Citizens Can Fix the Mess Without Government Help

In an article by Alec Feinberg for Economyincrisis.org, he mentions Warren Buffett has been quoted as saying, “The U.S trade deficit is a bigger threat to the domestic economy than either the federal budget deficit or consumer debt and could lead to political turmoil…”. He goes on to talk about how while there are no examples in history of nations surviving running large trade deficits, there are many examples of nation's crumbling because they did.
That may or may not matter to you. However, if you are tired of the lackluster economy and the scary jobs situation in America, I have a great idea on how to fix it. Everyone should start buying American tomorrow. Think of it. We are the world's largest economy, and we are the major market for many countries. Unfortunately, we buy more foreign goods than we sell American goods. A lot more. This is called the U.S. trade deficit. For the last ten years we have averaged a yearly trade deficit of over a half trillion dollars. That is right--in excess of a half trillion dollars. If we made a concerted effort as a nation to buy predominantly American built items, we would turn that number around almost overnight. Then, guess what? Demand for American made goods would create a need to build those goods here. Obviously, this would create jobs. In a $14 trillion dollar economy, even a few percentage point change in the amount of goods bought from American made sources would mean billions of additional revenue dollars. This would translate into millions of jobs. We could solve all of our problems almost immediately if we would just wean ourselves from cheap foreign products.
Cheap. That's the one word reason for why people began to buy foreign goods. Because they were cheaper. The TV's made in Japan and China were cheaper than American made TV's. So when people started buying them, guess what happened to the American TV makers? They're mostly gone, that's what. The same thing happened to American stereo system producers. They were priced out of the market by foreign competitors. So the whole time we as a nation were buying the cheap products we were slowly but surely destroying our economy a little at a time. When U.S. automakers controlled 80% of the U.S. market, this country was on a roll. Now they control, I believe, about 47% of the market. Factories are shuttered and the government recently felt a need to launch a rescue of that industry. When we would see TV plants or auto factories close, we'd say to ourselves, "Whew, glad that wasn't me!" Well now the problem has become so acute that we can't ignore it anymore. It's not just happening to someone else, it's happening to many, many people. Well it's time to turn that around.
The problem won't be solved by government mandating that the people buy American goods, or by government putting tariffs on foreign goods. It has to be solved through persuasion, not coercion. When Americans realize that if they buy American made products they are helping assure the nation's future, then it almost becomes a patriotic act. People may pay a little more for American made goods due to our standard of living, but that would be offset by not buying so much junk being sold to us by the Chinese and other nations. "Junk?" you ask? Been to a Walmart lately? Do we really need all that stuff (for lack of a better word)? Look at the labels on pretty much anything in the store and look where it's made. Walmart is a huge reason why we have the problems we do. Once upon a time, Walmart actually ran an ad campaign saying they sold predominantly American made goods. However, they needed larger profit margins, so they started selling cheap imported goods. They are, the last time I looked, the largest retailer in America. They have helped create the mess we're in, all in the guise of trying to save you money. They never talk about the hundreds of thousands of jobs their policies have cost the American worker.
As I already stated, the average annual trade deficit of the United States is over half a trillion dollars. This is money coming out of my pocket and yours and, using various merchants as the middlemen, going into the pockets of people in other countries. I am just as guilty as anyone. I bought the cheap stereo systems, and I used to buy cars which weren't produced in America. But I've realized what that is doing to the country. We're selling ourselves out for trinkets!
So here is my suggestion. Let's all start paying attention to the labels which say where things are produced. If they say anywhere but America, think to yourself, "Do I really need this?" If the answer is "no", then put your money back in your pocket and spend it on something American made. Be careful, however. In my opinion, a Honda built in Marysville, Ohio and containing over 90% American made parts is an American made product, while, once again in my opinion, a Chevrolet made in Mexico is not. You have to look at the window sticker, you have to look at the label. The point is that these huge problems facing America can be solved, and this is one HUGE way to solve them.

Using the "Bully Pulpit"

One job the American president has is as kind of a coach for the American people. I am referring to what is known as the "Bully Pulpit". I presume this name came about because of Teddy Roosevelt, who used the presidency and the stage it gave him to great effect. The president, if he or she uses the right tone, can guide the national conversation, and can even convince the people it is right to do something, such as John Kennedy did when he convinced America to go to the moon. One thing I feel the president should use the bully pulpit for is to convince the American people to buy American products. You can't get into putting tariffs on goods unless you want your trading partner to do the same, thereby igniting a trade war. However, you can suggest to the American people that they buy American, and you can lay out the case for why.
There are websites which only sell products made in America, such as madeinusa.org or proudamericantradingpost.com. There are several others and, if you look, you can find pretty much everything. There aren't many TV's, I only found one a/v processor, and no stereos. However, if the American people suddenly had a demand for American made electronics, the supply would appear. People would take the risk, and that creates jobs. The bottom line is that we make relatively little here anymore. China builds the TV's we watch, and other nations put together the stereos we listen to and the iPOD's in our pockets. However, if the American consumer was convinced to look for products only here, once again, those products would be made here.
If people started looking at the labels on the products they buy and buying those labeled "Made in America" most of the time, the turnaround in our economy, debt situation, and employment picture would be almost immediate. When trying to decide what is American made, some things will fool you. The car I drive is a Honda Civic. Sounds like it's not American, doesn't it? However, it was manufactured in Ohio, and the parts content was 90% American, including the engine and drive train. To me, that's an American made product. I don't care that it doesn't say "Ford" or "Chevy" on it. Some products that have those labels are made in Mexico or Canada anyway, and I don't consider those vehicles American made, no matter what their names.
The American president has a lot of power which is not enumerated just because of the office. I feel he or she should use that office to convince the American people to start buying American again, to start running a trade surplus again, and to once again run this country in the black. Using the bully pulpit to do this would make Teddy proud.

The War We Should Be Fighting

We now find ourselves engaged in four wars, wars which are slowing eroding our machinery and which are killing our soldiers. Wars which are slowly bleeding us dry of our treasure. The war in Afghanistan was launched with the overwhelming approval of the American people in retaliation for 9/11 and is now in its tenth year. We still are not in total control of that desolate, mountainous country. Possibly we should have heeded what happened to the Soviet Union when they tried to subjugate that nation.  However, our aim there was to punish those who supported the 9/11 highjackers and kill Osama Bin Laden.  Both of those aims have been achieved. The Iraq war was entered into, once again, with the approval of the American people and the Congress of the United States. People now make the argument that "Bush lied, people died" to try and make some forget that there was 90% approval at the time for the president's actions. Those who didn't like President Bush have conveniently forgotten the fact that Saddam Hussein had ignored 19 United Nations resolutions demanding that he open his country for inspection, he had used poison gas on his own people, and he had kicked out the weapons inspectors. Suppose President Bush hadn't authorized the use of force and it turned out that Saddam had, in fact, stockpiled Sarin or some other easily deliverable lethal weapon? Then Bush would have been guilty of ignoring his #1 priority as president, which is to protect the American people.
I am not here to argue the past, however. It happened, we are there, and that's that.  Now we have entered into another potentially large conflict and one smaller one. President Obama has taken us into Libya, and has also launched drone attacks against targets in Yemen. This makes four hot spots where we are actively engaging hostile forces, and dozens more places around the globe where we maintain a military presence.  The point is that our military commitments keep expanding, eating up our national treasure.
Forget all that, for a moment, however. There is another war we should be fighting, one which would make all the current wars unnecessary. As I've said before, we should be in the midst of a Manhattan Project-style effort to make solar energy vehicles feasible. If we can do this, oil becomes a commodity which our nation isn't so dependent on, and the countries of the Middle East go back to what they were 75 years ago--desert nations of nomadic herders. They would lose their strategic importance because oil wouldn't matter anymore! So let's fight THAT war--the war for making solar energy economically feasible, and let's send the OPEC nations back to economic oblivion where they belong. The problem with this, as I've said before, is that the oil companies aren't going to just stand by and let us change to solar power because that REALLY hurts them. After all, they can't sell sunlight!

Help Balance the Scales

This back and forth between politicians about whether or not to cut spending has got to stop. We must balance the national budget, get it in the black, and start paying down our debt. Period. We must do it now. Here is what I recommend. We are currently running a budget deficit of about $1.1 trillion dollars on a budget of $3.7 trillion, or at least that's what we're told. I would immediately cut spending 25%, which is roughly where we were just four years ago. This would be about $925 billion. I would also recommend raising the gas tax $1 per gallon. Based on the daily usage in this country of 400 million gallons, that would equate to approximately $146 billion per year. There. Problem solved, budget balanced.
People will say how draconian and hard this would be and I agree. But we need to do this and we need to do it now before it destroys our country. We don't need VAT taxes, which would create huge new bureaucracies, and we should make the spending cuts across the board so that all share in the sacrifice. I'm not sure just how much a sacrifice it would be though. Once again, this isn't much more than we were spending just four years ago, and if we can't exist as a government on two and a half trillion dollars per year, then we've got problems.  We will find, I am sure, that there is more fat in some places than others, so some programs might be eliminated rather than cut 25%.  This would mean that some things would be cut less than 25%.  I think, first of all, that there is at least 10%-20% fat in the budget, maybe more.  After that, much of the cutting could be done through attrition, although there would have to be some layoffs. However, it may not turn out as bad as it may sound. If people realized we were serious about balancing our budget, a renaissance in investment would occur, and the private sector would take off. Those displaced government workers are presumably educated with a myriad of skills, and they could be absorbed into a robust economy.
That's my plan. It would require sacrifice from everyone, but in the long run it would be good for the nation.  Combined with my plan for changing the tax code, we could get this budget balanced and get the economy going.  The first thing the president should do is cut the presidential salary, staff, and expenses 25% as an example.   So let's get on board.  Let's all agree to do this. Let's all share the burden.  Then let's all move forward to a world where we aren't spending a half a trillion dollars a year on interest on our debt. Think about what we could do then. But first we have to get there, and it's going to take a team effort. The alternative is national bankruptcy, the ridicule and shame of the world, an immediate erosion in our defensive capabilities, and a short, quick trip to second power status.

To Ms. Schultz and the Democratic Party--Let's Follow The Law!

Recently Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), when discussing the problem of illegal immigration, spoke about how Republicans actually want to consider being here illegally as being "against the law". Well, I for one do consider being here illegally against the law, and I think anyone here against the law needs to leave. We have plenty of people who want to come here legally, who want to play by the rules and do it the right way. They should have priority when it comes to becoming citizens. There should be no path to an amnesty of any kind. We need to once again become a nation based on the rule of law. It is obvious that the Democrats only want illegals to be made citizens so they can get their votes.
Today, this same person, once again in the name of the Democratic party, made a statement that Republicans wanted to go all the way back to "Jim Crow" and that what Republicans want to do will disenfranchise those who are more likely to vote Democrat. What is it that Republicans want to do that is so racist and horrible? They want to have people show identification at the polls to make sure there isn't any fraud going on. What is Ms. Wasserman Schultz saying? Is she saying that a large constituency of the Democratic party can't produce identification? If they can, why is it a problem? Surely she isn't implying once again that Democrats don't want to follow a law? First illegal immigrants shouldn't be considered as breaking the law, now we shouldn't try to make sure our voting laws are being upheld and we don't have fraudulent people voting. I think it would be better if the Democratic party chair officially recognize that it is against the law to be here illegally, and that it is an affront to our democratic institutions to label a group of people as racist who only want to uphold the integrity of our system.

Health Care Mess

One of the larger problems facing the nation is what the heck to do about health care. I do have to commend Barack Obama for at least trying to do something about health care. However, I feel he and his administration have gone about it the wrong way. The huge new bureaucracies which have been and are being created, the complex exchanges, the coercive regulations facing business, the layer upon layer of government red tape, the need for thousands of waivers to prevent catastrophe and the questions about possible conflicts of interest these waivers create--for these reasons and more the plan known as "Obamacare" should be overturned. It also looks as if it may be unconstitutional from the viewpoint that it abrogates states' rights, but we'll see when that case comes up. Its constitutionality is also being tested concerning the government's ability to force people to buy a product. We'll see how this one comes out as well.
I do think that both of these ideas are unconstitutional, but not because government doesn't have the power to coerce. Government coerces all the time. If you don't buy auto insurance you can't legally drive your car and stiff penalties face you if you are caught. However, this is a power exercised by the states. I think that health care should work the same way. It should be a state issue. States should mandate health care coverage and have a means test which would identify a pool of people who need assistance obtaining coverage. These people would receive their health insurance for free, and their policies should not have deductibles. The means test could even be on a sliding scale so that people approaching poverty could receive some assistance with their health care costs. The details of this and the associated costs need to be worked out, but two points are relevant here. First, if we are going to have universal coverage, it is going to cost a lot of money, no matter what the system. Second, I do NOT think that any system should be federalized. It should be run by individual states. Block grants to cover costs could come from federal taxes, and be apportioned by population, or federal taxes could go down and state taxes go up. Either way would need to be worked out.
The other side of the issue, cost of care, is even more important. If cost of care can be reduced, costs will come down across the board. I have had a brain tumor removed, and my wife has fought breast cancer. My son was recently diagnosed with a rare and potentially fatal disease which almost killed him. In all three cases insurance covered the bulk of expenses, but when I saw the bills I was astounded. Diagnostic tests which cost thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars for hospital stays, doctor visits which cost hundreds and lasted five minutes, the list goes on and on. My wife, who is a breast cancer survivor, needed a certain type of shot when undergoing treatment which cost $3000 per dose! These type of exorbitant costs are ridiculous and to me are about as much of a scandal as a $3000 hammer or a $12,000 toilet, things we saw before when we had a scandal in defense spending. So the following is what I would recommend from a cost standpoint. First of all, I've said in a previous post that I recommend starting a program which would be run like the service academies, only for doctors. Students who were accepted into this program to study medicine would be required to work for six years in government run hospitals such as VA hospitals, or in government run clinics which would service the poorest in our society. They would work for a reduced income compared to others in the field but after their six years they could become a "free agent", so to speak, and go into private practice or join some other form of doctor group. They could also continue to serve their country by staying in their position, which would have a graduated pay system much like civil service.
In addition to this idea, I would give tax credits to doctors' offices and other clinics to buy medical equipment (as long as it was American made) so tests could be done on the premises. When there is a huge supply of medical equipment, costs for tests will go down. An X-Ray shouldn't cost over $1000!! An MRI shouldn't cost $3000!! Testing a patient's blood shouldn't cost hundreds or thousands! These machines and testing equipment should be everywhere, much as you can find blood pressure machines at every drugstore you visit. Granted, those aren't truly diagnostic in nature, but it does show that if you have enough machines it becomes cheap to use them. In addition, I would increase the incentives for people to buy machines made in America. This would help with our employment situation as well as help solve medical costs. We also need to enact tort reform, which would relieve the crushing insurance costs facing doctors, thereby further lowering costs.
So, the health care problem isn't insurmountable--no problem is. If we think of these things in logical terms, we can solve anything. This is America. We've always been able to solve our problems. Our problems right now are many. This is one of them.