A real JOBS PROGRAM! I got your economic boost___RIGHT HERE!

 

 


I am just a junkman. I am not too sophisticated in the nuances and intricacies of economic theories and would not be able to hold my own in combating the spins and arguments of the professional lobbyists who would be paid handsomely to shoot me down.  They will  just attempt to call me "shrill" and try to  marginalize me as being "extreme".    If your government representatives can do better, and come up with a better plan, I will certainly vote for them!

What I do know is that my customer base is filled with hardworking individuals of all nationalities who are deeply committed to their families and country and are willing to work as hard as they can to take care of both.   When possible, I help them keep their old pieces of equipment going by providing them with many of the parts they need. They are used to taking care of their own problems and most fix their own equipment.  That is just the way they approach problems. They create their own solutions. I would like to be identified as "one-of-them."    We often see solutions based on effectiveness, function, and results.  The "Law of Parsimony" guides us in the solutions to our problems.

We hear and read a lot of meaningless rhetoric flowing from our Washington representatives about our budget problems and all we know intuitively is that the average citizen is going to lose no matter what compromises are reached.  It doesn't have to be that way!  I am realistic enough to know that "increased taxes" will not fly as a viable option in our political caldron....AND...... We already have a transaction tax! Unfortunately, this transaction tax goes to the banks. It goes to the banks in the form of that little innocuous fee that is charged for credit card transactions. They call it a fee but I will call it a bank tax.   It varies from 2.5-3.5% of every dollar spent and re-spent throughout our economy by the use of a debit or credit card.  This fee, or tax, went to 4% in early 2013.

I am just a little "Mom and Pop" business with a few employees but I pay $20,000 to $25,000 per year in these bank taxes. This fee is for the privilege of using some bank owned software that eases the transactions between our customers and our little business. This software allows monies to be taken from our customer's account and applied to ours.  It is only software!   When you consider all of the transactions that are completed in the US by the use of debit and credit cards, this little innocuous fee totals into hundreds of billions of dollars nationwide every year. I just heard this morning (11/28/12) on the news that the oil companies will approach sales of fuel to the American public of 483,000,000,000 dollars this year.(Yes, that is billions) Most of this is paid for by credit or debit cards. This is just the tip of the iceberg as to what is paid for by the use of credit and debit cards. (Think groceries, medical care and prescriptions, department stores, utilities, and government purchases at all levels from the city, county, state, and federal agencies!) (For ease of calculation, just call it 3% bank tax)  (MATH WONKS ....go to bottom of page!)  For the mathematically challenged, the bank tax associated with these gasoline/fuel purchases is almost 14.5 BILLION DOLLARS in the US!!

When I see my statement each month, showing the couple of thousand dollars that are going to the banks, I accept it as a cost of doing business but question whether it is really the banks, or is it our country, that might be "too big to fail?" Somehow we have been convinced that it is alright to bail out the banks because they are "too big to fail" and in many cases, "too big to jail."  What about our country!? What about the people that make up the vast majority that carry the biggest burden!? If I had a choice of software, one which gave me the choice to continue giving my money to the banks each month or giving it to my state or federal government I would, while admittedly forcing back a gag reflex, opt to give it to the government. Those hundreds of billions of dollars would go far to create a real jobs program by repairing our infrastructure and restoring our education, social, and health programs.  Our human infrastructure, just as important as our physical infrastructure, is taking some big hits to their budgets. ("We're #38!!"  in education worldwide doesn't have the same ring to it as the "We're # 1!!" that we chant reflexively so often in competition.)  (In my state, Idaho, we're 48!!) Addendum:  Since I first wrote this, Idaho has overtaken Mississippi to become the 50th in both per student investment and student achievement)  We also have a governor who is runing for re-election and telling everyone how much he has done for the educational system.  They will believe him.  After all, we iz nummer 50!!!

So why not create another debit card!? (One issued by the government.) It's only software! A debit card that the consumer can voluntarily opt to use and the business community will opt to use (or  they will lose business!) where the transaction fee profits are shared by one or two states. An equal share for the one state where the transaction is initiated by the buyer and also by the seller's state. (If both states were the same, so much the better for your "Buy Local" initiatives.)  If I knew that my $2000 dollars per month was going to result in the creation of a job,  improve the living situation, or help with the education or healthcare for someone else rather than disappear into the vaults of a financial institution, resulting in no profit or subsequent taxes paid, my choice is simple. I would use my "America's Card" (Call it whatever you want!) and help pay for our physical and human infrastructure repairing our country and the people that really support the economy.  Here we are now, May of 2014 and India has just anounced their RuPay.  China already has their UnionPay.   If PayPal can create such software, why can't we, the people, have our own card for our own benefit!?  PayPal also hits me and others with a fee in excess of 3%.

I can hear the screams of the banks and financial sector, mobilizing legions of lobbyists and spin doctors to squash the concept.. Cries of Socialism, Communism, and unfair government competition would fill the media.   Do not believe them, or their words.

                                                                                                   SPREADING_THE_WEALTH.jpg (40137 bytes)  

I have an answer for the banks,the financial institutions, AND their lackeys!

jump.jpg (18928 bytes)   If they can't make a profit by borrowing almost interest free money from The Fed or their respective Central Banks worldwide,  then they should fail!


Hey! It is voluntary!  I suspect that businesses and the spending public, given the choice, would choose the option that created jobs, repaired infrastructure, improved education, and created health care facilities and staffing rather than continue giving more and more to the financial sector. If you prefer using your current bank card, then use it!  If you want to help give your neighbor a job and improve the quality of life for yourself and others it would be your choice!  When this concept is looked at closely, you will discover the prospects for an immediate growth in employment.  More people filling the ranks of the employed will have a multiplier effect on improving any economy.  In the US, expect growth in the GDP to increase over the anemic projections of 2%.

Find out where your representatives stand. I think you will find out very quickly where they stand.  You will discover that many could merely be described as lackeys to the financial institutions.  Do they stand with the banks and financial institutions or is it with you and your neighbors?  It will be difficult but you DO have the power to replace them.   Let this concept be their litmus test.  If they are for it, re-elect them.   If they waver, they probably do not really represent you and your interests. Elect someone who does not waver in their support of you, not the banks.

If you want to comment, just send me an email to steeringclutch (at) gmail.com  with "Jobs Program"on your subject line.  Don't expect a reply unless you are very nice!  I've got work to do and families to help feed and survive.  If you like the idea, send a link to your government representatives, friends, and contacts and get their attention!   If they ignore you, work to get them out of office!

MATH WONKS!   
We're not dealing with a few billion dollars here folks. For every trillion dollars spent via the use of debit and credit cards the bank tax comes to 30 billion dollars in gross revenues. If the States get organized, create their own software to handle these transactions, these funds could be spent paying for the people's needs.

According to the US Census Bureau, e-commerce (just a small part of our economy) accounted for 4.129 Trillion dollars in e-commerce for the Manufacturing, Merchant Wholesale, Retail, and Selected Service Industry sectors of our economy.(2010 REPORT)   This is only the e-commerce sector of our economy! Not all these transactions are by debit/credit cards but it is an indicator of the potential. Just these sales would represent 123.87 Billion dollars per year going to the states. If you want to add in all the transactions in all sectors of the economy we are talking many tens of trillions of dollars in sales and transactions every year, all with the potential of adding 3% to our State's budgets. You do the math!  Just with two examples, gasoline/diesel fuel and e-commerce.....I have potentially put (123.87 + 14.5) 138.37 BILLION dollars into the individual states coffers in one year.  Our government is into the habit of doing ten year projections..don't know why.. but in their terms, this concept has given you, and your fellow forgotten citizens, 1.38 TRILLION dollars over the next ten years.   (You're Welcome!!)  That money and the benefits created should go to YOU, not the banks.   The job creation, including multipliers of 1 billion dollars of government infrastructure investment is 25,000 jobs.   The jobs created, with no additional taxes, by my Jobs Program would result in 3,450,000 jobs.  It is also well documented that investing in the repairs of infrastructure results in a higher multiplier than in the creation of new projects.  This is easily attainable, see below for even more "JOBS" potential.

THERE IS MORE!

Consider only your electric bill.  In 2010, according the the US Energy Information Agency there was 371 billion dollars nationwide paid for electricity. (That covers residential, commercial, and industrial sectors).  If the consumers paid their electric bills by a state debit card, the states would realize an increase in revenues of 11 Billion dollars.  California alone, with 34.2 Billion spent on electricity in the private sector, would see a potential gain in revenues of over a billion dollars in one year. (That would go a long way in taking care of their unfunded liabilities!!)  My little state, Idaho, with an expenditure of 1.498 billion for electricity by the private sector, could possibly gain almost 45 Million in revenue.   Colorado would potentially gain over 150 million.  This is just electricity bills!  Add to that the necessities of natural gas, heating oil, water, and sewer bills and explore the potentials.  Yep, we're talking about some really big dollars now!

Mediocre officials will whine..."Oooooooh, this is too haaaard."  Real representatives of the people will take care of their citizens first!  Will your representatives give you a choice?  They, and we, can continue to be slaves to the bond holders (yes, the same ones who got caught rigging the bond interest rates) and banks, or they can take advantage of the spending power of their own people and solve their own state's budget problems.

My personal opinion is that in the US,  the States should take the lead in this.    (My personal bias)

THAT is an example of how the "Law of Parsimony" works. 

For readers in foreign lands,  I will leave it up to you to do your own research and find your own country's economic figures to see how much this re-appropriation of the bank tax will do for the citizens of your particular country.   You can probably get out from under the thumb of the Euro Central Bank, the IMF, the World Bank and the other financial institutions who claim to do you a big favor by taking everything you have.

Suggestions:  Take heart...most of the world has a long way to go before the words of Wael Ghonim are more than a hollow dream.
                               "The power of the people is much stronger than the people in power"

Argentina... do not pay off those vulture funds ..... !! Tell them to jump!

China......China has already done this.....It is called UnionPay.....!

India just announced their new national card on May 8, 2014 called RuPay

Italy, Greece, Cyprus........Greece discovered the power of the banks  and Cyprus got set up

Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland.....You're next!

Iceland...congratulations.....this should be easy for you.  You have faced down the financial powers before. ICELAND ROCKS!    The government of Iceland                       had the good sense to take over the bank instead of allowing the banks to take over the government.  There will be justice! 

UK.........based on the wisdom of your current austerity plans....your government probably won't do anything until all the peasants are living in canvas tents without any safety net at all.

 

 


Contact John Parks
General Gear and Machine, 733 Desert Wind Rd.,
Boise, Idaho, 83716  US