SgtMaj
Lieutenant Commander
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2007
- Messages
- 1,997
Ok, the title lied a bit, it's pretty hard to talk politically about something that all parties supported.
That being said however, something struck me as I was driving to work today... I was thinking about how the country is slipping into a recession and then I got to thinking about prior recessions and what the government did about them... that got me to thinking about the great depression, and about how several dams and other things were built as a means of economic stimulous. Then it hit me, that in the past, when these stimulous projects were done, it didn't just put the money those workers made back into the economy, it also increased the GDP not just that year, but every year thereafter, thus making future recessions less likely and less severe.
Back to the present. That got me thinking about how this economic stimulus package could be used differently to have an even greater effect with regard to stimulating the economy.
So the stimulus package is $168 billion... That would hire 4 million, 8 hundred thousand people for year at a $35,000 salary (gross salary, insurance would still have to be taken out of that, but that would still leave them with a decent income) or more than $40,000 if they have to pay federal taxes out of that, and that would put the same money back into the economy... now what can 4 million 8 hundred thousand people accomplish in a years time at 40 hours a week for a year was my next question. To be fair, the workers would have to be "evenly" spread out throughout the country by population density. Also, all their supplies would also cost money, so instead of figuring this hypothetical situation on 4 million 8 hundred thousand, we'll cut it back to just 4 million 5 hundred thousand, which gives us 10 billion 500 million dollars to spend on their supplies... and still hires enough people to lower the unemployment rate by 1.3% which would bring it down from 5.1% last month, to just 3.8%. That hires a bit more than 1 person per 100 people, but because a support structure would be necessary for any projects they were doing, I just figure on 1 per 100. Think about how many people that is in whatever city you live near.
The first thing I thought of is that this is enough workers to be able to pick up all the roadside trash throughout the country. That trash could be put into giant landfills somwhere that could be tapped into to fuel methane power plants which increases the GDP and helps in some way to make us if only ever so slightly, more energy independant. It would also surely help out the tourism industry, as people generally find areas that are trash-free to be much more attractive vacation destinations. However, I soon realized that with that many workers, the nation's roads would be trash free in just a few weeks... but eventually they would need to be cleaned again, so I figured to clean them up 4 times that year, that would take about 8-10 weeks worth of their time. Assuming they'll also get a couple weeks off for vacation, means that there's still 40 weeks left for them to do whatever.
So I thought, well what else could they do to improve the country, since we should clearly not be paying them to just sit around for 40 weeks. So I thought, ok, let's clean up all the graffiti. Again though, I was left thinking that with so many workers, this would not take all that long. To be fair though, it would probably take about twice as long as picking up the trash would... but would need to be done less often, so I figured twice a year, 5 weeks each time, takes another 10 weeks... but that still leaves them with 30 weeks.
So I thought, well, what else can they do? 4.5 million people is a lot of labor... so I thought... well, we could have them all decend on our waterways to clean them up and make them more boat-friendly. So they could spend maybe 2 weeks just getting the trash out of the water, another 2 weeks clearing obstructions in the water, and another 2 weeks fixing up public boat ramps. That's 6 more weeks gone, but they're still left with 24 weeks to work, but the trash and obstructions would re-accumulate, so let's just say they'll have to do that twice, and that leaves us with only 20 weeks.
But now I'm out of ideas. So what else could be done with that many workers and 20 weeks? Your turn to come up with some ideas.
That being said however, something struck me as I was driving to work today... I was thinking about how the country is slipping into a recession and then I got to thinking about prior recessions and what the government did about them... that got me to thinking about the great depression, and about how several dams and other things were built as a means of economic stimulous. Then it hit me, that in the past, when these stimulous projects were done, it didn't just put the money those workers made back into the economy, it also increased the GDP not just that year, but every year thereafter, thus making future recessions less likely and less severe.
Back to the present. That got me thinking about how this economic stimulus package could be used differently to have an even greater effect with regard to stimulating the economy.
So the stimulus package is $168 billion... That would hire 4 million, 8 hundred thousand people for year at a $35,000 salary (gross salary, insurance would still have to be taken out of that, but that would still leave them with a decent income) or more than $40,000 if they have to pay federal taxes out of that, and that would put the same money back into the economy... now what can 4 million 8 hundred thousand people accomplish in a years time at 40 hours a week for a year was my next question. To be fair, the workers would have to be "evenly" spread out throughout the country by population density. Also, all their supplies would also cost money, so instead of figuring this hypothetical situation on 4 million 8 hundred thousand, we'll cut it back to just 4 million 5 hundred thousand, which gives us 10 billion 500 million dollars to spend on their supplies... and still hires enough people to lower the unemployment rate by 1.3% which would bring it down from 5.1% last month, to just 3.8%. That hires a bit more than 1 person per 100 people, but because a support structure would be necessary for any projects they were doing, I just figure on 1 per 100. Think about how many people that is in whatever city you live near.
The first thing I thought of is that this is enough workers to be able to pick up all the roadside trash throughout the country. That trash could be put into giant landfills somwhere that could be tapped into to fuel methane power plants which increases the GDP and helps in some way to make us if only ever so slightly, more energy independant. It would also surely help out the tourism industry, as people generally find areas that are trash-free to be much more attractive vacation destinations. However, I soon realized that with that many workers, the nation's roads would be trash free in just a few weeks... but eventually they would need to be cleaned again, so I figured to clean them up 4 times that year, that would take about 8-10 weeks worth of their time. Assuming they'll also get a couple weeks off for vacation, means that there's still 40 weeks left for them to do whatever.
So I thought, well what else could they do to improve the country, since we should clearly not be paying them to just sit around for 40 weeks. So I thought, ok, let's clean up all the graffiti. Again though, I was left thinking that with so many workers, this would not take all that long. To be fair though, it would probably take about twice as long as picking up the trash would... but would need to be done less often, so I figured twice a year, 5 weeks each time, takes another 10 weeks... but that still leaves them with 30 weeks.
So I thought, well, what else can they do? 4.5 million people is a lot of labor... so I thought... well, we could have them all decend on our waterways to clean them up and make them more boat-friendly. So they could spend maybe 2 weeks just getting the trash out of the water, another 2 weeks clearing obstructions in the water, and another 2 weeks fixing up public boat ramps. That's 6 more weeks gone, but they're still left with 24 weeks to work, but the trash and obstructions would re-accumulate, so let's just say they'll have to do that twice, and that leaves us with only 20 weeks.
But now I'm out of ideas. So what else could be done with that many workers and 20 weeks? Your turn to come up with some ideas.
