The Economic crisis is defined by a number of key factors. Foremost, the lack of jobs. This is followed by a lower standard of living or compromised support for individual lifestyles. On the international front there is a decline of the dollar's buying power. On the financial front there is reluctance to lend money or extend credit and on the investment front there is less money being invested in all types of securities and a withdrawl of money from original investments leading to an overall devaluation of securities.

To sum it up; There is more money required by everyone to live the life they desire, than the amount of money being aquired by everyone in real time to live that life.

All we have to do is issue more money to everybody, right?

WRONG!

Just issuing more money to banks, corporations and consummers is only a less bonehead attempt at solving the problem than just printing more money at the mints. Just issuing more money is the equivalent to transporting water in buckets with holes. No matter how fast you fill them and try to reach the endpoint, significant amounts don't make it. The active players and the world as spectators easily lose their confidence and pretty soon everyone is selling the buckets in a panic further devaluing the economy. This strategy may buy time but the payback further entrenches the U.S. dollar.

Lets start with lack of jobs. Mostly because of importation, U.S. goods were too high priced for the consummer and manufacturing here could not survive. About one third of all employment in the U.S. was directly or second tier supported by manufacturing. If just one commodity, say telephones, had to be manufactured here there would be millions of jobs created not only in the actual manufacture but support for that manufacturing. Energy, utillities, transport, storage, materials, realestate, legal, engineering, IT, accounting, etc.,etc.,etc. But we can't do that because we would lose all our friends that we are supporting by buying the cheap electronic junk and other products we use everyday. Oddly enough they all use the products they produce and wouldn't think of importing U.S. products. It wouldn't be good for their economies. The other reasons we import rather than produce are greed and laziness. It's cheaper and easier to make money by selling low quality products that need to be replaced regularly. No one really wants to work hard to make a living anyway. We would rather sit back, be overweight, get health problems and support the pharmaceutical and healthcare rackets. It's much easier to sit in front of a computer or talk on a cell phone than operate or design machinery.

Because greed is the most powerful controlling factor we can use sales tax to bring those jobs back. If all products bought and sold in the U.S. had to be labeled domestic or imported or a portion of either, a sales tax break could be given to the U.S. made product and a penalty to the import. Let's say 10% both ways. If that is too low, raise it until people buy U.S. made. If the money collected above normal sales tax didn't disappear in anyone's pocket it could go into a fund to promote and give breaks to U.S. manufacturers who could then, if honest, pass the gains on to the employees. The employees need the excess profit more than the execs or owners because the employees are the first ones to be deprived of money when it is short. Even in bad years increases are taken by execs and owners and the employees thined out. American products should be advertised and promoted through a reduced rate program. They should be advertised proudly, displayed proudly and be legally required to say Made In USA. The American people need a renewed sense of pride and security in something they are doing. Manufacturing here through a team effort would do it. The message that buying U.S. made gives your neighbor a job, should be driven home. We can't afford to support international economies anymore because they don't return the courtesy.

Increasing the quanity of jobs may be number one but number two is increasing the quality of the jobs and correct "fit" for the position. The providing of training programs as well as fair wages for those employed would also be an incentive. Instead of blindly producing graduates in all areas that seem attractive to the prospective student, offer real time ,data supported advice for areas that are in need of qualified candidates. Liberal Arts and Music Appreciation degrees should clearly carry a label that indicates employment prospects. We should not promote rediculous high salaries either for the unskilled worker or the executives. They only serve to spoil the correct compensation attitude. By the same token, fifteen or twenty dollars an hour today buys a lifestyle that was at one time minimum wage level. Office workers as well as seasoned factory help needs better support.

Labor Unions did provide many people with better lifestyles but the rest of us had to work for a living. This is especially true for jobs in education. Teachers and administrators although grossly overpaid, are constantly crying for more money so they can do a better job with the students. Since their pay has escaleted over the past three decades the status of the U.S. student has declined with respect to the rest of the world. Higher pay for them only chokes the tax payer.

The hiring practices need to be revamped. Tons of resumes are sent out but only few are answered. Some jobs are advertised for months while qualified candidates are turned away. People are not hired today because of qualifications. They are hired because they asked the right question, didn't bring up salary or wore a tie that matched or were so nervous they swore allegiance to some company's shady idea of making money. Those are the good reasons. In reality the person who gets the job is a relative, friend, someone who will go along with shady practices, somene who could be easily taken advantage of, someone who gave a kick back or contributes to the healthcare community. The phony or vague diagnosis of a potentially serious health condition buys that person a treatment program. Employers today, sadly enough, are forced to give preference to employees or candidates based upon their individual need for healthcare because the cost to the individual for that program is too high if they are not employed. This has greatly distorted and corrupted the reward system for healthy employees who may be better qualified for those positions. It has also promoted frivolus or hypochondrical treatment programs. On the other hand gone are the days of sick days, personal days or any added benefits for the salaried employees. We need to bring job quality, loyalty and better wages back for those who have the higher education. In most small businesses today the higher compensation is hoarded by the owners or goes to the bullies who support the dishonest way the companies operate.

In summation we need to take a realistic look at whos getting hired and what they are getting paid and what they need to do for that compensation.

Standard of living, the next facet of the problem is impacted by what it costs to live. No matter how much money is being made more money is being spent. This leads to buying on credit which actually raises the price of the commodity. To understand this we must look at how the money is being spent. We are lead to believe the credit crunch is fueled by buying boats, european vacations, fur coats and diamonds. This luxury spending may contribute but the real culprit is overpricing of necessary goods and services. Property tax must be paid. It goes up on a regular basis and the money is not spent wisely. Utillities. Nothing is being done to bring the cost down. Telephone, internet, television and computers. Although not absolutely vital they are necessary to make life livable. One to three hundred dollars per month extra expenditure that was not there twenty years ago. Doctors and healthcare. Probably the biggest drain on the consummer are these overpriced products and services. Frivolus spending on healthcare permeates every hour of advertising and commonly accepted as a way of life. If this continues people will start taking vacations at the local hospital. If someone told the dopey consummer it was the thing to do, they would do it. Automobile repair, service, upkeep, registration, insurance, licensing, parking, etc. constitutes a huge drain on the consummer. Not because those expenditures are necessary but because those expenditures are inflated. No pun intended but even air to fill a tire costs seventy-five cents. Anything automobile related has gone up twice or three times as fast as wages following the example of the rediculous healthcare industry. This may be related to the amount of air time devoted to auto sales and health related products and services. Every other commercial is for those commodities.

Property tax, sales tax, gasoline tax, tobbacco tax, hotel tax, city tax, tax tax. What do you get for your money? Schools that produce less and less par level graduates, emergency medical response teams in haz mat suits because someone smelled mouldy cheese, six fire engine response teams because a wire fell from a pole, ambulances that cost one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars when a fifty thosand dollar vehicle would suffice, a city parade being lead by an emergency vehicle sounding a full volume siren at ten second intervals for length of the hours long parade, accident response teams that take six hours to move a vehicle to the side of the road so traffic can pass, psychological counseling for students because a teacher was gay, roads that are potholed worse than thirty years ago, an FDA that is so enamored with new medications they can't push them through fast enough so they can be pushed on the general public, a Department of Environmental protection that promotes recycling of plastic bottles but lets plastic bags go to the land fills (even though they take longer to decompose), an FCC that allows not only bad quality programs and fear tactic advertising but allows overpricing of services to bring it to you. What about the degreening of America? Wasting money trying to control natural events like global warming and extinction. If the ground squirrels and polar bears need a new environment let somebody else pay for it. Remember all the slaughtered buffalo made human survival possible. The icing on the cake of course is spending our money to right every wrong in every corner of the world even though no one really wants us to.

To sum it up there needs to be better utillization of money being spent and a greater return in quality, products and services to the people spending the money.

The last three dimensions of the problem will correct themselves after the above areas are implemented. Once people are more self sufficient they will begin investing again. As more assets are accumulated banks will extend credit more easily and the eyes of the world seeing a more responsible nation of workers, employers, vendors, corporations, sevice providers and educators, will gain that renewed confidence in the American dollar which is now lacking.