The pretty 1/2 of Spark it Up writes..........
"How Would You Fix the Economy?"
The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"

I think this guy nailed it!
Dear Mr. President: Please find below my suggestion for fixing America's economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use thefollowing plan.
You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan: There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.
Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement withthe following stipulations:
1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings -Unemployment fixed.
2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.
3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.
It can't get any easier than that!
If more money is needed, have all members of Congress and their constituents pay their taxes...

Very good piece, funny, but obviously not serious. Lets do the math
40,000,000 people
x1,000,000 dollars
-------------
40,000,000,000,000 dollars.
That's a little more expensive than Stimulus.
I don't think our credit # is good enough for that loan.
And do we want to get a greater national debt?

But how about instead ,we free up a lot of cash?
Let's make Pensions, Social Security, savings interest, etc, tax free?
Lower the capital gains tax to 10-15%
Eliminate penalties from tapping IRA's,401K's, 457H's,etc.
I have a bunch. I would have paid off mortgage, so instead of losing a ton in the market, I would have saved paying interest for long time. Others would buy that car. Others would buy that RV and start retirement early and open up those jobs. It might not be $1,000,000 each, but it is a lot of money that would flood the market place.
And yes I know there are drawbacks.
"Who will support these people after they blow their savings?"
"How will we fund this program and that program?"
yadda,yadda,yadda.
Feel free to tell me why I am wrong.
Nothing beneath the fold.
. And here is the rest of it.