Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Simple plans

The more I think about it the less impressed I am with the gvt bailout of the banks. It created no jobs, loans are still hard to get, and executives are still getting bonuses. The only difference is that some of these tottering behemoths are tottering slightly less. At a cost of several billion dollars. By comparison, thousands of small businesses in the US need cash to expand operations and create jobs. Cash, but on levels so small it's virtually meaningless. A hundred thousand in my business would create ten jobs, instantly. A million would create many, many more. And even if the entire bailout package was split into million dollar increments, that would be enough for 350,000 businesses. If each was then able to hire ten people, there would be 1.5 million more people employed now than there were even BEFORE the recession. This math isn't hard. Disbursement is hard. But it's a better solution. Let the big banks die, prop up successful regional banks and small businesses.

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