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A novel idea - invest in America

The National Summit is seeking ideas to help jump start America and get our people working again. The purpose of the summit is to have a conversation with some of the nations top business and government leaders on our collective economic future. While I enjoy a conversation as much as the next guy, I am much more interested in action.

Many of my friends and colleagues from around the state and nation are unemployed and can't afford to attend this National Summit. They are angry and fed up with a financial and political system that seems to have economically abused the ordinary, middle class people while enriching themselves. The anger is at a boiling stage.

Yet, while the anger is palpable, there is also a yearning to try to create something positive out of this mess.

I am far from an economist, but I am an American, and I don't like the helpless feeling that this huge fiscal crisis has placed upon my family, my country and me. I find myself complaining to anyone who will listen. While that may be good therapy, it won't "fix" anything.

Invest In America

Here is an idea for the National Summit and the Obama Administration to consider: Invest in America Bonds

I say we call for issuing "Invest in America Bonds." They would be similar to the "War Bonds" last issued during World War ll. We have an economic Pearl Harbor facing our nation, and it's time to come together as a country and reinvest in America.

Rather than issuing these bonds to finance military operations during war time, they would be used to invest in creating jobs for the 21st century global economy. This idea is not going to solve our problems, but it would engage the spirit of the American people and the resources can be used to help stimulate job creation here at home in:

• Alternative energy to get us off dependence of foreign oil.

• Rebuilding our infrastructure; building roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.

• Innovation to make us safer in world full of global terror.

• New manufacturing technology to recapture this vital industry for America.
Invest in talent/education from the cradle to the grave to make us once again the "brain bank of the world" where everyone comes for deposits and withdrawals.

Americans are looking for safe havens for investment. They are also looking for ways to help lift up our nation and spirits. What better way to do so than creating a campaign that allows all of us, from school-age children to adults, to invest in America?

Investing should be made as easy and simple as possible. Payroll deduction would be an easy method. As with savings bonds, employees would earn the interest on their investments. "Invest In America Bonds" could be used only for investment in our country and in specific businesses that have the potential to restructure and revitalize America.

At the end of the Victory War Bond campaign in 1946, more than 85 million Americans - half the population at the time - purchased bonds totaling $185.7 billion. With inflation, imagine the money that could be generated to put American back to work!

I believe America is worth investing in. Do you?

Tom Watkins is a business and educational consultant in the US and China. He can be reached at:tdwatkins@aol.com