Obviously the biggest thing happening in this election right now is the debate over the economy. What spending should we cut, what spending is okay, and should we raise taxes? Well I had a thought the other day, it’s kind of rambly and it may or may not be an old idea of FDR…but give it a chance.
So in general I believe the spending we should cut is defense and the war on drugs and I think we should put money into infrastructure and green jobs. But defense will never be cut because that will eliminate jobs and we really don’t have the extra money to put into building. So this is my proposal:
Bring home the way too many National Guard troops we have overseas and put them to work here, as they should be anyway. Have them work with engineers and construction workers to rebuild our sewers, roads, electrical grids, and to retrofit buildings for green energy. They could physically work in construction, they can learn on the job with architects and engineers setting them up for jobs later, or they could work security for constructions sites.
This will do several things for the economy. It will pull defense spending and our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and put it back into a country that desperately needs it. Not only will the troops be safer, they will be creating new jobs here at home, building up the supporting industries like steel, concrete, and architectural firms. This will put us on more of a competitive level with countries like China. There are American companies who have green technologies but because there is not a demand for it here, they go overseas to other countries who are on board. This is robbing us of a potential booming industry.
Not only will this help the economy by creating jobs, it will also make us SAFER! An example of this is the tragedy in New Orleans when Katrina hit. Those levees should have been stronger and the government knew that beforehand. But because they didn’t have the money, hundreds of people died when they didn’t have to. What if we have another black out? Would that leave us vulnerable to attack? What if a dam fails and that deprives a city with drinking water? Something similar happened recently in Ames, Iowa. A water main burst and people were without water for days.
So to wrap this up, troops leave Iraq and Afghanistan. That should make people happy. Money is being put into our country and jobs are being created. That should make people happy. We would be moving into cleaner energy. That should make people really happy. I’m not an economist by any means, but doesn’t this sound like it might work?
