A Twenty Step Job Plan To Reclaim America's Leadership Position

Here are the first steps we must take if we are to return to a firm economic footing:

1. THIS IS IMPERATIVE: The obvious first step is to forge a workable solution is to draft a document or a contract that states that every country we do business with has to peg its wages at a livable level commensurate with what Americans are being paid including benefits; in the process, fair play has to be the operative criterion..

This is a necessary precondition and levels the playing field..

Two, if there are those countries who choose not to sign, they don’t do business here!. It’s as plain and simple as that.
2. We need to organize a multi=textured and layered program that reaches across the board for tentative solutions. We must leave nothing out of the process, consider all viable options and start fleshing elements out that suggest themselves.

3. There are priorities and there are priorities. Certainly, up at the very top of the list has to be EDUCATION. You cannot compete effectively in today’s world without a world-class educational system.

We must improve the quality of education from one end of the country to the other.. We must be able to move the skilled and talented along at a faster clip so that they are allowed to move as quickly as their skills will allow.. We must recruit talented new teachers on a very competitive basis and pay them a competitive wage!—we cannot afford to allow bad tenure practices to continue. .. We must recognize the need to use every tool in the book to give our children, the promise of tomorrow, every tool in our arsenal, including audio visual and other means to spread the word of the best thinkers in every field to those seeking expertise.. We must kick-start vocational schools to become a partner so that those who can’t keep up with academic work can have an opportunity to contribute to this country’s return to its leadership position.

4. We should reconsider the advantages of the Guild system in rebuilding craftsmanship and skilled labor as a worthwhile endeavor for a percentage of the population with the requisite skills.


5 A different business philosophy! We need to think of a new model, a model that encourages e business and the private sector to become collaborative in their efforts. We can no longer accept the “what’s in it for me?” scenario that has excluded business from having a commitment to its community.. Business should be made to see the potential ‘pay-out’ of good schools; and the school system must be made to realize that they need to turn out students who can perform in the real world. Employers must be made to realize that they have a stake in what happens in the schools. Employers who want to move their plants because of their commitments should be discouraged from doing so through fines and assessments. Incentives should be used wherever possible to create a workable relationship.

We must do more to encourage US business to stay here!....Since business thinks that it operates without restraints, this will probably require new laws and regulations. We should aim for regulations that encourage US businesses to relocate at least 70% of their workforces back to the US with harsh penalties for those who don’t oblige, increased taxes to help pay for the retraining of employees whose jobs were lost to foreign shores. For every job lost there should be a sizable penalty to discourage employers from leaving these shores. However, on the other hand, we should provide cooperative employers with appropriate tax incentives for staying put or transferring jobs back to the US.

6. We must bring new thinking to the challenges that lie ahead. We need to underwrite all sorts of new industries that use recyclables, thereby eliminating toxins and other kinds of invasive materials. We must provide incentives and sourcing for these start-ups and offer consulting expertise to fledgling companies seeking alternative paths to profitability that considers the needs of the people.
7. Integration of Elements: The Holistic View.

The second phase of this overview of what we need to do to built a platform for down-steam action is predicated on the integration and inter-dependency of separate elements. For example, research and analysis will be instrumental to the success of most programs. The aim is to build a certain level of synchronicity into the plan. . Built in incentives so that Critical Path elements are realized is critical because certain elements build upon one another. . Elements may be added or subtracted, fine-tuned or changed as necessary upon further dialogue to conform to the broader goals of the action plan.

8. Seeding the Plan: The US government should recognize its obligation to provide seed money for new concepts/new products that have merit using a formulae practiced by consulting and investment groups; ie. companies would have to reach recognizable milestones to achieve the next level of financing. Many seeded programs will occur at the small business level and will create new employment. Owners will be relieved from paying back investors until the company achieves a pre-agreed target level.

9. Visionary Funding: It should be that imaginative financing be in place to fund these new and disparate ventures. We need to encourage bonding and issuance of stocks in special funds that should be subscribed to by a diversity of American investors. Companies that specialize or deal in these kinds of instruments should be encouraged to put out feelers to ‘start-ups’ in sync with the intent of the building plan. Partial funding may be made available through new government agencies; loans would be insured.

10.. New Technologies: Among the areas of new commitment we should pursue are intensive programs to develop new technologies based upon cutting edge technologies. The entrepreneur here is King and should be encouraged to take risks and innovate. Innovation is inbred in the American psyche and we are wrong not to encourage it in every way we see fit. We cannot afford to allow foreign countries to take the lead away from us as they are now doing! Consultants should be provided to guide these embryonic companies through their start-up phase.

11. Protect American Initiatives: Prohibit businesses and industries from shipping bankable new ideas to foreign countries to be licensed and marketed there; we do it here first! That may take government panels in all industries to sit in review of new ideas and new thinking and to clear the track to expedite worthy ideas and new innovation. Companies should be encouraged to seek financing here rather than abroad. It should be a violation of law to go overseas before trying to the domestic front for partners or joint venture possibilities.

To serve America first, we can no longer afford to allow foreign companies to share in our innovation at subscription prices. We must eliminate subscriptions and participation by foreign countries in the fruits of our science and technology at the university level so that they can take our ideas and move them off-shore..

12, Getting Our Research Institutions Back on Track: We must free up our research colleges and labs to perform true research; and eliminate the ties between the corporate world and the educational world in order to benefit perhaps one company per university. It is recommended that we provide colleges with an economic benefit for so doing. That students be encouraged to innovate and experiment. That grants and stipends be used to encourage
their efforts.

13. Media Initiatives: We must elevate the news media to its former status. It should not be construed as simply a profit machine serving the ends of narrow interests; but as a vehicle for responsible information that we can begin to have faith in again. All of the recent FCC changes and amendments should be reversed to ensure that there is the necessary level of competition and diversity. Acquisitions by the larger media companies over the past five years should be reversed requiring managements to spin off their acquisitions. New owners and smaller establishments should be given every opportunity to compete in a new world of information and that should apply across the board.


14. Spawning New Ideas: We must encourage the growth and development of all sorts of new businesses through incubators, grants and start-up capitalization. And the spread of Enterprise zones. Innovation and creativity needs to have a value placed on it; for too long this country has valued physical over mental skill. That needs to change. Thinkers and creative problem solving needs to be encouraged and those who make a contribution need to be recognized.

There is too much to do for us to ignore an important segment of our society that is only itching to be useful. We need to think outside the box; we need to provide a network of retired businessmen and educators to serve as consultants to emerging businesses

15. Alternative Energy Sources: A high priority should be encouraging the development of alternative energy sources and offer incentives to home-owners who subscribe to such services such as discounted insurance, special tax incentives…

16. Eliminate Mergers and Acquisitions that limit Competition: We need to discourage mergers and acquisitions that lessen competition and are used mostly to provide Golden Parachutes and huge bonuses for the CEO and senior staffs! It is not about the company; it is about that company’s contribution to the national purpose and that’s how the functionality of businesses must be viewed and change in a society that reorders priorities so that the welfare and benefit of the people becomes paramount!

17. Incentives for Investors who focus on clean air, clean water, healthy businesses that employ recyclables. The US government should encourage investment firms to promote funds and corporate investments where the enterprise is targeted at businesses that are ‘good for America;’ that encourage use of alternative fuels, environmentally friendly businesses.

18.: Honesty in Business: We need to get tough on policing corporations that have in the past had such a dreadful history of deceit, fraud, misappropriation of funds so that Americans will regain their faith in the markets and other investment areas…This may mean changing the structure of corporate boards so that they no longer represent a rubber stamp that operates at the pleasure of the CEO or chairman.

19. We must begin at the beginning and recommit to manufacturing and using advanced technology to take manufacturing to the next level and restore our competitiveness again! We need to explore industries that build industries but do so in a healthy way using non-toxic recyclables.

20. We should impose a discount tax structure on purchases for those who buy American made products!




In short, what I have suggested in this preliminary plan reverses the kind of one-sided thinking spurred on by the “Greening of America” that led people to believe that we should give up American industry and commit to only clean information technology and related “clean” jobs. We have seen the fallacy of that logic that has set us on a downward spiral and if unchanged will lead to America loss of eminence in the world. We need change in the way of thinking and we need to begin the process now! .We need to get off a war footing and transfer all of the money being spent on weapons and ammunition into creative programs to return America to its leadership position of old.