???1 Million Jobs for $10 Billion.???
There???s much criticism of the Stimulus Package, but few alternatives proposed. Here???s excerpts of some of our ideasl:
Jonathan Alter noted in Newsweek that ???with 15 years of scandal-free AmeriCorps apparatus in place, service jobs can be established with Rooseveltian speed, an important criteria for inclusion in the stimulus.??? And if those rapidly deployed AmeriCorps jobs stimulated entrepreneurialism, and each generated additional jobs. ???
60,000 Youth Entrepreneur Corps jobs at $20K each for one year would cost about $1 1/2 billion
40,000 Ssuccessful-Entrepreneur jobs at $40K each would cost about $2 billion.
If they average just four jobs each in a whole year of effort, that???s 400,000 permanent, self sustaining jobs, at a cost of $10,000 each.
What kind of entrepreneurial jobs might they create? Why not ask for proposals ??? and quickly hire the best. ??? Thousands of online entrepreneurial proposals ??? noticed by the media ??? public opinion ??? .
And why not also adapt the Grameen Bank micro loan model to the US? ??? Harness latent expertise ??? an army of proposal evaluators. ??? 1,600,000 loans averaging $1000 each would cost about $2 billion. ??? 40,000 Successful Entrepreneurs on their lunch break select two per week yields 320,000 funded monthly. ??? A lot of kilns, paint sprayers, floor sanders and caulking guns bought in 2009 and 2010. ??? 10% success still yields 160,000 new jobs ??? only $13,000 per SELF SUSTAINING job.
.. $5.5 Billion of the $10 Billion proposal yields ??? 660,000 jobs, 85% of them self sustaining.
Would appreciate thoughtful comments at our more extensive Policyinnovation.blogspot.com Thanks. Jim and Dianne ©JLP2009
- 1
- 2
Don’t Muffle the Call to Serve
Email To A Friend
Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.
Obama, too, seems committed to national service in theory. He supports the bipartisan Kennedy-Hatch bill, which would greatly expand service opportunities. He knows that having images of himself and possibly Colin Powell out there in recruitment stations offering some variation of "Uncle Sam wants YOU" would help meet not just domestic needs but those of the military, which is 100,000 short of its manpower goals. But the president-elect has not yet shown that he understands how central national service can be in creating jobs.
Consider this: for 1 percent of the stimulus, about $7 billion, Obama could create 8 percent of the 3 million new jobs he has promised. Those 250,000 new national-service slots would simultaneously fulfill his campaign pledge to young people. And with 15 years of scandal-free AmeriCorps apparatus in place, service jobs can be established with Rooseveltian speed, an important criteria for inclusion in the stimulus. At about $20,000 each, AmeriCorps jobs are also much less expensive than those in construction.
The other standard Obama has wisely applied to the package is that every dollar spent should help the country long-term. Thus the projects enumerated by Summers would rebuild infrastructure, lessen dependence on foreign oil and reduce health-care costs. But investing in human capital is every bit as critical for the future. Service develops the talents of those who perform it as well as those they help. It changes lives. And communitarian thinking is contagious. Each year, AmeriCorps's 75,000 full-time members leverage another 1.7 million volunteers.
The Obama team knows a thing or two about community-building. With 3 million volunteers and as many as 15 million supporters in his e-mail database, the new president possesses both the largest American political organization ever built and a potentially powerful instrument of service and social change.
But as ecstatic campaign memories fade and those cheery Webcasts pile up in the mailbox, Obama World will need fresh ways to keep people involved. The millions who gather this month in Washington for the Inaugural (or watch excitedly from home) want to be told how they might do something for America beyond going to the mall. Their pent-up idealism could wither in harsh times without more outlets.
This is particularly true of the young. If they graduate from high school or college in June with no job and no chance for national service, more than a few might wonder if the whole Obama thing was for real. Young people shouldn't be bought off with favors any more than some other constituency. But their dreams are hardly inconsequential. So including Kennedy-Hatch "in the package"—nearly tripling national service opportunities overnight—is not just another Washington gambit. It's a way of restoring faith in the decency of the country. With that faith comes confidence and recovery.
© 2009
- 1
- 2
My Take
Each Newsweek reader is different—and now your Newsweek can be, too. Use this page to create a experience that's personalized for you and your interests. My Take: it makes Newsweek whatever you want it to be.
Discuss