FINALLY, A GOP JOBS PROGRAM
Levine, Art
FINALLY, A GOP JOBS PROGRAM by Art Levine To: James Baker, Chief of Staff From: Martin Feldstein, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisors Re: A Marshall Plan for the Townships The unemployment...
...David Gergen in the press office has suggested that for political purposes we change the administration's slogan from the grim "Stay the Course" to the more upbeat "Fix the Courses...
...Fred Fielding over in the White House counsel's office tells me we might have a problem with the Thirteenth Amendment on this one...
...Brandon's disturbing findings after a recent inspection tour of Grosse Point, Palm Springs, and Newport are the following: —5,000 miles of private driveways are filled with potholes...
...My staff has assembled a Presidential Review Memorandum on the subject based on some research conducted by Muffle Brandon...
...A workable alternative would be to pay the workers we hire a minimal wage, say $1 an hour, which could be funded by charity balls...
...The added cost for health spa retreats resulting from these bumpy rides is conservatively estimated at $42 million a year— money that would otherwise be invested in polo ponies, art, and other job-creating ventures...
...Unfortunately, the President's policy preference— a jobs program with no salaries paid to the workers—is unavoidably unviable...
...This isn't our constituency (see the RNC's recent polling report, People Who Shouldn't Vote, November 1982), but I think we need to consider how to adapt the idea to our private sector initiative proposals...
...If the President approves the plan, our timetable could get it geared up for implementation shortly after the end of the hunt season...
...Complementing these elements of the program should be an aggressive training initiative...
...However, Kenneth Du berstein in Congressional Liaison has red-flagged a potential problem here, noting that Senator Helms prefers the name "Fred...
...His legal staff reads the language as prohibiting involuntary servitude...
...students, The Demographics of Investment: Squash Players and the Revitalization of America, the most productive people in the economy in terms of capital formation and investment are professionals and corporate executives who make between $150,000 and $400,000 a year...
...Potential recipients of help at the club or at home will be subjected to a rigid "means test"—only people of means will be eligible...
...Although she has generally been pigeonholed as the First Lady's social secretary, I've been favorably impressed by the quality of her economic insights...
...800,000 maid and butler positions remain unfilled because of a shortage of "good help," forcing many of the country's most productive citizens to plump their own pillows...
...We need to do something soon, and I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that a jobs program is the only answer...
...One of my own pet policy prescriptions is to strictly target the program to help those who need it...
...America's most vital ports—the private docks adjoining yachting clubs and seaside mansions— are virtually collapsing...
...A consultant hired by the Department of Education recently completed a 600-page study recommending that the training program take a lead from the Pullman porters of earlier years and rename all of the minority students "George...
...the base lines of 10,500 tennis courts around the country have not been paintedfor over a year (this doesn't include private courts...
...In addition to the compensation, workers would get a new sense of pride knowing they're helping captains of industry put the economy back in shape...
...This approach is not some liberal-style indiscriminate giveaway...
...Our vocational education classes are hopelessly outdated, concentrating on auto mechanics and woodworking instead of the burgeoning servicesector skills: doormen, chauffeurs, maids, butlers, and nannies...
...Among Dr...
...I'll be candid, Jim...
...The grass on some putting greens has grown to a startling two inches, a full one and a half inches above recommended length, severely threatening the peace of mind of America's most important executives...
...I know that sounds irresponsible, and that the President has ruled out such "quick fixes," but bear with me for a moment...
...FINALLY, A GOP JOBS PROGRAM by Art Levine To: James Baker, Chief of Staff From: Martin Feldstein, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisors Re: A Marshall Plan for the Townships The unemployment issue undermined us more than we forecasted in the mid-term elections, convincing me that we must facilitate a more sound approach for the near-term future...
...According to an unpublished study by one of my Ph.D...
...The tax cuts contained in the President's Economic Recovery Program last year take care of the people above that income level, and the people below are irrelevant to the prosperity we all seek...
...As you know, the liberals have heavily impacted the electorate with their "infrastructure" proposal, which proposes to put the able-bodied unemployed to work fixing roads, bridges, dams, parks, and so forth...
...Art Levine is a contributing editor of The Washington Monthly...
...After conferring with the President's other top economic advisers, my policy recommendation is a full-scale jobs program to ameliorate these conditions...
...843 of the nation's finest country clubs are crumbling from neglect...
Vol. 14 • December 1982 • No. 10
