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Nothing like the open road to clear the mind - Comments (0)
by Derrick Martin - 9/8/2011
Like many people, I find that driving long hours on long stretches of highway is the best way to clear my mind. And my summer break provided many opportunities to clear my brain and to think outside the box (or as others would say, “think crazily”) about our country’s current problems.
One radio show to which I was listening was discussing just how many jobs have been sent overseas by American corporations. The reporter made the comment that most American corporations are not forthcoming with that information.
“No kidding!” I said to myself. The phrase “honest corporation” is a complete oxymoron, so it’s no surprise that corporations would choose not to quantify and share that information with reporters.
It was stated that General Electric (GE), once considered the quintessential American corporation, now employs less than 30 percent of its workforce here in America. The other 70-plus percent? They’re in places like China, India, Mexico, Indonesia and points beyond.
And it made me think: All I hear politicians and presidential hopefuls talking about is how they will create more American jobs if they are elected to power. But then I thought to myself, “What if there’s really nothing left to create? Since most jobs now exist overseas and any future jobs can expect to be created outside our borders?”
Then I had this idea: The government could pass a law stating that all corporations must provide a complete and accurate list of all jobs that once resided in America that now exist overseas. Once the government has that information in its hands?
Let’s say GE has shipped 100,000 jobs overseas. Let’s say the grand total of pay and benefits from those jobs in U.S. dollars is $100 million.
Congress then gives GE an ultimatum: Either bring all of those jobs back to the U.S. or face a tax of $150 million (because we all know that corporations don’t pay taxes anyways!).
GE can either tax itself $150 million or pay $50 million less if they bring those 100,000 jobs back to the U.S. If GE keeps the jobs overseas, it’s an extra $150 million in the government’s coffers that we must, by law, use to pay down our debt.
Or, it’s an extra 100,000 jobs back in the U.S. with 100,000 additional unemployed workers in China. Everyone wins! (Well…I guess China doesn’t win. So, all the better!)
If every American corporation was to bring back all of the jobs from overseas that once existed in America through the use of legal government extortion, we’re talking additional U.S. jobs that could easily number in the hundreds of thousands, even millions. Our unemployment rate drops to 1%. Consumer spending shoots to the moon, which means those same corporations’ earnings will increase.
“Not bad,” I thought to myself as I spit a sunflower seed shell into my empty water bottle.
Then there’s the issue of taxes. Everyone seems to agree that taxes are necessary, but we just don’t approve of how and where they’re spent.
“How simple,” I thought to myself.
When you get a new job, you’re required to fill out a W-4 form to determine your federal tax situation. And you can update your W-4 whenever you feel like it.
So, on the form they should just simply list the 15 federal departments and other federal agencies that receive American taxpayer dollars. On your W-4 form, you can then specifically designate what percentage of your tax money you want to go to what agency.
Then, Congress is mandated to make sure that this sum total, as designated on our W-4 forms, goes to those appropriate agencies. Each agency would receive baseline funding. But what “We the People…” designate on our W-4 forms would make up the rest of the federal funding for each agency.
“Who needs Congress?” I thought to myself. “They can’t even decide when to hold a joint-session-of-Congress speech without acting like 4 year olds.” (My apologies to all 4 year olds who are, and ought to be, offended.)
So whether it’s 25 percent of your tax dollars to Defense, 50 percent to Health and Human Services and 25 percent to Veterans Affairs… whatever your fancy is where you can send the majority of your tax dollars directly.
Well summer is now over and the “innovative” ideas that could save our country will be tabled until next summer.
For now, enjoy autumn, look out for kids crossing the street on the way to school, enjoy watching the Broncos go 4-12 this season, and winterize your vehicles.
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