The Recipe for Prosperity

Everyone and I mean everyone is wringing their hands, wracking their brains in an effort to find a solution for this recession. The Obama administration is at least attempting action while they wring, but an FDR buy-out will only devalue our already weakened dollar. Because of the content of some of what Obama has said, I think a good portion of that weakening is intentional. Our sitting President does not like the idea of common people being able of afford gasoline, but that is a subject for another day.

The way out of this mess is so simple and straight forward that it is not at all surprising every single political leader missed it. One good reason is that part of the recipe demands a lessening of the greed factor. Right there we have ruled out a significant portion of corporate and political America, but, believe me, it is necessary.

In order to get through this we have to hit the problem from both ends, both in the reduction of costs and in revenue growth. A huge factor is the cost of fuel, which is directly related to infrastructure. If we spent the time to put in place the infrastructure to handle and distribute alternative fuels, gas prices would plummet. Nothing balances a market like competition, and building that infrastructure would add thousands of high quality jobs. The greed factor could be handled by adding in real oversight that included stiff fines and even jail time for corruption, including that of politicians. If such oversight upsets some of the powerful and prevents certain multinational corporations from participating, so much the better, who needs ‘em? This country has plenty of smaller and smarter firms willing to step in and grow. This could be a chance for Obama to put his pen where his mouth is and prove he actually is for the little guy.

Another area is education. Our elected leaders claim they are for excellence in education, but they just don’t want to pay for it. If we diverted one tenth of the money we send overseas and put it into education, not administration, we would have enough to pay teachers what they are really worth, build schools large enough to accommodate all of the students and put every text book and tool they need into their hands. Imagine what we could do if we raised that amount to 20%. It’s high time the rest of the UN paid its portion of the freight any way.

Have you ever heard of the Toyota Volta? It is an electric car that looks good and can travel upwards of 250 miles on a single charge from a standard household outlet. Ever wonder why it isn’t offered for sale? How about the Mini Cooper Hybrid that gets 85 miles to the gallon with no loss of acceleration? It isn’t allowed to be sold in the US. Ever wonder why? The answers to these questions can be had in Washington, if you can get them to talk.

Just north of Las Vegas, up I15 before you get to the town of Mesquite, there is a long stretch of BLM land that would be ideal for an industrial development. Imagine putting in plants to build cars like the Cooper Hybrid and the Volta. Do you think the companies would have problems selling them? Absolutely not. Of course, we would have to deal with the greed factor again. This means that executives would have to trim their wages back far enough so that factory workers could be paid a real living wage without the crippling financial effect the unions had on Detroit. It can be done if all sides can actually work together.

In the Armagosa Valley there is a dairy. Because of milk price controls (the price is kept high, not low), the dairy is not allowed to sell all of its production. A deal was worked out so a gourmet ice cream company could build a plant across the street from the dairy to turn the overproduction into ice cream. Nevada and California sued to prevent the plant from being built because of “environmental concerns”. Now Utah has yet another prospering concern adding to its fortunes.

Ever since gambling was legalized in Nevada, tourists have been crowding I15 as the flow in from California. Train tracks run along that route for most of the way. A commuter train has been discussed without resolution for about as long. The problem is that no one can decide who pays what. This is where the heavy hand of Washington is needed. The same way the legislature is being forced to fund education if they want to get federal dollars, the same can be used to bring commuter travel into this century. Force a joint state public private partnership. Do not allow corruption of favoritism to enter in by jailing anyone, regardless of who they are, and that includes mayors and governors if they break the law, and begin building. The cost can be paid by the use of tickets and tools. Commuter choice can be enhanced by also maintaining a free travel highway for those who don’t mind traveling at a slower pace.

Home ownership is one of the big ones right now. With so many banks crumbling because they allowed themselves to be sucked into the ACORN ponzi scheme, a radical restructuring needs to be done. Even if a mortgage holder is upside down, there was a point where they were able to pay the monthly freight on the mortgage. A great number of the failures, excluding those idiots who purchased multiple homes hoping for a quick flip, were brought on because the bank raised the interest rates and refused to back down on that rate even when it became apparent they would have to eat the loan. All they have to do is reduce that rate down to a level where the original mortgagee can again make a payment, even if that level is below prime. A little profit is better than a loss. This is again where greed has to take a back seat. There is nothing wrong in flying coach instead of buying an over-priced private jet.

The recipe is, education, enforced corporate and governmental honesty, public-private partnerships, the ignoring of bothersome environmental suits only intended to prevent growth, and common sense. That last component is the rarest of all.