While in theory I completely agree with the idea of legalizing recreational drugs like marijuana, it's misinformed to think that doing so would create a huge excessive pool of money to throw at health care. Reason being that eliminating the "war on drugs" would create a pretty devastating ripple through the ecomony. Hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the areas of law enforcement, the legal system (court reporters, lawyers, judges, bail bondsmen etc.), and the prison system - which is now a gigantic private-sector industry. And yes, all of that money and many of the jobs could reappear in other areas of life, but it would still create economic disaster at the onset. If there was ever a case that GM was "too big to fail," (something which I don't agree with) the scope of the job loss by gutting the "war on drugs" would make GM look like a lemonade stand.
To the original question: It's too late now, because the trillions have already been spent. BUT, if I had taken over on January 20, 2009 - I would have taken every penny that had been commited for bailouts for banking and other industry, combined it with every penny from the "stimulus package" and divided that money equally for every taxpayer who makes less than $500,000 per year. Sent everyone a check. NOT tax free. That would have immediately put disposable income in the hands of the people who need it the most and drive our consumer engine. Many could have bought houses and cars with hefty down payments, which would have not only re-energized those specific markets, but would have also had a massive impact on banking - by way of creating millions of "non-toxic" loans and mortgages - all properly backed up with fat down payments creating safe, equity-rich assets on the books of lending institutions. Plus, 25% of the trillions involved would flow right back into the Federal coffers via income taxes, which could be earmarked to allow the government to continue to fund it's "shovel-ready" growth projects that were some of the actual "good" parts of the stimulus plan to begin with.
To the original question: It's too late now, because the trillions have already been spent. BUT, if I had taken over on January 20, 2009 - I would have taken every penny that had been commited for bailouts for banking and other industry, combined it with every penny from the "stimulus package" and divided that money equally for every taxpayer who makes less than $500,000 per year. Sent everyone a check. NOT tax free. That would have immediately put disposable income in the hands of the people who need it the most and drive our consumer engine. Many could have bought houses and cars with hefty down payments, which would have not only re-energized those specific markets, but would have also had a massive impact on banking - by way of creating millions of "non-toxic" loans and mortgages - all properly backed up with fat down payments creating safe, equity-rich assets on the books of lending institutions. Plus, 25% of the trillions involved would flow right back into the Federal coffers via income taxes, which could be earmarked to allow the government to continue to fund it's "shovel-ready" growth projects that were some of the actual "good" parts of the stimulus plan to begin with.
