solution to U. S. economic woes

[PatJ]

The following was emailed to me. Read it for a laugh, but sometimes you have to wonder if the bailout the government is proposing couldn't be handled better.

Hi fellow Americans,

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve a Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve a Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.

So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.

That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.

A husband and wife would have $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.

Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads

Put away money for college - it'll be there

Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.

Buy a new car - create jobs

Invest in the market - capital drives growth

Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves

Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else


Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed
by one of our candidates for President.

If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it.



Hope you enjoyed it
PatJ

[Kris]

Very funny!
But...
The author couldn't do math (or perhaps intentionally botched it for effect).
85 billion divided by 200 million is 425 dollars each, not $425,000!
Not quite the same.
Maybe we should give the money to schools for math education?

Kris

[Peter v]

I find the idea extremely sensible, pitty about the math fault, but by excluding all overly wealthy people who don't need that anyway, there may be enough still to do that which was shown. Not a joke, but a very real possibility.

If the money was enough to pay for mortgages, etc, that would really clean up the direct problems in the US And other countrys which are getting the oproblems by the ripple effect.

I would however advise payment under supervision, so that it would not be thrown away on things that are only short time enjoyment,....booze, women, etc, instead of mortgages, study payments etc etc.

But I suppose that it is wishful thinking. It seems that the money is not there, and would never be delegated to the people for the people, but to firms that slurp it up faster than the best sponges, and where does it go to??????????

[Sasquatch]

They can keep my $425 if they'll just run W and his crowd out of DC!

sasq

[PatJ]

Awe - you figured it out! But as I said - it was good for a laugh for me and I hope for you as well.

The thing about numbers is that most people simply accept the numbers and assume they are correct! Acceptance of what we are being told is why so many bad politicians get in to office and why most people get upset with government because said politicians can't deliver.

I guess the purpose of the post then is to urge everyone who reads to investigate everything, and most importantly, that we all should think for ourselves and not accept things at face value regardless of who is saying it.

[Since1982]

That brings some interesting possibilities to bear. Every citizen over 18...Give the country at least 6 months to get all the +18 year olds counted. Meanwhile we'd get at least a half a million "wet feet-dry feet" citizens lined up, and really pad the pockets of several thousand "coyotes" along the southern borders of Florida. If anyone doesn't know what a wet foot - dry foot citizen is, it's someone who has crossed water from Cuba to get to the USA. They are immediately given citizenship. This is a huge problem here in Florida where every Cuban that makes it here on a raft or boat gets to stay and becomes a citizen. Moves in front of people from other countries that have been on lists for years waiting their turn at citizenship. This only works with Cubans though, Haitians that do exactly the same thing from farther away get sent right back where they came from. That sounds like a good idea in principle, I don't think it could work tho.

[Sylvain]

If anyone doesn't know what a wet foot - dry foot citizen is, it's someone who has crossed water from Cuba to get to the USA. They are immediately given citizenship.

AFAIK, these are not given citizenship, but only residence, are they?

[Since1982]

As I understand it, all they have to do to get citizenship is 1. Prove they have at least 1 relative that is a citizen here already. Then after a 6 month wait, they are granted citizenship. It's still not fair to all the people from other countries that have waited for up to 6 years for citizenship and have still not had it granted to them.

Everyone that comes here from Cuba already has a relative here. Without exception.

[sapphire]

Skip,
Could you straighten out a question for me please?

My understanding of wet foot-dry foot is that if a Cuban refugee is caught while still in the water (wet foot) he/she is sent back to Cuba. But if that refugee can get on land (dry foot), he/she can stay.

Is this correct or not?
Thanks

[Since1982]

Sapphire, that's mostly correct. Sometimes, IF one of the Coasties that catches them is of Cuban ancestry, they overlook it if they are within easy swimming distance and bring them on. From their point of view, "the more the merrier"..

[Gus]

I found a fairly informative article on the wet-foot/dry-foot subject here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_feet,_dry_feet_policy

[Since1982]

Thank you Ray, that's pretty much what I said. I was wrong on immediate citizenship but expedited citizenship is close to that. I know 3 Cubans here in the Keys that came to land, and got full citizenship well within one year and there are still hundreds of thousands of people from the former USSR countries and lots of other countries waiting up to and over 10 years now and still not close to getting citizenship. At the long "other end" of that list are people from Africa or other so called "third world" countries. Regardless of who wins the Presidency, racism is still alive and well in America. Also, regardless of how many polls show Obama winning, the so called low classes in America, of which there are a lot, ie: rednecks etc. will probably keep him out thru pure hatred of color. No matter his mother is pure caucasoid and he was born and raised in Hawaii.