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Supply and demand
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How To Save America's Economy By Stimulating More Consumption?
How To Save America's Economy By Stimulating More Consumption?
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GeorgeEliot
4/15/09
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We have found an innovative solution to our nation's economic dilemma. Time is of the essence! We must catch President Obama before he ?invests? this Quadrillion dollars, ($1,000,000,000,000,000.) [That's a one with 15 zeroes after it. Our kids, grandkids and great-grandkids will never be able to pay this off!]
Here is our idea: THE "MADE IN THE USA SWEEPSTAKES!"
Instead of giving away all this money to bankers and automobile barons, how about an innovative idea that would generate a whole lot of new jobs, tax-free income for the federal government and a real boost to the sale of American-made products. This is an original idea which we want to share with the American people. We believe that if this idea was implemented, it really would be "Change We Can Believe".
The federal government issues scratch-off, lottery tickets. These tickets would be sold wherever state lottery tickets are presently sold. They would cost a dollar a piece!!! After you scratch-off the gummy stuff, it might reveal a $5.00 coupon good towards the purchase of an American-made product. At our present 8.1% unemployment rate, seven out of eight (7 in 8) tickets would be coupon tickets. A coupon ticket could be spent on any product that?s marked Made-In-The-USA; but, this would not only pertain to manufactured goods. People could also buy a gallon of milk, some eggs and a loaf of bread, or they could get an oil-change for their car, even if the oil itself was foreign, the labor to change that oil would be American.
We would have to arrive at a fair ratio between foreign-supplied materials and American-supplied labor, weighing American labor and services heavily into the mix. Perhaps the ratio could be: 75% American to 25% foreign components. The label "MADE IN THE USA" would become coveted once again! And all of this spending would go directly back into our own economy, not into a foreign economy. We would be promoting the sale of American products, without using tariffs or anything other than: consumer preference. You know yourself, that if you had a $5.00 coupon balanced against a cheaper foreign product, the American product would win every time!
These coupons would go into the hands of Americans, who would say to themselves, ?I won this! I?m spending in on something I need right now and that?s made right here in America.? Consumers wouldn't be able to spend these coupons on foreign-made products or redeem them for cash. We would have to spend them! That would give an immediate shot in the arm to the economy. We couldn't use them to pay off bills or other taxes, like we did with President Bush?s tax refund, which was a check for money.
This is a coupon that can only be spent on American-made goods. We could make provision for multiple coupons being used to purchase big ticket items. Consumers might be able to save them up for a major purchase, such as a kitchen remodeling or a new car. We could also donate our winning tickets to our churches or to a community organization such as our children?s schools, where these coupons could be used to purchase computers, books, and even playground equipment.
People, who used them in this way, would earn a tax write-off when itemizing their deductions. School superintendents could start coupon drives when they need school supplies, this would work even better as a fund-raiser than a bake sale or a door-to-door candy drive!
Depending upon how much unemployment America is experiencing, the percentage of winning tickets could be adjusted accordingly. At the beginning, one in eight (1 in 8) tickets would carry the statement, ?Thank You For Contributing To The Retirement Of The National Debt?, and then a sweepstakes number for a weekly drawing.
Each week the first lady would draw out some winning numbers, these sweepstakes winners would receive American-made cars, houses, major appliances, etc. This would put the American consumer in charge of this bailout! We would be supporting the sale of American made goods, right at the point of sale! Any more $5.00 would merely compensate someone for their time and trouble in seeking out and comparison shopping the purchase an American-made product against an imported one. For example, we recently comparison shopped an American-made appointment planner and a planner made in China. The Chinese planner cost about $7.00, it was smaller, used lower quality materials and a plastic cover in comparison to a $12.00 USA-made planner that was larger, bound in leather, had better-grade paper and even had gold around the edges. The difference is the price isn?t it? Well with the $5.00 coupon they are priced identically! Some people said that this would start a trade war. We say, ?Bring It On!? the Europeans or the Chinese could print a coupon for their products in the newspaper of their choice. There are no tariffs with this system, no attempts to keep foreign goods out of the country, and no way in which to step on the toes of our friends and allies abroad.
Corporations would have to bring coupons to Washington in order to get these bail-outs. Right now the corporate barons are calling on Congress, hat in hand, to ask for money to keep their companies afloat. We say that they had better have some of these coupons bulging out of those hats and not just a bunch of empty promises to repay, and that there will be "more jobs".
"More jobs?" They talk about jobs while lay-offs, unemployment and economic stagnation grow day by day! These ?MADE IN THE USA SWEEPSTAKES? coupons could be used to purchase any kind of American-made product, even food. And this consumption would immediately spark new spending and stimulate economic growth, which was the only thing that stopped the Great Depression. The New Deal never helped end the Depression. Only the increase in manufacturing did that and that was brought about by W.W.II.
Currently, one in fourteen (1 in 14) American jobs is in manufacturing or supportive of manufacturing. One in fourteen American jobs is currently in government and not in the private sector. President Obama wants to increase jobs by adding even more government jobs. The "MADE IN THE USA SWEEPSTAKES" would increase private-sector jobs, and it would specifically increase jobs in manufacturing.
Please help us promote this innovative idea by talking about it to your friends, coworker and family. Also, you could forward this e-mail to anyone you wish, especially someone who has something to do with government, education, business, or manufacturing. Thank you. Please call us to acknowledge receipt.
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scbrow
4/19/09
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Interesting idea. The only issue I see with it is the problem of determining the "Made in the USA" ratio. The administrative costs for making the determination and affixing labels to all American-made products sold in the USA would likely be significant.
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