What I Want to Hear in the State of the Union Tonight

The president will be making his State of the Union address tonight and there are a few things that I would like to hear him propose in an effort to improve the economy both in the short term and long term. 

• Propose a way for homeowners who are on time with their mortgage payments but are currently sitting with negative equity in their homes to refinance and take advantage of these once in a lifetime low rates.
• Propose a deal where the infrastructure of this country will be improved and brought up to date with the rest of the developed world thus improving our efficiency.  It is very important that this be proposed as an investment in the long term success of this country.  Paying for it with a rise in taxes to the top .1% is also something the president should mention while taking advantage of the sentiment in the country that the rich are being catered to.
• Propose a deal where education in this country will again be a priority which will allow our kids to compete with the rest of the world.  The future of this country lies with our children and it's about time the government starts cleaning things up.  This can be done by proposing the end to tenure among teachers (unions hate this) and holding schools accountable for the results of their students in a way that involves more than just test scores.
• Improve and continue pushing federal spending in R&D.  This is so important to the innovation that comes out of this country.  There are many things that have been developed within our borders which originated with federal money.  This is because corporations are about the bottom line and will not always invest money in projects that have potential but can take years to come to fruition.  This is again an investment in the future of this country.
• Balancing the budget must be emphasized as an important step which needs to be made over the long term.  This will involve a rise in taxes along with a cut in spending.  It should also be emphasized that the best way to balance a budget is by improving the economy.  By helping homeowners, along with investing in infrastructure, education, and R&D we are taking advantage of the low rates the country is being afforded to borrow at right now and making an investment that with proper nurturing will blossom over the long term.

What we need to do right now is take advantage of the low rates with which we are borrowing money at just like any good corporation would.  The key however is what we plan on doing with the money.  If we are just going to continue funding tax cuts which redistributes wealth and offers returns to very few people then the effort is a waste of time and money.  If, on the other hand, we decide to invest it in the country in ways that the return will be greater than the amount spent to pay off the debt then its worth while. 

We need to understand that there is a huge difference between spending and investing.  Spending money on tax cuts is a waste of money.  Investing money in this country and its people is the sure way of keeping the country prosperous well into the 21st century.