Three Simple Commonsense Things to Help the Economy

Three Simple Commonsense Things to Help the Economy

There are three easy things President Obama can do to spur the economy and they all will help significantly.  They are…

    1.    Tax Holiday.  Unlike even our socialist friends in Europe, the US
           taxes profits made in foreign nations.  They have, of course already
           been taxed by those governments.  Right now corporate earnings by
           American companies are taxed up to 35%.  So guess what, the money
           stays in Europe and Asia and Latin America and is reinvested in those
           countries.  A tax holiday, even of short duration, would bring home as
           much as $1trillion dollars and this time it wouldn’t be frittered away in
           government boondoggles and pork, but instead be used to invest right
           here in the USA.  Even some very far lefties like Chuck Schumer have
           come out in favor of such a tax holiday.  OK, Mr. President, you have
           clear, bipartisan support.  Just say the word.

    2.    Sell F-16s to Free China (Taiwan).  By treaty (the Taiwan Relations
           Act), the US is bound to sell Taiwan the weapons it needs to defend
           itself.  Taiwan seeks to purchase 66 new F-16 fighters to protect itself
           from an ever growing and more sophisticated Communist Chinese air
           force.  By helping Taiwan we will help avoid future military
           confrontations with the Chicoms because Taiwan will be strong enough
           to defend itself.  Perhaps more important at this particular time, this is a
           huge order that will generate jobs in Texas, Florida and Ohio, the latter
           two being states that Obama needs to carry in order to get re-elected. 
           So, as you can see, there is something in it personally for the President. 
           In support of this sale, the Wall Street Journal quotes a study by the
           Perryman Group that calculated the F-16 sale would generate more
           than 87,000 person-years of US employment, meaning roughly 16,000
           annual jobs.  It’s a clear win-win and it doesn’t take Congress to act. 
           Once the President signs off on it the deal is done.  Get out your pen,
           Mr. President.

    3.    Canadian Oil Pipeline.  A huge tar sands oil find in Alberta, Canada
           would not only significantly reduce US dependence on Middle East oil,
           but also dramatically boost the sick US economy.  There is already one
           pipeline running from that area of Canada into the US and this one
           would run to Port Arthur, Texas.  I have a particular personal interest
           in this oil pipeline because the first job I took out of college as a young
           engineer was with Gulf Oil Corporation in Port Arthur, Texas.  The find
           is huge and when up and running would supply more than 500,000
           barrels (42 gallons to a barrel of crude) of oil per day.  According to a
           report completed by Obama’s Energy Department, construction alone
           would infuse $7 billion into the US economy.  It would also push the
           cost of gasoline at the pump down, and move the US closer to energy
           independence.  The only problem is that the US State Department has
           placed a “hold” on construction, due to objections raised by the Obama
           Environmental Protection Agency.  The objections are that the oil
           is “dirty,” but frankly, with today’s technology, oil can be “scrubbed”
           to make it clean.  After all, the emissions of vehicles are already heavily
           regulated by the government.  As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton
           just has to sign off and construction can begin, creating an estimated
           14,000 new, high paying jobs.  Grab you pen, Madam Secretary.

Lots of other steps can and should be taken immediately to save the US from the spending binge Obama took the US on in the first two years of his presidency.  We’re over the cliff and hanging on a twig, hoping that it won’t give way and plunge us into a deep financial canyon.
 
Signing off on US exploration and production of oil, encouraging the acquisition of oil and gas through fracking, cutting the rolls of federal employees by 10% and reducing the salaries of the other employees by 10% would also boost the economy.  Remember, for the first time in US history, government employees (who produce no consumer goods or services) are making more money than the folks who do produce those goods and services.  Every dollar paid to a government worker is a dollar that cannot and will not be invested in the economy creating productive jobs and increasing the supply and reducing the cost of consumer goods and services.

Even if you won’t do those commonsense things, Mr. President, how about just doing three simple things this week to put Americans back to work—a tax holiday on the foreign earnings of American companies, selling F-16 jet fighters to Taiwan, and signing off on the construction of a 1,900 mile oil pipeline construction project?