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DRAFT

PLAN TO PUT AMERICA AND THE WORLD TO WORK , Jumpstart the Economy, End the Recession and Avoid a Massive World Wide Depression

(http://www.wethepeoplenow.org/put_america_to_work.pdf )

(Updated January 26, 2010)

This Plan outlines proposed actions to:

• Create 20 million new jobs in the U. S. in Vital Work, Programs and Projects

• Provide Additional Sources of Funds for Jobs and Recovery and Reinvestment Efforts and Reduce the Deficit

• Accelerate, Improve the Effectiveness and Reduce the Cost of Reinvestment and Recovery Efforts

• Help create one billion jobs world wide, at living wages by the end of July 2010

It should be expanded into independent state and local plans and overall plans for each discipline/area including health care, education, transportation, housing, energy, clean water and affordable, nutritious food.

This plan should be accomplished in parallel with the Plan to Reform and Regulate Financial Systems and Resolve the Foreclosures, Mortgages, Derivatives, and Banking Crises.

INTRODUCTION

The current “Great Recession” is now by far the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930's. Six million jobs had been lost as of May, 2009, the 17^th Month of the current recession. Over 4.2 million of these jobs were lost in the seven months leading up to May.

About 2.8 million jobs were lost during the 16 month long, 1981-1982 recession, which has now become the second worse depression since the Great Depression.

Unless drastic and immediate actions are taken, the current “Great Recession” of 2008-? is likely to become worse than the “Great Depression” of the 1930's.

A. Vital Work, Programs and Projects That Provide at least 20 million Employment Opportunities

In coordination with related ongoing efforts, create at least 20 million jobs no later than June 30, 2010 in meaningful work at living wages from the below open-ended list of vital work, programs and projects. These employment opportunities should in particular be available for veterans, low-income and homeless individuals, out-of-school youth, and others facing multiple barriers to employment. If workers do not receive living wages and businessmen and bankers continue to receive massive wages and attempt to generate massive profits there will not be enough customers nor enough purchases. These jobs should help provide the following:

1. Vital Services. Restore and maintain vital services: electricity, natural gas, police, fire, pubic transportation, highways, public health, education, etc. No state or local government employees should be laid off.

2. Universal Single-Payer Healthcare.

a. Provide nationwide single payer medicare, comprehensive, universal, physical, dental, mental health care, pharmaceutical and long term care (LTC) for all to be delivered by public and private resources under a streamlined medicare/medicaid system. According to the report, Single Payer /Medicare Healthcare for All (http://www.calnurses.org/research/pdfs/ihsp_sp_economic_study_2009.pdf) this would:

i. Create 2,613,495 million new permanent, good-paying jobs

ii. Boost the economy with $317 billion in increased business and public revenues

iii. Add $100 billion in employee compensation

iv. Infuse public budgets with $44 billion in new tax revenues

b. Make hospitals like Walter Reed (which is scheduled to be closed) and other city, county, state and federal hospitals/clinics and community health centers into government owned, not for profit contractor operated (GOCO) Medicare/Medicaid, hospitals/clinics that educate, train and qualify doctors, nurses, dentists, nurses aids and other health care personnel.

c. Build 1000 new modern hospitals and clinics equipped with the latest technology

d. Pay family and friend care-givers who are taking care of disabled, mentally retarded or elderly needing long term care.

3. Affordable housing for all

a. Build, rehabilitate or otherwise obtain about 2.8 million well insulated homes to provide affordable housing for low income and homeless people in particular in inner cities and in suburbs near passenger rail and metro lines. Learn more about this from the National Housing Trust Fund website: http://www.nlihc.org/detail/article.cfm?article_id=5552&id=48.

4. Affordable, clean, sustainable, alternative fuel and energy sources including: solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, ocean thermal conversion (OTC) and VIVACE (vortex induced vibration aquatic clean energy) a new technology that generates clean and renewable energy from currents in waterways and oceans..

5. Affordable transportation/transit for all. Instead of building more new highways and privately owned toll roads/lanes, modernize existing highways and build a low carbon emission, integrated, comprehensive public transportation/transit systems that includes:

a. Highspeed interstate rail/bullet trains

b. Light rail mass transit systems in all large and medium sized cities in particular along existing right of ways and beltways where possible

c. Energy-efficient clean buses for rural areas and suburban areas.

d. Bike/walking paths and overpasses.

e. Bus lanes.

6. Education

a. Free, quality universal pre-kindergarten, K-12 education and on site childcare.

b. Free, comprehensive vocational training in particular in the work areas outlined here.

c. Affordable, if not free, higher education and lifetime learning.

d. Hire massive numbers of teachers, teacher aids, childcare workers and counselors.

e. Pay students in vocational training in high schools to maintain their schools, for coop jobs in garages, electronics shops and recycling centers, in stores and on farms.

f. Provide affordable, if not free, higher education and lifetime learning

7. Clean, safe environments, air and water.

a. Enhanced, clean up and environmental protection of our air, wetlands, watersheds, rivers, creeks, lakes, dams, levees, aquifers, water works, wastewater and hazardous waste systems..

b. Additional needed social services.

c. Extensive restorative justice services, counseling, mentoring, educating, training, group therapy and providing employment opportunities.

d. Decriminalize nonviolent drug offenses and empty our prisons of nonviolent drug offenders. Ramp up the public health system to address drug addiction as a serious national health problem rather than a moral and criminal one. We can reduce both federal and state government costs by ending the drug war. (Please note, this is not the same as "legalizing" illegal drugs. But it does represent a major shift in how we approach the problem.)

8. Retrofit, modernize, weatherize, fireproof and improve energy efficiency of schools, public buildings, hospitals, businesses and homes with:

a. Energy conservation and technologies and methodologies: improve insulation, replace inefficient heating and cooling systems, water heaters and lighting, remove/contain lead paint and asbestos.

b. Improve passive and active fire protection technologies and methodologies

9. A Rebuilt New Orleans.

10. Protection against wild fires:

a. Convert existing surplus aircraft to firefighting aircraft and build new firefighting aircraft. This work should employ modern technologies such as stir welding of aluminum. These firefighting aircraft could be equipped with the latest technology such as night vision, GPS, all weather capability, sophisticated digital sensors and communications and the precision containerized aerial delivery (PCAD) firefighting system (PCADi) Construct more libraries in particular in rural communities and use to expand broadband access.

11. Comprehensive recycling and composting of everything.

12. Completion of the backlogs of work projects in national, state, and local parks.

13. Expanded, affordable recreational, sports, cultural, music, theater, and art programs.

14. Additional programs/projects to both reduce global warming and mitigate its ill effects.

15. A retooling of factories to build rail, rail cars, electric cars and buses, renewable energy sources, health care technologies and other items needed for all the above.

B. Actions to Provide Additional Sources of Funds for Jobs and Recovery and Reinvestment Efforts and Reduce the Deficit

1. End the illegal Iraq and Afghanistan wars/occupations now. If necessary replace our troops with a United Nations international peace-keeping mission from neutral nations with at least 50 percent of the mission to be from nations with large Muslim populations. (See the WeThePeopleNow.org for additional information about ending the war and withdrawing)

2. Reallocate funds from items in the Stimulus Act that do not contribute to rapidly creating jobs and providing assistance for unemployed workers and struggling families and individuals. A few examples of such items are provided in Section C below.

3. Establish a “federally-owned lending facility ” that provides very low or no interest loans to states and local governments, manufacturers and non profits with solid business plans for vital programs/projects and associated employment opportunities .

4. Repeal the Wall Street and bank bailout legislation, (Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, Pub. Law 110-3 43, Div. A)

5. Nationalize the Federal Reserve System and operate it as a government owned, contractor operated entity

6. Recoup as much as possible of the $12.8-23,7trillion of taxpayers money that the Federal Reserve, FDIC and U. S. Treasury have provided or committed to financial institutions over the past 18 months or so. Prohibit the Federal Reserve, FDIC or the Treasury from providing additional funds, buying any securities or making any additional guarantees without the express permission of Congress. In the future, Congress make all decisions about “coining,” appropriations, money supply, interest rates and loan guarantees by public laws, passed by the House and the Senate and signed by the President as required by the Constitution.

7. Recoup funds from the repeal of parts of the Wall Street bailout legislation that were used to buy stock, loaned out or was otherwise disbursed by the Department of the Treasury

8. End the so called “War on Terror.” Treat acts of terror as crimes, repeal the FISA Supplement of 2008, the Military Commission Act of 2006, stop spending taxpayer money on wire tapping, illegal searches, arrests and detentions of Americans and others. Promote safety and security with constitutional laws that protect civil rights and ensure people are treated humanely and provided restorative justice opportunities as appropriate.

9.Close all overseas bases and facilities and greatly curtail deployment of military vessels and aircraft.

10. Cease U.S. threats, attacks or covert operations, including those by the CIA, and propaganda, against all countries without a formal declaration of war by Congress.

11. Create one billion jobs at living wages worldwide. Fund this work in about the same ways outlined above for the U. S. including in particular:

a. Nationalizing Central money issuing banks and Government lend money directly

b. Progressive income/revenues and property taxes on individuals and companies

12. Phase-out/eliminate nuclear modernization programs, the anti ballistic missile system program, the F-22, F-35 and other military aircraft programs, nuclear submarines and similar programs.

13. Eliminate military aid and assistance to Israel

14. Eliminate wasteful government spending, earmarks and corporate subsidies

15. Eliminate "shadow contractors" and black ops and downsize the national intelligence apparatus.

16. Cease torturing or treating any detainee inhumanely; arresting or detaining anyone without probable cause; secretly arresting or detaining anyone and performing secret renditions.

17. Cease wiretapping without warrants

18. Cancel all contracts for private security contractors and war profiteers.

19. Revise the 2010 budget to reflect the actions in this plan and the Plan to Resolve the Foreclosure, Mortgage, Derivative, and Banking Crises, and Reform and Regulate Financial Systems, http://www.wethepeoplenow.org/reform_financial_sys.pdf.

20. Reform and reorganize Congress. Eliminate duplicative authorization committees and organize by function. For example, the Agriculture Committee in parallel with the Department of Agriculture would in spirit become the Food Committee and Department of Food and be responsible for insuring that there is affordable, healthy food on the shelves of markets. Similarly there would be health, clean water, clean air, affordable housing, etc. committees and department/agencies.

21. Enact progressive business revenue and personal income taxes and “net asset” property taxes that lessen poverty, lower taxes on the middle class and encourage public service.

a. Enact very progressive tax rates on all offshore and onshore personal income, including inheritances, capitol gains, and stock dividends offshore and on all business revenues including from offshore businesses and accounts with very reasonable zero tax thresholds. This is necessary because individuals can hide income and property taxes in businesses and vice versa.

b. Enact very progressive tax rates on business and personal “net worth” (all assets including stocks, land, investments and mineral rights minus all liabilities including debts, mortgages, etc.). This is necessary to control the growing wealth divide.

c. Phase out/eliminate the inheritance tax, sales taxes, the many minuscule taxes that show up on phone and cable bills and other digressive taxes.

d. Provide very generous tax deductions up to almost tax credits for very worthwhile contributions to non-profit causes. Encourage well-heeled individuals to take on important large massive projects. For example T. Boone Pickens could help manage the development of windpower for one dollar a year, others could take on water, solar power, prison reform, clean air, power distribution, adopt cities, entire countries, etc.. These projects should roughly mirror the committees and departments/agencies in the newly organized congress and executive department organized.

e. Eliminate unjust tax loopholes

22. a. Impose a Tobin tax or Securities Transfer Tax (STT) of one percent (1%) to be paid by the broker on all financial transactions.

23. Impose a general debt moratorium, payment holiday(s) or payment freeze on all bonded debt of the state

C. EXAMPLES OF ITEMS FROM THE STIMULUS ACT THAT DO NOT SIGNIFICANTLY CONTRIBUTE TO RAPIDILY CREATING JOBS OR PROVIDING ASSISTANCE FOR UNEMPLOYED WORKERS AND STRUGGLING FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS

Enact legislation on a priority basis to redirect items from the Stimulus Act that do not contribute to rapidly creating jobs and providing assistance for unemployed workers and struggling families and individuals and apply these savings to job creation.

Following are examples of such items:

All of the appropriations for military research development test and evaluation (RDT&E) and operations and maintenance. There are literally billions of dollars for these accounts in the 2008 and 2009 Iraq War Supplementals and the 2009 Defense Authorization and Appropriation Acts.

1. National Institute of Standards and Technology scientific and technical research and services

2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operations research procurement and acquisition

3. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE General Administration, tactical law enforcement wireless communications, Detention Trustee United States Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Prison System, State and Local Law Enforcement Activities, Office on Violence Against Women, violence against women prevention and prosecution programs, Office of Justice Programs state and local law enforcement assistance, Community Oriented Policing Services

4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration aeronautics, exploration and cross agency support.

5. National Science Foundation, research and related activities.

6. $35 billion dollars for digitized health records. (A standard digitized record format should be agreed to first and should be a part of single payer health care systems.)

D. Actions to Accelerate, Improve the Effectiveness and Reduce the Cost of Reinvestment and Recovery Efforts

1. Establish an improved Work Projects Administration (WPA) and “Civilian Corps” in conservation, construction, engineering, medical, environmental and IT with strong leaders to coordinate planning and administer the work.

2. Work with AmeriCorps, adapt their processes and perhaps hire some of their alumni. Develop prioritized lists of work to be done and plans in the public and private sector at the national, state and local levels by location.

3. Convert from a war and conflict economy to a peace and green economy:

a. Bring all troops home from occupations, base and facilities overseas and drastically reduce the size of the standing U.S. military and have the military in civilian clothes provide much of the leadership, training, logistics, financial and technical personnel for the new WPA and “Civilian Corps.” Do not involuntarily discharge any of them; and, as appropriate assign or allow them to remain in the States National Guards (under the control of the governors). To those that wish can go into regular jobs, to college, the Peace Corps or UN Peacekeeping.

b. Use excess Department of Defense land, bases, facilities, buildings, equipments and even ships, vehicles and aircraft for peaceful, productive purposes including:

i. Bases, facilities, buildings could be for the WPA and Civilian Corps to plan, train and manage work from.

ii. Barracks could be used as dormitories and emergency housing

iii. Land could be used to build affordable housing and communities

iv. Walter Reed and other military hospitals and clinics which are being closed could be turned into not for profit Medicare/Medicaid hospitals and clinics that provides free, single payer comprehensive physical, dental, and mental health care for everyone, civilians, military and veterans, and also educate and trains, doctors, nurses, dentists, nurses aids and other health care personnel.

v. Firefighting training facilities on bases could be used to train civilian firefighters.

vi. National Guard helicopters, C-130, C-17 and other military aircraft equipped with precision containerized aerial delivery (PCAD) systems could be used for fighting wild fires and combating hazardous material incidents. Testing of prototype PCAD firefighting systems are ongoing.

4. Government purchase insolvent companies such as Chrysler and General Motors and operate them as government owned contractor operated (GOCO) entities. Keep their workforce. Convert these factories to produce both:

a. Environmental friendly, energy efficient, safe versions of the products that they normally produce e.g. automobiles and new modes of transportation for Chrysler and GM.

b. New items needed for the work outlined in Section A of this plan.

5. Assign the management of specific DoD contracts to the new Work Projects Administration (WPA) and convert these contracts from producing weapon systems to producing products for peaceful, productive purposes in particular for the work, programs and projects listed in Section B above. For example, instead of producing untested F35 fighter/bombers, build firefighting aircraft to combat the ever increasing wildfire threat which is being exacerbated by global warming. This work should employ modern technologies such as stir welding of aluminum. Also, these firefighting aircraft should be equipped with modern technology including as night vision, GPS, all weather capability, sophisticated digital sensors and communications and the precision containerized aerial delivery (PCAD) firefighting system (PCAD).

There are many other weapons system contracts that should be converted to peaceful productive uses including the anti-ballistic systems, the new aerial tankers and nuclear submarines,

6. Conduct the contracting, work, bookkeeping and disbursement of funds locally using

a. An industrial funds system approach

b. Management type contracts with companies not paid a profit or percentage of the value of the contract and/or temporary or permanent government hires with managers and workers paid hourly wages at the Davis Bacon local prevailing rates.

This will speed up contracting and reduce costs

7. Encourage and work with state governments to develop and execute integrated plans.

E. EFFORTS TO HELP PUT THE WORLD TO WORK

Certain U.S. stockbrokers, bankers, corporation executives and government officials caused much of the worldwide economic crisis. Helping the rest of the world to recovery from the crisis is the right thing to do. Unless the rest of the world does recover quickly, there will be mass starvation, pollution, immigration and increases in terrorist acts. The U.S. is not in competition with the other countries of the world. There should come a time when each large country/area of the globe does most of its own manufacturing and provides most of its own services to its own people.

1. Require all agencies of the government to cooperate with other countries, to create at least one billion jobs within the next twelve months in meaningful work at living wages. Fund this work in about the same ways outlined above for the U. S. including in particular:

a. Nationalizing Central money banks and Government lend money directly

b. Progressive income/revenues and property taxes on individuals, companies and multi-national corporations.

2. Fund diplomacy, not armaments, conflicts, war and spying.

3. Strengthen and expand the U.S. Peace Corps and U.S. Agency for International Development (AID).

4. Support and help strengthen and expand the roles and assistance provided by the United Nations, its agencies and peacekeeping teams.

5. Replace foreign military aid and CIA spying and covert operations with increased economic aid and development funding. This funding should be managed by the State Department, Peace Corps and AID and, as much as possible, benefit the people of the country not to the government.

6. On a country by country basis, turn over bases, land, facilities, buildings, equipments and even ships, vehicles and aircraft for peaceful, productive purposes as appropriate to the host country and if appropriate items and portions to UN Peacekeeping Forces and/or the State Department, Peace Corps and AID for used to distribute and help with economic aid and development

7. Develop a general approach to decrease need for massive world wide trade whereby each country generally produces goods for their own markets and nearby countries and pay their employees enough to be customers of their own goods.

8. Prevent additional Free Trade Agreements being passed and repeal free trade laws including NAFTA and CAFTA and replace them with fair trade laws .

9. Reform the World Bank and IMF so that they serve the people, not just the rich

KEY ACTIONS THAT MUST BE TAKEN

The President must tell the American people that the efforts to improve the economy so far have been inadequate and to improve the economy, end the recession and avoid a massive world wide depression, Congress, the Administration, state and local governments and business leaders must work together and accomplish the items outlined in this document:

Create 20 million new jobs in the U. S. and help create one billion jobs world wide, at living wages by the end of July 2010. These jobs should provide/maintain:

1. Vital services, electricity, natural gas, police, fire, public transportation, highways, public health, education. State or local government employees should not be laid off.

2. Free, comprehensive, single payer, universal healthcare for all

3. Affordable food, housing, clean sustainable energy, public transportation and college education for all

4. Free pre-kindergarten schooling and comprehensive vocational training for all

5. Clean, safe secure environments, air and water

6. Mitigation of the extent and effects of global climate change

7. Other vital work, projects and programs listed in Section A below

Fund this work from the following:

1. End the Iraq and Afghanistan wars/occupations

2. Reallocate funds to job creation from items in the Stimulus Act that do not contribute to rapidly creating jobs or providing assistance to unemployed and the needy.

3. Take the actions in the Plan to Reform Financial Systems, including:

a. Repeal all the Wall Street and bank bailout legislation, nationalize the Federal Reserve System, and recoup as much as possible of the $12.8-23.7trillion of taxpayers money that the Federal Reserve, FDIC and U. S. Treasury have provided or committed to financial institutions over the past 18 months or so.

b. Federal governments issue and loan money directly as required by the Constitution and as necessary establish a “federally-owned lending facility ” to make low or no interest loans directly to states and worthwhile businesses and institutions that generate jobs.

c. States can charter their own state-owned banks that issue low-interest credit on the fractional reserve model similar to the Bank of North Dakota (BND).

4. End the so called “War on Terror”

5. Close overseas military bases and facilities

6. Cancel contracts for private security contractors and war profiteers

7. Reform and reorganize Congress and the Executive Branch. Eliminate duplicative authorization and appropriation committees/subcommittees and departments organize by function and hold individual legislators and officials responsible. For example, everyone on the Agriculture Committee and the Department of Agriculture should be responsible for insuring that everyone in the country has access to affordable, healthy food. Similarly. there should be health, clean water, clean air, affordable housing, etc. committees.

8. Eliminate wasteful government spending, earmarks and corporate subsidies

9. Impose a Tobin tax or Securities Transfer Tax (STT) of one percent (1%) to be paid by the broker on all financial transactions.

10. Enact a progressive business revenue tax, personal income taxes and business “net asset” property taxes that lessen poverty, lower taxes on the middle class and encourage public service.

11. Impose a general debt moratorium, payment holiday(s) or payment freeze on all bonded debt of the state.

12. Revise the 2010 budget to reflect the actions in this plan and in the Plan to Resolve the Foreclosure, Mortgage, Derivative, and Banking Crises, and Reform and Regulate Financial Systems, http://www.wethepeoplenow.org/reform_financial_sys.pdf.

13. Other sources and actions listed in Sections B and C of the Plan to Put America to work

D. Improve effectiveness of recession recovery efforts with the following actions:

1. Establish an improved WPA (Work Projects Administration) and “Civilian Corps”.

2. Bring all troops home, including for example entire hospital staffs, to provide much of the leadership, training, logistics, financial and technical personnel for recovery efforts.

3. Use excess DoD bases, buildings, facilities, equipments, ships, vehicles and aircraft for peaceful, productive recovery purposes.

a. Environmentally friendly, energy efficient, safe versions of the products that they normally produce e.g. automobiles and new modes of transportation for Chrysler and GM.

b. New items needed for the work outlined in Section A of this plan.

5. Assign the management of specific DoD contracts to the new WPA and convert these contracts from producing weapons to producing products for peaceful, productive purposes. For example, instead of producing the untested F35 fighter/bomber, build firefighting aircraft to combat the ever increasing wildfire threat which is being exacerbated by global warming.

6. Other actions listed in Section D below

E. Help put the rest of the world to work

Working with other countries and the United Nations and its agencies:

1. Create one billion jobs at living wages worldwide. Other governments could fund this work in about the same way outlined above for the U. S. including in particular:

a. Nationalize their own central banks and lend money/issue credi directly

b. Apply progressive income/revenues and property taxes on individuals and companies

2. Convert from a war and conflict economy to a peace and green economy

3. Fund diplomacy, not armaments, conflicts, war and spying

4. Strengthen and expand the U.S. Peace Corps and U.S. Agency for International Development (AID)

5. Support and strengthen assistance provided by the UN and its agencies

6. Replace foreign military aid and CIA spying and covert operations with increased economic aid and development funding.

7. Turn over U.S. bases, land, facilities, equipments, ships and vehicles for peaceful, productive purposes to the host country and/or to the U.N. as appropriate

8. Other actions listed in Section E below

F. Understand and correct the primary causes of the ongoing unemployment, underemployment and personal financial crises outlined in Section C and Attachment A of the Plan to Resolve the Economic, Foreclosure, Mortgage, Derivative, and Banking Crises .

BACKGROUND

According to official Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of June 1, 2009, 14.5 million Americans are unemployed and the unemployment rate rose to 9.4% and another 9.1 million are only able to find part time work.

As can be seen in the below figure, the increase in unemployment has been a straight line for the past seven months. Since Congress and the President are doing essentially nothing to change this, unemployment is like to increase increase indefinitely.

To grasp the severity of the current downturn, it is useful to compare it to the last severe post-World War II contraction in 1981-1982. The 1981-1982 recession lasted 16 months, although it took several years for employment to recover to its pre-recession level. In 1982, at the end of the recession, employment had dropped by 2,824,000 jobs or by 3.1% of payroll employment. By 16 months into the current “great recession,” the U.S. economy had already shed 5,656,000 jobs or more than twice the number of jobs lost in that earlier recession. The current recession has not yet ended. By May, employment had dropped by 6 million jobs or 4.3% of payroll employment. This comparison is shown graphically on the following page:

Cumulative employment losses 16 months from the start of the current recession compared to 16 months from the start of the recession in 1981-1982. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Figure 1. Unemployment rate May 2007 - May 2009 and projected to May 2010

Credible sources believe that the actual number of unemployed are twice the government’s official number. For example, the Jobs Solution, By Leo Hindery Jr. & Donald W. Riegle Jr., in the April 20, 2009 edition of The Nation stated that there are in all, 26.9 million unemployed Americans [over twice what the official number was at about the same time] , who have little or no financial safety net--and, sadly, there are several million more to come. ... . we cannot be at all surprised that our food kitchens are serving millions of people, our homeless shelters are filled to capacity and Hooverville-type tent cities are cropping up in every region of the country.

The $787 billion Stimulus Act is unlikely to create more than a half a million jobs this year. It is too long, complicated, and very poorly organized. It has earmarks and many other items that do not contribute to creating jobs or providing assistance . It provides billions of dollars to health insurance companies over one third of which will go to overhead and profits and not to new jobs or actual healthcare. Look at the table of contents of the Stimulus Act.

Even if it does create a half million jobs this year, at the end of December 2009, 20 million Americans will be unemployed and 13 million will only be able to find part time work based on the current monthly rates of increase in these two numbers.

A total of 20 million new jobs must be created as rapidly as possible and no later than the end April, 2009. As many jobs as practicable must be saved. If the recession ends before this or if it worsens before the total is reached then these numbers can be adjusted.

Ramping up to 20 million new jobs, with average annual wages/salaries of $40,000.00 and 25% for overhead, energy and materials, by the end of the year, would cost about $375 billion, less than half of the $787 billion Stimulus Act.

Jobs for a year for 20 million people with average annual wages/salaries of $40,000.00 and 25% for overhead would cost one trillion dollars which is one twelfth of what has been provided or committed to prop up Wall Street and banks.

With decent jobs, people will be able to pay their mortgages (if interest rates are reasonable) and buy more goods. Companies will then be able to hire more people and produce and provide more goods and services. This will leverage the funds put into jobs and avert a depression.

These jobs should be in both the private and public sector and scattered throughout the country. A portion of the workers will be providing health care, child care and elderly care for others and manufacturing items that others will be installing. Other workers will be teaching, training, counseling, recycling materials, mining raw materials, generating energy, and food services and doing all the things that a community/country needs to do.

As these workers spend, millions of other jobs will be created.

Likewise, according to the CIA World Factbook, 30%, well over one billion, of the world’s workforce are unemployed. Accordingly, one billion new jobs must be created as rapidly as possible and no later than the end December 2009. As many jobs as practicable must be saved. If the recession ends before this or if it worsens before the total is reached these numbers can be readjusted.

Ramping up to one billion new jobs, with average annual wages/salaries of $20,000.00 and 25% for overhead, energy and material by the end of the year, would cost about $10 trillion.

Jobs for a year for 20 billion people with the same average annual salaries and overhead would cost $25 trillion.

Underlying causes of the current recession

The following two figures explain the primary reason we have so much unemployment, they are from attachment A Plan to Resolve the Foreclosure, Mortgage, Derivative, and Banking Crises, and Reform and Regulate Financial Systems :

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 1: Before – mankind learned how to invent inventions and run them by inanimate power, all the inhabitants of the world working to full capacity, could not produce enough to escape chronic SCARCITY. Group A worked to support B, and in times of extreme hardship (war, famine, etc. ) A (the masses) were sacrificedto preserve B (the elite who controlled production)

Figure 2: After – mankind learned to invent inventions and run them with power taken from coal, oil, and waterpower. Now, a small fraction of the world (A) can produce enough goods for themselves and the remaining population of the world. Each year, as inventions improve, fewer workers are needed in production. Thus, the trend of modern civilization is toward unemployment

The primary reasons for the recession is unemployment and the failure of the modern day businessman to share the increase revenues that resulted from the inventions.

They focused on huge profits and massive salaries instead.

Endnotes: