James Siminoff

We need a new bubble!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The current economic downturn started in the U.S. and has to end here. The fact is, we don’t know how long this will last, but what we do know is that we must make fundamental changes that will turn the global economy around.  The current bail out by Obama is a decent start but just adding jobs will not turn the economy around.  We need something much bigger for people to get around. In my opinion the solution is simple: create at least one new economic bubble.

Bubble 1:  Create a very large, escalating federal gas tax. Next year we could add $0.50 per gallon, increase it to $1 per gallon the following year, and go  up to something like $3 per gallon by 2012. This would not only create desperately needed government income, but would also force innovation in green technology (solving another huge problem – the climate crisis).  In order to do this properly, the tax would have to be passed in a way that it could not easily be repealed so that entrepreneurs and investors would be willing to risk their resources on its existence.

Bubble 2: Lets admit that we lost against illegal drugs and just legalize and tax drugs.  Illegal drug sales account for billions of dollars worth of under the counter commerce each year. Legalizing drugs would stimulate the overall economy, creating thousands of new jobs in agriculture, transportation and retail. It would also provide a previously untapped stream of tax revenue. Can you imagine if joints and eight balls were taxed like cigarettes?  Additionally this would take strain off of police forces nationally allowing them to fight real crime.

Both of these ideas could spark our economic recovery. They would also bring about fundamental social change. Reducing our oil consumption would make us less dependent on the oil rich dictatorships of the world and legalizing drug sales would cripple many of the worlds criminals – from the local drug dealer to the Taliban warlord.

Crisis presents us with an opportunity to innovate. Neither of these ideas would normally be taken seriously. But when tens of thousands of jobs are being lost everyday, they just might fly.

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