Grading Barry's Economic Plan

Hey Barry:

Thought I'd put on my professor hat for a bit and look at your economic plan as presented here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/jointcommitteereport.pdf

Now, I understand that this is not a real economic plan - it is just a political move to direct criticism to the Reps. And, if this plan is stalled or watered down by the Reps - which it probably will be - then we can hope that voters will react by electing more Dems. The y'all can get together a real economic plan.

Make no mistake Barry: we are in a real crisis here and we need some real and effective action to correct negative trends in the economy.

But, this plan does not provide those.

This plan is a band-aid - if passed into law, it would bring some small comfort to a few folks and would not really hurt anything. So, from the Hippocratic perspective, y'all do no harm.

However, from the perspective of really fixing our country's economic ills, the plan is way short.

It is too timid and does not address the big, real issues.

We need 25 million jobs, not the 1.9 million that this plan might provide.

At the risk of repetition, here are the items that would be in a sound economic plan which WILL create millions of jobs:

1. Laws which make it easier for unions to organize workers.

2. More Justice Department regulators to prosecute companies which break laws which encourage workers to form unions.

3. Enforce all anti-monopoly laws and pass more.

4. Make oil, gas, electricity, water, sewer and telephone services into Public Utilities and regulate them with a Public Utility Commission.

5. Cancel all Free Trade agreements and replace them with tariffs that protect American jobs and companies.

6. Create a national industrial policy which identifies those industries we want and protects them.

7. Tax away the great fortunes and incomes for they drain resources away from job creation.

8. Restore Glass-Stegall so that commercial, lending banks can NOT buy assets - fix the biggest mistake we have made since 1789.

9. Keep Social Security and Medicare as high as possible. You need a better examination of both programs and a sound proposal that focuses on how to keep each program viable. Simply demanding that the programs be reduced for deficit reduction purposes is unworthy of a leader.

10. Manage our debt so that we borrow when we need stimulus. We can keep the average annual fiscal deficit around 3% of GDP over time with a little work, but with high unemployment, it is the time to stimulate, not contract.

11. Require that broadcasters provide free access to qualified political parties as a condition of their FCC license.

OK Barry - if you want an 'A', that's what your plan should look like.

As it stands today, I will grade your paper with a 'C-'.

You show promise, but you need to read more about economic policy and job creation. Please revise your work and resubmit it for reconsideration.

Professor McKeever