Seven Point Main Street Economic Rescue Plan

A Seven Point Main Street Plan for Rescuing the U.S. Economy 

              Offered by: bobzimmerman@usa.com 

1. Clean Up the Mortgage Mess:  U.S. buys back mortgage backed securities at a 67% discount. Refinance all mortgages, fixing their rates at no more than 5%. Eliminate all highly leveraged financial transactions, derivatives and the like.
2. Cap Interest Rates on Credit Card Debt:  Massive defaults on credit card debt are the looming. Cap credit card interest at 3%, the average interest rate since the concept of paying interest for loans was first practiced.
3. Modernize Social Security:  Make it fair by increasing payments to $1,500 a month for those receiving less than $1,500 a month and eliminating payments to those who do not need Social Security. Also eliminate the current cap on withholding. Increasing payments to the retired poor will immediately and permanently stimulate the economy.
4. Enact A One-Time Tax on Excess Wealth: The Reagan-Bush tax cuts for the rich were nothing but economic theft. A 50% one time tax on excess wealth (net worth in excess of $10,000,000) will help repay the theft, reduce the national debt, help pay for the mortgage mess and help stimulate the economy.
5. Eliminate the Income Tax for Individuals and Corporations: Replace the current abominable system with a tripartite system—10% on consumption (excluding food, health care and education), 10% on corporate revenue (excluding corporations with annual sales under $50,000,000) and a progressive tax on excess wealth.
6. Executive Pay: Tie remuneration to performance and eliminate stock options.
7. Financial Controls: Make the entire financial system transparent and accountable with heavy civil and criminal penalties for non-conformance.

 There could be more, but this would be a good start. It is interesting that the president and many others now stress the market is not working. Wrong again. It is working, just not in the way they want it to work. Those who think unattended markets or economies are possible without massive meltdowns probably think Mother Earth is flat and evolution is a myth. 

Bob Zimmerman, author of The American Challenge: Twenty-One Winning Strategies for the 21st Century.