Ideas on solving the unemployment problem in the U.S.

But first, a few words about Sunday nights...

Once upon a time, Sunday nights afforded me a sort of enjoyment I still enjoy in the morning: relaxed, calm, contemplative of and eager for the near future.

When I was a child, our family would watch television as we folded laundry. I think the TV lineup went something like 60 Minutes, The Disney Show, and Movie of the Week, of which I only ever saw the first 30 minutes or so as our bedtime on school nights was 9:30. I remember sitting cross-legged on the floor, balling up socks and watching Andy Rooney gripe. Sometimes I would gripe about having to ball up my own socks when "Jimmy's mom does it for him."

"Jimmy's mom doesn't have a job," my mom would explain, and how could I argue with that?

"Jimmy's mom is an idiot and so is Jimmy," my dad would state, authoritative, balling up his own socks, tossing them in his basket, and taking a swig of beer in one mighty gesture. How could I argue with Wotan thumping his staff?

I remember Sunday nights as a time for studying during my many college years. I remember feeling ahead of the game, looking forward to a sound sleep, feeling smart and turned on by life.

As a full-fledged adult with a job, Sunday nights got even better. My wife and I would hang out, watch TV, talk about stuff, maybe do a few little odds and ends that we had missed over the weekend, like taking out the recyclables.

A lot of working people express a sense of dread on Sunday nights, like, "Fun's over. Back to work tomorrow." I never felt that. I was always kind of excited about going to work or school. By Sunday night, rest and relaxation bore. Challenges and action hold more appeal.

Why is it that so many of those people who dislike their jobs still have jobs? Maybe a better question would be, "Why do so many people dislike their jobs?"

Whatever. Sucks being them.

As for me, not having a job takes away more than my entire week. It robs me of my Sunday nights, and that pisses me off.

So I deserve a soap box, which I am going to climb up on momentarily, fulfilling the promise I made at the beginning of this post to...

... solve the unemployment problem.

It's my dang soap box, and I'll dang well use it. Fiddlesticks. Call me pedantic. See if I care. All the haters can get bent.

If I were King of the World -- if I were Wotan -- this is what I would do about the unemployment problem:

• Fix infrastructure. The Throg's Neck Bridge caught fire last week, OK? Yeah, it caught fire because they were working on it. The bridge is almost 50 years old. It was only engineered for a life span of 40 years. Maybe it's time to think about building a new one. The Whitestone Bridge right next door is literally crumbling. This is just in my neighborhood -- a massive and much needed infrastructure project waiting to happen. Imagine how many bridges and roads need to be built out there! Think of the water supply problems. It's a total friggin' no-brainer! We didn't need an "economic stimulus" bill. We needed a "massive infrastructure upgrade" bill, maybe two or three of them. Do you have any idea how many jobs that would create?
• Solar panels on every roof. Another no brainer, really. Why is anyone even talking about nuclear energy? Oh, right, because there's an industry lobbying for it. We could get far more energy online far more quickly, cheaply, and cleanly by plopping solar panels on even 1/20th of the rooftops in this country, without producing one ounce of highly radioactive waste needing "reprocessing" or (heaven forbid) being sold off covertly to shadowy figures. A Manhattan Project for solar would create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the factories that produce the panels and in the areas of installation and maintenance. Oh, and it would be good for the environment too by reducing greenhouse gasses, not that anybody gives crap about that.
• No more monkey business in the financial sector. Crack down. Bust the many, many Madoffs in Waiting. Regulate and make it a non-sexy, honest living to make loans, insure, or broker bonds and equities. No more theoretical money down theoretical ratholes. Without proper accounting money itself is worthless. Proper accounting is impossible in the rootin', tootin', shootin' world of unregulated Wild West finance. Give money value, and let it flow to Main Street. We gave Wall Street over a trillion dollars. That's enough to give every man, woman, and child in this country a check for over $3,000. Is that money showing up in your local community because I really don't see much evidence of it in mine, and I live pretty close to Wall Street.
• Re-build the military by not grinding it down, aka, end the stupid, counter-productive wars. We're just making enemies at this point, not protecting American freedom or making the world safe for democracy. Iranians have recently shown us that if people in that part of the world want democracy, they'll have to make it happen for themselves. Bring the military home. Ramp down. Rest. Re-assess. Become leaner and meaner. Save a lot of money, and help military communities recover by letting dad be a consumer of something besides MREs and bullets.
• Pump up light manufacturing. I don't know exactly how to accomplish this, maybe with loans to businesses planning to make things like socks and bicycles -- you know, the things we should be making for ourselves instead of having 14-year-olds in China and Nicaragua make them for us.
• Go to the moon or Mars or something. The way things are going on this planet, it's time to start thinking about leaving it and exploring the vastness beyond our atmosphere. Can anyone give me a reason not to ramp up the space program internationally right now, a reason other than cost? It would be good for diplomacy, international cooperation, the global economy, and the morale of humanity. Oh yeah -- and it would create jobs.
• Support the arts. Slashing the NEA budget was one of the dumbest things ever done. Not only do the arts enhance our quality of life, but they are good for the economy. Artists spend money when they have it, and people go out -- and spend money -- to enjoy the arts. Tax BMWs an extra ten bucks to pay for it if you have to, but a civilized society is one in which the creative class is commissioned to do things like the Sistine Chapel, not forced to whore itself out doing ads for Big Macs.
• Tax the rich. It is absurd that those who make millions a year effectively pay only 15 percent in taxes since they make most of their money from capital gains. The capital gains rate should be raised progressively so that the rate goes up to 20 percent on everything over $50,000, 25 percent over $100,000, and 35 percent for everything over a half mil'. Also raise the income tax on the top 1 percent of earners. In times like these, those who can afford to pay should be asked to sacrifice. This will help get the budget in balance and strengthen the dollar so that the rest of us aren't paying $5 for a loaf of bread.

That's all I can think of right now. If you have other ideas, please post them in the comments (below).