PATRIOTIC RETIREMENT PLAN

Much has been written about the recent Economic Stimulus Plan, and the resulting trillion dollar plus budget deficit. I recently received an e-mail outlining a suggested plan to fix our American economy. You may have also seen it, but I thought it worth sharing with all of you.

“PATRIOTIC RETIREMENT PLAN”

“There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1. They MUST retire. Forty million job openings –
unemployment fixed.

2. They MUST buy a new AMERICAN car.
Forty million cars ordered –
Auto Industry fixed.

3. They MUST either buy a house or pay off
their mortgage –
Housing crisis fixed.

It can’t get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress and their constituents pay their taxes.”

Had this suggestion or something like it been enacted in place of the Stimulus Plan we would have solved our three biggest economic problems quickly, and saved one hell of a lot of money. Isn’t it amazing just how accurate hindsight is? With both General Motors and Chrysler now in bankruptcy consider the amount of money that would have been saved had this Patriotic Retirement Plan been implemented. Consider the number of auto plants that would still be open and the number of United Auto Worker’s jobs that would have been saved.

Sometimes I have found that the simplistic plans are the most efficient, but then the politicians would have difficulty in getting their slice of the pie. How many of those Shovel Ready Projects have started in your community? Don’t you wonder if an idea like this was ever considered in the inner circle of the White House, or was the sole goal to payoff the political obligations one way or another? Is that not really PAY FOR PLAY?

COMMANDER GRANGER