20:28 am MST

Font Size

To the Editor:

It seems to me that this country’s ills are presented to the public as a large mess of insolvable problems caused by ill-defined, foggy events. In truth, I believe they are all caused by a few incredibly bad decisions made by a narrow group of people at the topic the interests of money — in other words, due to corruption. The problems:

• Wars overseas over oil and to make billions of dollars in the defense industries.

• Las Vegas gambling, called speculation, in the stock markets using new technology called hedge funds to get around laws enacted during the Great Depression.

• Massive unfair trade to increase profits for multinational corporations via cheap labor, manipulated currency, state-supported industries, no environmental laws that work, no labor unions, etc.

• No real energy policy.

• Car and medical monopolies, both becoming non-functional.

The above are so interconnected that a few things would solve all of them.

• The price of a bailout of its car monopoly should be the production of a few small, cheap, lightweight electric cars that plug in at home and charges off the grid in the middle of the night when it is unused. A clean-coal act should be enacted at the same time.

• The banking and stock market meltdown should be ended with a forced re-negotiation of mortgages to reasonable interest and payments, with a rent option for those who cannot continue with their mortgage. Forget bailing out the same crooks who caused the problem. Fix “housing” and the car industry and do something about energy and the recession will end.

• The energy problem will be fixed with a switch to domestic services. If we don’t need Mideast oil, we won’t need to fight wars in and occupy the Mideast and our troops can then come home. In addition to the first point, clean energy and natural gas can gradually replace coal.

• Unfair trade should be ended with tariffs. The “free trade” like exposed for what it is, and the many monopolies here broken up, especially the medical one

This alone is not complicated, is definitely doable and would largely stop global warming, at least from this country.

It should all be pushed through Congress in the first 100 days, otherwise forget it. It won’t happen later. The “honeymoon” is always short.

Jerry F. Edwards

Whetstone

Print this story Email this story

Font Size

Use the form below to post a brief comment to this story, or respond to other readers. Please use the word count tool to assist you in keeping your remarks to 100 words or fewer.
Comments appear once they are approved. Your thoughtful contribution to the online discussion is appreciated.

MAG wrote on Dec 1, 2008 10:43 AM:

" I agree with most things in this article, and both Dems and so called Repubs are to blame. I would go a bit further though, get rid of unions, stop pork barrel spending and lobbyists. Unions are wrecking American industry by making our products prohibitivly expensive on the global market. Lobbying is nothing more than graft, if we citizens were to do the same thing it would be called bribery. Along the same lines, if we were to take money from our employers to spend as we wish it would be embezzlement...pork. "

Dont you mean NUKLAR wrote on Nov 30, 2008 6:25 AM:

" The DEMS weren't the position holders for the past 8 years. If you remember correctly, there was a budget surplus, the economy was booming, we weren't embroiled in two continuing wars. As far NUKLAR as our current president would call it, why do you need nuklar when my oil buddies are still pumping erl (oil)? "

But what about .... wrote on Nov 29, 2008 6:48 AM:

" 1. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA)signed by Pres Carter in the 1970s which led to "affordable housing for people who couldn't afford them anyway and if you banks don't give them loans you will be fined'? "The same crooks who caused the problem" are Barney Frank, Herb Moses, Chris Dodd, Jim Johnson, and others, mostly Democrats. With Democrats in charge, good luck in getting a fair and comprehensive investigation.
2. Electric cars using electricity means we need more power plants (we need them anyway), especially NUCLEAR power plants. Will the Obama administration support nuclear power plants? "