If I Ruled the World – Or Were At Least the President…..

Not too long ago, I saw a PR video by Paris Hilton that has been watched by millions, developed in response to a comment made by John McCain.  She was certainly coached as to what to say, but her compromise position on off-shore drilling made a great deal of sense more than anything said by either candidate!   To this I say …..hey……if she can do it, so can I.

If I were the one with the microphone in my face being asked what should be done about the housing crisis, and the economic crisis in general, here is what my response would be: 

The crisis we are facing now was many years in the making.  It didn’t happen overnight, and it is not going to be fixed overnight.  Nevertheless, there are some concrete steps we can take to make sure that things stablize and begin to change for the better. 

For the next 3 months, I would freeze all gasoline prices in the US and suspend all futures speculation on oil or petroleum products in general.  The futures market drove many of the volatile prices we saw at the pumps. And if other petroleum products are not frozen as well, the oil companies will just raise prices on them to help make up the difference.  Imagine a $20 jar of Vaseline!

Next, instead of moving forward with the AIG bailout (whom I think richly deserve their demise), I would announce a new federally backed credit program where gainfully employed families can apply for lower interest rate loans (one point below prime) for everything from $1K to a $100K down payment for a home, and I would suspend the rules about not allowing borrowing for a down payment.   After all, many Americans have been forced to use their savings to pay extra gasoline bills and extra medical expenses – as insurance companies have found more and more ways to increase deductables and disallow claims.  Unless I miss my guess, this program would cost less than the AIG bailout.   Other insurance companies will rise to fill in the prominent AIG gap – maybe even some ethical (imagine that) companies who will work with their customers and actually focus on the needs of the people.   And this loan program would help to spur the consumer economy, and consumer spending.

Next, I would start a program just for the unemployed if their current jobs were lost expressly due to the housing crisis.  These workers would be given a one time grant of $500 if they add their resumes into a new federal jobs data base for potential hiring by the newly announced federal $1K-20K loan program.   

Anyone who lost their home in the last two years due to the rapid adjustment of ARM rates would be given unmistakable priority in receiving the newly announced HUD loans for 3% down.  I didn’t see any such provision when I attempted to plow through bits and pieces of the lengthy mortgage bailout program document.  Another provision that should be added to this document is additional qualifications for buyers before they are allowed to participate in an ARM loan of any kind, qualifications that include being able to show probable income growth, passing a questionnaire that shows a high level of understanding of what an ARM actually is and what it does, and having the ability to make a payment at the highest levels of adjustment the loan can reach. 

Last but not least, I would increase government tax credits to those who upgrade their homes to wind power or solar power, and create a government funded venture arm with at least a $100M investment budget solely to fund startup companies that are focused in three areas:

 - Creating new methods of transportation that don’t involve oil or oil products in any way.  It is time to think “outside the boxy electric car”

-  Creating alternate sources of energy for large scale industrial processes, or alternatively reducing the energy consumption of these processes

- Finding or creating lower cost methods of expanding preventative medicinal services to millions of Americans – services such as IPTV-based interactive patient monitoring (to eliminate costly visits and predict health crises in those at risk before they consume emergency services), immune enhancing services for the populace (think fortified foods and water), and actually removing the AMA and pharmaceutical companies resistance to herbal products that solve problems less intrusively and expensively.  

But alas, I am neither Paris Hilton, Barack Obama, or John McCain.   I can only put my ideas out here for my readers to comment on. 

Comments anyone??