Everyday there seems to be another crisis, report, or question raised about the economy. I wonder if there isn’t a simple way forward. In the past we have seen war build back an economy through creating demand for manufacturing and industry growth. What if this time instead of war, the answer is in building. The true cause of the economic collapse seems to be speculation and greed. So there is no way to get out of it using the same concepts. We cannot tax our way out of the hole and we can not cut programs enough to get out of the hole. What we need is for people to act in an honest manner, use the programs only when needed, and focus on building community. Our energy grid needs upgraded, our road systems are failing, and our homes and businesses are not energy-efficient. Would it be possible to create a comprehensive jobs package that focuses our attention on making every home in the country energy-efficient? This would stimulate manufacturing, create jobs, and save households money monthly. Can we build an electric grid that encourages solar and wind to be integrated into the system to eliminate the need to build more power plants that rely on toxic means of energy creation that destroys the environmental prosperity of the area? If homes that are usually empty during the day are creating energy that is pushed back into the grid, wouldn’t the peak power problems go away? This would again create jobs, stimulate innovation and manufacturing, and save households money monthly.

I want to see a real economic plan that is focused on building our communities. One that invests in small towns and small businesses. What if a job creation plan involved providing low-interest secure loans to small businesses in small communities that were innovative? If you had a low-cost way of making your home more valuable through energy-efficient retrofits that places a power plant on your roof (solar panels) so that you would have more equity, wouldn’t you have more confidence in our country’s economic future. I certainly can see a utopia in front of us, we just need to choose to make it a priority instead of looking for who to blame.