Chuck,

This idea sounds just crazy enough to possibly work, so naturally it won’t be given serious consideration. How great is our bureaucracy!!

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 It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bona fide 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 It 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 has $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.

Sell off its parts.

Let American General go back to being American General.

Sell off the real estate.

Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.

Sure it’s a crazy idea that can ‘never work.’

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion

We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC

And remember, This plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

A very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

I personally don’t like the bailout plan- but it is the best we have right now- and timing is critical. I am expecting our congress people to update the regulations in their new session- ASAP- this needs to be priority #1- and everyone should contact their Senators/Representatives- and demand action- that is the only way to prevent this crisis from happening again. The problem- the regulations were enacted in 1934- and Congress has repeatedly declined the opportunity to update them over the years. The regulations are what allowed this mess to occur.

As for the bailout- I think it should be approved- and reworked later- I am not in favor of bailing out all of the companies- but we need to free up credit- to keep our economy and the rest of the world- moving forward. I hope the compensation plans for these Sr. Executives will be non-existant. Just because the regulations allowed them to handle money in this fashion- doesn’t mean they were obliged to do it. If they were not smart enough, to better manage their companies and their organizations- they don’t deserve to be compensated- especially at the expense of the American Taxpaer.

I urge All Americans- to educate yourself- understand how this crisis occured- and work with your Congress people to create new regulations- to allow the US to efficiently and profitably operate in this global economy. The information is available- research the internet, talk to people- and educate yourself! This is your country- and your responsiblity for holding your Congress people accountable.

Janet,

I agree we have no choice but to go through with the rescue. We’ve got cancer - we can’t ignore it.

But as with business, it is much less expensive to prevent disease than to treat it. Let’s get some prevention measures in place and ensure no company will ever need rescued again to keep our nation secure and stable.

To date, I’ve not hear a single politician so much as mention doing anything that will help us avoid this in the future. If they were offering that as part of the rescue, it would be easier for people to get on board.

As a financial expert from being an accountant, financial advisor, and a mortgage planner the bill needs to pass to provide liquidity to the markets. When I was in accounting the only statement that mattered to me was a company’s cash flow statement. I could care less about the income statement. Cash is KING. It takes cash to run a business or a household.

As a strong conservative I HATE having to see the government do this; but it has to do this.

I started blogging on this subject this week and will continue to blog on it for at least another week. Thus far I have come up with 21 reasons and 5 different parties at fault for this Mortgage Mess.
To learn more please visit my blog at http://www.3MortgageSecrets.com.

An associate of mine had heard that the bail-out bill was full of pork barrel funding including helping Alaskan fishermen who suffered from the Exxon Valdez oil leak from nearly 20 years ago. That doesn’t sound right to address current issues. I vote for Mike’s plan above!

I am fundamentally against this bailout solution but I am sure some form of bailout will take place. I do appreciate that it is taking some time to put the right plan together but even that is beginning to be questionable. The senate bill contains extensive pork for items that have nothing to do with the current financial crisis (it has gone from something like 20 pages to over 400 pages). I am concerned that the majority party people in Congress who are leading the charge on the bailout, are the very people sho put pressure on lenders to make questionable loans. I am also concerned that once this bill is in place, Congress will not give back this part of the economy to the private sector . . . and I don’t think large government does anything particularly well. Check out this website for some of the bill’s particulars.
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/10/01/read-the-senate-bailout-bill-here/

Not to rain on Mike’s parade, but the math isn’t exactly correct… it would only be $425 per American.

Snopes found the email that was circulating with that exact information– check out what they have to say:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/dividend.asp

I also found out that the math was wrong and the amount would only be $425 per American. Sure sounded good at first!

Chuck,

I do not think anyone has yet identified what is really wrong with the economy (root cause) any ideas?

Rich Gottbreht

Rich,

You’d get as many answers to that as people have belly buttons.

I’m no economist, but some of this is likely cyclical and (in my opinion) a lot of it is emotional and manufactured by overstatements in the news.

The old adage “If it bleeds, it leads” applies to the economy as well. Making dire statements for months on end (we’ve been hearing the word recession for over a year even though we weren’t in one) creates concern, and concern leads to playing it safe.

So some of it may happen as a cycle and the rest of it is a reaction to reality. I for one have decided that if they throw a recession, I will refuse to participate. There are ways to actually thrive during a recession; I’m encouraging my customers to go that route instead.