Priorities: Business is king in America, we all ride on the shoulders of those who actually produce goods and services in this country. We must take care of them. But first we must preserve the planet. Everybody and every business generates crap. But nobody should be allowed to crap in the floor and expect everybody else to either wade around in it or clean it up. Business in America must be responsible for its own messes. That means paying to avoid them when possible and paying to clean up those that are unavoidable. But they have a right to a level playing field. It seems to me that we've broken industries in this country by insisting they clean up their acts, then turn around and buy all the products they produce from other countries, where environmental restrictions are not so stringent. I don't know all the scientific stuff about the particulars regarding each and every manufacturing business in America, so I'll have to add the particulars later, (I'm going to draft an army of smart folks that know all this stuff I don't), but here is my first economic law:

Economic Law #1. Every business in America has to operate as cleanly as technologically possible. Where necessary, periodic improvement needs to be built into the budget of any polluting business. Moreover, every foreign business from farming to manufacturing that sells goods in America must meet the same environmental standards that American companies do. They must be certified to this effect, at their own expense, by an American inspection team.

The economy is a mess for a lot of reasons, some legal and some cultural, (I'll address those shortly), but the most obvious is financial. Senators, Congressmen, and Presidents are going around complaining about how costly government programs are and how the American people are going to have to tighten up a bit more and take another pay cut to help out, when all the while politician's salaries seem to keep going up big time. Well they can do a better job if they get paid more. Baloney. I never met a salaried person in my life that worked harder for more pay, only those working by the piece. (2011 update:  I just learned that there is actually lots of hard data to prove this!  Have a look at this.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=related )  Well the job will attract better people if we offer a respectable salary. Humph ! Think about that a minute folks. Do you want to hire someone who is concerned about getting ahead in life financially to be a public servant who controls not only your tax dollars but his or her own salary to boot ? Well, OK, I know those boys and girls make a lot of money, but it really makes such a small dent in the public coffer it is unimportant. BULLBLEEP ! Leaders of a country are supposed to do just that, not take one path then turn around and tell the followers, "No, you go the other way". I intend to do whatever it takes to get this country out of debt. My method is simple. Shut down expenses to a bare minimum until we get out of debt. I figure if the President is going to ask a lot of the American people, he must show folks that he is willing to do a lot too, up front. Everybody knows that Presidents work long hours and make great sacrifices in personal freedom, but these are intangibles. Taking a big pay cut is a "symbolic gesture" to which people can relate .

So here is :

Economic Law #2.The president's annual salary will be $40,000 during this Administration,plus medical insurance. All Senators and Congressmen are invited to join me at this salary. (Frankly, I'd like to start that first sentence as: All federal employees..., for the duration of my administration.  That will probably  never fly, but, on the other hand, we'll find out which elected officials are really serious about helping to cut the debt
and which are not).

(We may have to give a little extra to those with more than two kids at home.)
All these people will be expected to give speeches and whatever else they can do to help raise money to pay off the national debt. The administration and legislature is directly responsible for this country's national debt and should be directly involved in physically raising funds to help dissolve it. 

Economic Law #2a.  Any "campaign contributions" (as aforementioned, this is the current trade name for bribery), made by corporations or big business exceeding $50 will be taxed at some ridiculous amount, like maybe 95%.

 I don't know much about expenses, but from the governments reaction to those trying to get a clear picture of just how much legislators do spend on expenses, I feel that it is a lot. Probably more than their salaries. President Bush's (senior) almost certainly was. We're going to do a lot less traveling and a lot more telephoning, and maybe write little books to try to get re-elected instead of sending out millions of flyers at public expense.

Well, you say, that's cute, but if you cut expenses enough to pay off the national debt, it will stop all government services and paralyze the country. I don't think so, because I don't believe that cutting government salaries and cutting government services are synonymous. I've got another dastardly trick up my sleeve. There has been a lot of rhetoric about going to war against poverty and drugs and such, but folks, although this crisis may not be as glamorous as that wonderful little gulf war we set ourselves up for, I believe it is a greater threat to both this nation and the world, and I intend to do a lot more than throw rhetoric at the national debt. This is a real war people and we are going to need a lot of help winning it, so yep, you guessed it, I'm gonna bring back the draft.

(I realize this law is pure fantasy, but it sure would be nice! I take the same attitude about the presidency as I did about getting drafted; go do my duty to try to help the country, get done and get out and get on with my life.)

Economic Law #3. The President has the power to draft anyone he deems necessary for up to four years to help save this country and all draftees will make the same $40,000.00 a year that the President makes.

Well, some of you may say "you can't do this, I'm an old man (or woman), you can't ask me to quit my six or seven figure job and go to work for the government for a measly forty grand.

I disagree. If we could draft fine, healthy young men with their whole lives ahead of them to go off to Viet Nam to get permanently deranged at best or even blown to bits, or worse, blown half or two-thirds to bits, and then to come home to get spit on, all for 68 bucks and change a month we can surely ask a bunch of middle-aged business types, with most of their lives behind them, to sit in a nice comfortable office and shuffle papers or whatever else it takes for a few years to help get this country out of moral, financial and cultural debt for a whopping forty grand a year.

Too many people in this country are putting all their eggs in the corporate basket. Then, when the corporation goes bust, large segments of the population go bust with them, with repercussions felt throughout the country. If more families had at least some sort of subsistent family business to fall back on, we'd all be better off. We need to do something to encourage a resurrection of family businesses. So here is another "help stabilize the economy" law.

Economic Law #4. Each household will be allowed to earn up to *$8000.00 a year tax free in self-employment endeavors.

*The figure $8000.00 may go up or down a little after I have consulted with some economic experts. (2011 Update: That sentence was written in 1990.  Obviously this needs to go up quite a bit.)

I read somewhere that some foreign investors could earn profits on investments in America at reduced rates of taxes and in some cases even tax free. I do not know if or why that is true, but in any case, it doesn't seem fair to me, hence, unless someone can forward a pretty convincing argument, here's:

Economic Law #5. Everybody that does business in America gets taxed the same for the same kind of business.

Corporate America
(All this is re-runs.  Big business has dragged us into financial and/or environmental disaster before, and had to be jerked back into line.  Even Theordore Roosevelt knew this.  Of course, he was a real Republican.  Now-a-days, it seems like Republican has become a synonym for "corporate stooge", or "religious bigot".)

You know what?  It seems to me that every time someone tries to get corporations to grow a conscience they get body slammed by big business as being anti-jobs, anti-business, a communist, and all kinds of horrible things, and lots of people get thrown into a terror about losing their job and the poor sucker gets fried and tossed into a ditch somewhere.

Well, that is nonsense.  Corporations are like a seventh grade class.
Seventh grade classes are made up of fine, upstanding, sweet and loving brilliant young people.  Sit down and talk to one of them and they are the nicest people you'll ever meet.  But, get 30 of them in a room together and they become an animal whose sole purpose is chaos, malice and mayhem that is a dangerous menace even to themselves.  With proper rules and regulations, they can be returned to sensible and productive young adults.

The corporate world is a viscious, competitive place.  While a corporation is made up of really nice people, (2011 update:  If you've seen the movie "Inside Job", you may disagree with this.) as a corporate body their sole purpose is to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible and destroy anything or anyone that gets into their way.  They simply cannot afford to lose their focus, because that is what every other business is doing and any sympathy for any other cause, no matter how justified, could be not only financially dangerous, but fatal.  It is unfair of us to expect corporations to arbitrarily be considerate of the people around them, the environment, or the health of the country.  As has been demonstrated many times, they have damaged the environment around them so much it has endangered the lives of their own employees and as has been demonstrated in the recent financial meltdown, they are even willing to trash the entire global financial system, all for the sake of making money.  So whether industrial or financial, corporations need to be regulated by a sensible and just government, which will not be possible unless we can stop elected officials from receiving "donations for campaigns" (the current phrase for bribery), from large corporations.  Until then we as a nation and a planet will live under the constant threat of peril.  So we need to come up with some sort of regulating body that is fair and just whose sole concern is the health of the nation and the planet.  And, in my opinion, congress made up of professional politicians will never be that.  As soon as a company becomes publicly traded, it is no longer a private enterprise, but a social enterprise responsible to the society in which it resides.  Hence, it should be required to adhere to some minimal moral standards, a violation of which will be considered acts of treason.  So, here are a few, (more added when I get smarter), laws for corporations:

Economic Law # 6
For publicly traded companies, salaries of corporate management, including any "bonuses", cannot exceed ten times the average salary of the company's employees.

Economic Law # 7
Lying to the public for personal gain by any member of a corporation will be considered an act of treason.

It is time we stop the mortgage flim-flam dead in it's tracks.  I'm pretty ignorant of all this, so more to come later, but for now, here is:

Economic Law # 8
It is illegal for financial companies to sell a home mortgage they have initiated.  If said financial institution goes out of business, any outstanding mortgages will be considered paid in full.

Other thoughts on the economy.

1. Perhaps the government should find some means to encourage people to become multi-skilled.

2. Perhaps we should find some means to foster either employee owned companies, or companies in which both administrators and workers salaries are tied to profits.