Jobs baby jobs
Michelle Malsbury, BSBM, MM
November 15, 2008
Senator Hillary Clinton´s reply to Senator John McCain´s campaign mantra of "drill baby drill" was that the solution to America´s problems was not to simply "drill baby drill", but to create "jobs baby jobs". The campaign is over and our new president-elect is Barack Obama. President-elect Obama knows the challenges America faces, from an economic perspective, are great. Mr. Obama has said that a key component to revving up our flagging economy is job creation. He has outlined a broad retinue of how he hopes he can work with congress to effectuate this end.
Ultimately, it will be congress acting that moves America out of our economic abyss and into prosperity. Hopefully, congress takes a few leadership tips from President Obama as he has aligned himself with some of the best and brightest minds across America to help formulate comprehensive steps that can begin to propel America out of her darkest moments and back into the light. There is hope, but we must be vigilant in keeping the faith and pushing for increased accountability and transparency from our congressional charges.
Bailout plans and stimulus packages are not what I foresee as a clear path out of this economic tsunami. Congress need to draw a distinction between the lack of regulation that was a contributing factor to this debacle and what measures need be enacted to prevent this from occurring again. Regulation need be comprehensive enough to keep unscrupulous persons from running their organizations and stock holders investments into the storm drains while taking out outlandish compensation, severance, and bonus packages. Regulation need provide clear means and measure for accountability, as well as, provisions for those who do not comply. A greater number of regulators need be hired to oversee this process. Salary, severance, and bonus caps need to be created for top level and mid level management of these organizations in order that we might curtail their unfettered greed and begin to force some modicum of fiduciary responsibility upon them.
As far as the overall functioning of the markets is concerned, if measures are in place to prohibit abuse of stockholders monies by greedy investment banking firms, especially those who traded regularly without holding monies traded on margin or in house, then short or long selling can continue to set market prices for such investment tools. Banks, investment firms, and insurers should never be again allowed to leverage more than 60% of what they have in liquid assets as when market conditions turn against them they may be unable to mitigate certain failure. FDIC need insure accounts up to $250,000 in order to garner consumer confidence once more.
Our automobile industry is ailing. Millions of people across America are unemployed or soon to be unemployed. Perhaps part of our automobile implosion comes from our manufacturers trying to manufacture too many variations of automobiles? I propose that they try to build one compact car, one truck, one SUV, one luxury car, and one crossover vehicle and do this to the very best of their abilities. They can continue to build the special order automobiles for the few who want to personalize their vehicles, but they no longer have to manufacture so many variations that they cannot effectively turn a profit or compete on the world platform. There are times when less can mean more. Automobile manufacturers need to be handed incentives to develop green fueled cars, trucks, and SUV´s with increased mpg´s that can move us away from our dependence on foreign oil and allow us to move farther between fill-ups. The development of bio-fuels has not been pursued to its logical ends. Many jobs can be created by investing in this technology from farmers to scientists to end users.
America has got to invest in new and innovative sciences that can help us to once again become leaders in those industries, as well as, make us more competitive with our global friends. Boone T. Pickins has a comprehensive energy plan that can be tapped into such that we begin to facilitate green sector job creation that in turn helps to rebuild and repair our old infrastructure. This investment need begin in our schools across America as an investment in education is crucial to development of youth into adulthood leadership skills. A country-wide curriculum may go a long way toward ensuring that all students are receiving the same quality education and developing competitive skills sets for their futures. Teacher compensation need be a prime consideration in the hiring and retaining of the best possible talent to educate our children and to increase accountability. A quality education should be a right and not a privilege for ALL Americans at every level in their educational journey.
By the time President –elect Obama assumes his office in January of 2009 he should have planned, organized, and readied congress for the long journey ahead. The expectations are great, but he [President Obama] has stated that we may need to temper those expectations with a cautious dose of patience while continuing to maintain hope for the changes he inspired on his quest toward this historic office. Americans need be watchful and unafraid of voicing our opinions, concerns, wishes, and desires because President-elect Obama has said he hears our voices and acts accordingly.
Ultimately, it will be congress acting that moves America out of our economic abyss and into prosperity. Hopefully, congress takes a few leadership tips from President Obama as he has aligned himself with some of the best and brightest minds across America to help formulate comprehensive steps that can begin to propel America out of her darkest moments and back into the light. There is hope, but we must be vigilant in keeping the faith and pushing for increased accountability and transparency from our congressional charges.
Bailout plans and stimulus packages are not what I foresee as a clear path out of this economic tsunami. Congress need to draw a distinction between the lack of regulation that was a contributing factor to this debacle and what measures need be enacted to prevent this from occurring again. Regulation need be comprehensive enough to keep unscrupulous persons from running their organizations and stock holders investments into the storm drains while taking out outlandish compensation, severance, and bonus packages. Regulation need provide clear means and measure for accountability, as well as, provisions for those who do not comply. A greater number of regulators need be hired to oversee this process. Salary, severance, and bonus caps need to be created for top level and mid level management of these organizations in order that we might curtail their unfettered greed and begin to force some modicum of fiduciary responsibility upon them.
As far as the overall functioning of the markets is concerned, if measures are in place to prohibit abuse of stockholders monies by greedy investment banking firms, especially those who traded regularly without holding monies traded on margin or in house, then short or long selling can continue to set market prices for such investment tools. Banks, investment firms, and insurers should never be again allowed to leverage more than 60% of what they have in liquid assets as when market conditions turn against them they may be unable to mitigate certain failure. FDIC need insure accounts up to $250,000 in order to garner consumer confidence once more.
Our automobile industry is ailing. Millions of people across America are unemployed or soon to be unemployed. Perhaps part of our automobile implosion comes from our manufacturers trying to manufacture too many variations of automobiles? I propose that they try to build one compact car, one truck, one SUV, one luxury car, and one crossover vehicle and do this to the very best of their abilities. They can continue to build the special order automobiles for the few who want to personalize their vehicles, but they no longer have to manufacture so many variations that they cannot effectively turn a profit or compete on the world platform. There are times when less can mean more. Automobile manufacturers need to be handed incentives to develop green fueled cars, trucks, and SUV´s with increased mpg´s that can move us away from our dependence on foreign oil and allow us to move farther between fill-ups. The development of bio-fuels has not been pursued to its logical ends. Many jobs can be created by investing in this technology from farmers to scientists to end users.
America has got to invest in new and innovative sciences that can help us to once again become leaders in those industries, as well as, make us more competitive with our global friends. Boone T. Pickins has a comprehensive energy plan that can be tapped into such that we begin to facilitate green sector job creation that in turn helps to rebuild and repair our old infrastructure. This investment need begin in our schools across America as an investment in education is crucial to development of youth into adulthood leadership skills. A country-wide curriculum may go a long way toward ensuring that all students are receiving the same quality education and developing competitive skills sets for their futures. Teacher compensation need be a prime consideration in the hiring and retaining of the best possible talent to educate our children and to increase accountability. A quality education should be a right and not a privilege for ALL Americans at every level in their educational journey.
By the time President –elect Obama assumes his office in January of 2009 he should have planned, organized, and readied congress for the long journey ahead. The expectations are great, but he [President Obama] has stated that we may need to temper those expectations with a cautious dose of patience while continuing to maintain hope for the changes he inspired on his quest toward this historic office. Americans need be watchful and unafraid of voicing our opinions, concerns, wishes, and desires because President-elect Obama has said he hears our voices and acts accordingly.
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