THE STIMULUS MANIFESTO

While commenters on the “Let’s Have A Revolution” series presented here at the Swash Zone and on parallel posts at Thinking Out Loud have had varying opinions, it is heartening to note we have found some common ground. I thought it would be helpful to summarize the series.

On The Economy:

Many of us agree a refund is a poor way to stimulate the economy and could be better spent creating jobs. Bringing back business and providing low cost loans for new business creation by those with a solid business plan.
Include investments in agriculture to produce cleaner, cheaper, better foods.

Fair trade agreements that are ACTUALLY FAIR to US businesses.

Improve the infrastructure and improve transportation methods, including developing new modes such as a high speed rail system. Include the improvement and development of greener, more abundant energy sources.

On Healthcare:

This topic proved to be more volatile with widely divergent ideas on how best to tackle healthcare reform.

While some would like to see some sort of personal health accounts, others lean more toward a national health insurance. TAO provided a good example of a compromise program used by Switzerland whereby every citizen is required to pay a mandatory deduction that provides a basic healthcare package. Citizens can then purchase more comprehensive supplemental policies if they so desire.

Another idea presented was establishing state review boards to separate frivolous lawsuits from those with merit, much like a Grand Jury. This could help keep down malpractice insurance costs while not penalizing a truly injured party.

And we mostly agree that we think Americans must be more involved in directing their care and keeping costs down by using the system appropriately.

On Education:

We seem to all agree education is an important aspect of continued economic growth.

Basic skills seem to be lacking among students such as simple math, history, English grammar and spelling and geography.

We would also like to see a curriculum includes courses in goal orientation and achievement and finances, including balancing a checkbook, creating a budget and understanding how credit works and what it costs.

Students and their parents need to be more responsible and teachers need to be supported.

And many support providing scholarships to anyone with the grades and desire for higher education who can’t afford to go otherwise. And why not require some community service in return so they actually earn their education.

We are facing many challenges, both individually and as a nation, but I hope that most of us “every day people” will overcome the obstacles and flourish.