15 simple ways to get America on the road to economic recovery

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

With all that is going wrong in the world today and every day’s news even more unbelievable than the last, I thought that I should take some time to avoid the negativity of the headlines and write a solution-oriented article.

I do this far too infrequently and I hope I can do it more often but I truly need feedback and opinions from my readers to do this. What do you think we can do to turn this world around? What would you like me to cover? Please e-mail me your comments at [email protected] so I can better get a sense of what other people think.

Now, to a list of 15 things we could do to get us back on the road to recovery here in America.

If any one of these ideas were implemented, we would immediately see a drastic change in our national deficit and the entire paradigm in which our economy operates.

None of these are impossible and all are relatively simple, it would just take a massive push from every person in the United States to achieve any of the following. This is because all of the following would make the ruling elite very unhappy and thus would be adamantly opposed by our so-called representatives in Washington.

1.  Legalize, regulate and tax marijuana and industrialized hemp and all derivative products.
I am not an advocate of decriminalization because decriminalization solves nothing other than the overpopulated private prison system.

Legalization, regulation and taxation would be a completely different approach that most people in government do not even consider. If we legalized and regulated the production and sale of marijuana it could become an industry like alcohol or tobacco, that is, it would be harder for children to obtain and would take all of the power out of the hands of criminal drug dealers and cartels.

Since marijuana is currently illegal, children can easily obtain the drug from unscrupulous drug dealers more easily than they can obtain cigarettes or alcohol. However, if marijuana was controlled and taxed like alcohol, it would be a lot more difficult for a young teen to walk into a store and get it.

Even more important is the aspect of taxation. If marijuana was legalized and regulated it could easily be taxed with a “luxury” or “vice” tax which would create massive tax revenues for state and local governments.

In California alone marijuana pulls in roughly $14 billion in sales per year, which, if taxed, could bring in billions. Imagine if every state in the union fully legalized, regulated and taxed marijuana sales. There would be billions of additional dollars in revenue per year that could greatly offset the deficits that local, state, and federal government is facing.

2. Properly tax hedge fund managers like everyone other American.
If only the top 25 hedge fund managers paid taxes like you and I, our national deficit would be cut by a staggering $44 billion over the next decade.

Before those who are opposed to any tax increases whatsoever get up in a tizzy, you should realize that this would actually not entail any tax increases whatsoever. This would only involve removing the tax loopholes that hedge fund managers take advantage of.

In a nation where the richest 400 families make about 6,900 times as much as an average household, keeping these loopholes and preferential tax codes in place is nothing short of criminal.

3. Raise taxes on the top earners in the financial and investment sectors.
This is in the same vein as the above but it would indeed involve increasing taxes. However, I specified “the financial and investment sectors” for a reason: these are the people responsible for our current economic climate which has put most Americans in dire straits.

We must demand that those who have profited off of the financial collapse pay back into the system which they have abused in order to get filthy rich while robbing the average American blind.
If there were higher taxes involved in pulling in gigantic wealth through investment and financial apparatuses, it might dissuade some of the elite from continuing their criminal practices. Even if it does not, which unfortunately would probably be the case; it would provide a significant cut in the national deficit.

4. End all offshoring incentives for corporations across the board.
This would include repealing the complete failures that are NAFTA and GATT.

If our government cares at all about rebuilding the American economy and with it bringing countless Americans out of abject poverty, they will incentivize bringing and keeping jobs here at home.
The current tax laws allow American business that pay foreign taxes on profits obtained overseas to get a tax credit against their American taxes based on the taxes paid in foreign countries.

Closing these loopholes would bring in an estimated $43 billion in the period of 2011 to 2019 alone.

Currently, tax laws financially encourage corporations to invest overseas, as they can use these investments as deductions on their U.S. tax returns. These types of loopholes allow multinational corporations like General Electric to avoid paying any taxes in America whatsoever. In fact, corporations like GE know how to game this system so well they actually walk away with tax credits on their staggering profits.

This article goes over some of the incredible gains in revenue that could be achieved, all of which were promised by the Obama administration and none of which have been actually put in place.

5. Place tariffs on all imported goods.

This, like the above point, would discourage offshoring of jobs to nations like China for cheap goods. Currently corporations benefit greatly from absurdly cheap manufacturing costs in foreign nations, exploiting the people there and stripping Americans of much-needed jobs.

If considerable tariffs were put in place, corporations would be forced to move jobs back onshore in order to avoid huge profit losses from having to import their products.

Some might call this isolationist but without using economic factors to force corporations to bring the jobs back home they will continue to take advantage of everything they can in order to increase profits while decreasing their bottom line.

Corporations do not care about the welfare of Americans and without putting their profits on the line, they will continue to screw over the people of the United States with glee.

6. Collect every single cent laundered by corrupt and criminal banks on behalf of drug cartels.
In early April of this year, I covered a case of Wells Fargo and Wachovia being caught red handed laundering $378.4 billion in drug money.

In response to this, the government did not confiscate all of the illegally laundered funds like one would expect. Instead, they took a tiny fraction of the laundered money.

If they actually collected all of the funds that they laundered like they should have, a significant amount of our deficit could be cut for this year.

But of course, the government which is tied in so closely with the banking industry simply took a tiny bit and let them continue their corrupt, criminal ways unabated.

7. Prosecute and fine banks for mortgage fraud.
Banks in America have been engaging in massive mortgage and foreclosure fraud, stripping struggling Americans of their homes and livelihoods in the process.

Unfortunately, our government selectively investigates and prosecutes these instances of widespread fraud.

For instance, in early May of this year, Deutsche Bank, a German banking company and one of the world’s 10 largest banks in terms of assets, was sued by the Justice Department for at least $1 billion.

However, Deutsche Bank was only a part of this fraudulent mortgage industry that has significantly contributed to our current economic strife.

An episode of CBS’s 60 minutes aired in early March of this year revealed how huge this fraud-based mortgage industry actually is:

If our so-called Department of Justice really cared about bringing America back from the brink of total and complete collapse, they would aggressively investigate, prosecute, and fine banks for their involvement in fraudulent banking practices.

I will continue to add to this list and elaborate on more points as soon as possible.

The following are 8 more ideas I have which I will elucidate further in the near future. If you have any to add, please e-mail me at [email protected] and I will be sure to investigate and cover your suggestions.

1. Raise taxes or add a flat fee to high frequency trading to discourage market manipulation
2. End the wars and cut foreign aid, especially military aid to nations like Israel
3. Back out of NATO
4. Stop all funding of foreign dissidents and opposition groups
5. Gut the pentagon budget, especially the top-secret “black budget”
6. Impose a large fee for banks to foreclose on Americans, in turn discouraging foreclosures which would positively affect job growth
7. Offer tax incentives to corporations for moving jobs from offshore to onshore
8. End the Federal Reserve and create a nationalized, debt free monetary system

Please give me more ideas so I can continue to compile ideas and solutions. If you would like credit for your idea I am happy to give it to you, please tell me how I should do so in your e-mail.