7 Ways to Fix the Economy

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

Fix #7: US Offshore Oil

Oil reserves off the United States’ coastlines have been estimated

anywhere from 80 billion barrels and up. Why haven’t we been tapping into this? Liberals

and environmentalists, and I would remind you that they’re the ones who would scoff at my

recommendation we go to war with Iran and also the same ones who said President Bush went

to war with Iraq to get their oil. But these are also the same people complaining about high

gas prices when they go to fill up their gas guzzling vehicles and who wouldn’t dare think of

giving up driving in favor of public transportation. We need to tell these people to go to hell and

open up drilling anywhere and everywhere for national security purposes. Not only will we free

America from its dependence on foreign oil, but we will also spur massive investment in drilling

activities that will require jobs and ancillary services and businesses. If the Keystone Pipeline

project was going to create anywhere from 20,000 to 250,000 jobs, can you imagine how many

jobs would be created by drilling of the eastern seaboard or the coast of California? Do you

think that would get the economy going? Sure. And in addition, the federal government would

stand to reap massive financial windfalls which could be earmarked to pay down the national

debt. Sound like a win-win situation to me.

~ Digger