PLEDGE: The following is not an economic recovery plan. I know it's rare to see anything else these days, but I promise this isn't.
Instead, it's a proposed way of supporting whatever economic strategies President-elect Obama and his team come up with. Kind of a recovery amplifier.
It goes like this:
Lots of people are handy with tools. In fact, it's almost unAmerican to admit that you couldn't, for instance, whip together a pretty decent shed in a couple of hours, given the proper materials.
So we make an offer to these millions of handy Americans. Instead of sitting around drinking beer all day Saturday, why not volunteer some time to help fix up your neighborhood? Why not bring your tools and work on improving the disintegrating houses / barns / train stations / schools / whatever in your town?
What's in it for you? For each hour you pitch in, you earn (or can gallantly decline) a certain amount of tax credit. You also get a strong jolt of that wonderfully American barn-raising spirit, with hearty overtones of accomplishment, community closeness and civic pride.
And your returns keep coming because your efforts have long-range impacts. Your neighborhood starts to look better and become more desirable, which increases the value of your home. Uninhabitable houses become habitable, creating more affordable housing, helping young families get their first shot at home ownership, and making your town more vibrant.
I know I'm still a little drunk on the good feelings uncorked by Obama's victory, but I believe that this project can work and can help bring about the closer, stronger America so many of us are hoping to see.
One more benefit: It's a chance to get involved in the process. Rather than just sit back and hope for the best from the new administration, this project will let us invest some sweat to help make it come true.
All that remains, other than putting it in action, is to give it a catchy name. I propose OYEAH, for Organize Your Efforts And Help, but I'm hopeful it will be more popularly known by its homonym: OYAA (Off Your Ass, America).
*FITNESS NOTE: In terms of exercise, an hour of shoveling is worth at least an hour in the gym, and you don't have to pay for it.
J. Mudcat Miller
3 comments:
Great idea!
I think Obama's got some plans along this line, too?
He does? He's always plagiarizing me.
It is a great idea, as long as you can take the dreaded, filthy "S" word off of everyone's lips that will inevitably surface along with it.It's all about packaging. Use of the word "ass" just might help.
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