Seems like all we are talking about is the economy and jobs and health care these days.  We are loaning money to banks and automakers that have run bad businesses with the hopes that they will somehow turn it all around.

Aren’t we all asking ourselves the obvious questions like:

1)    Instead of giving the banks money, how about you pay down each taxpayers mortgage or give them a credit to purchase a house they can afford?

2)    How about you give us all a credit to buy a new American car in the next 3 years instead of giving automakers money?

So lets focus on jobs….

For someone to earn a job there has to be something that needs to be done and someone who is good at doing it….

What needs to be done?
1)   We are grossly overweight.
2)   We are not effective at managing our finances.

What are we good at doing?  HELPING PEOPLE

So what if we created an economy based around solving these 2 problems?

First, we set a goal as a country to lose 3 billion pounds or an average of 10lbs per person.  Develop an industry funded by health care companies, who will benefit from less claims, and a “fat tax” placed on fast food restaurant revenues.  At a ratio of 1 coach / admin for every 300 people, it would create over a million jobs.  Coaches will organize, educate and motivate small communities to reach goals, change habits and get active.  Employers support the initiative and earn tax credits for building a culture of wellness.  A healthier America will be more productive and send a responsible message globally.

Second, we add a money management curriculum beginning in middle school thru high school with an emphasis on understanding dangers of debt and the importance of savings.  From an early age, children are taught the fundamentals of finances and actively engaged in learning from real world scenarios occurring in their homes.  Families are assigned a finance mentor to work with them to set and achieve goals.  This could create up to 500,000 jobs at a 1:200 households ratio.  The primary underwriters for this program will be the credit and banking industries.  The tobacco companies were forced to educate people on the dangers of smoking so why shouldn’t the credit card companies be responsible to educate people on the pitfalls of debt.

I certainly appreciate the fact that I don’t know enough to accurately think these issues completely through, however, it makes a lot of sense to me conceptually to see two of our biggest challenges as huge opportunities to create jobs funded by motivated and abusive industries.  A country that is able to resist the temptation to enjoy the quick fix on food and material items will be sturdy to lead the world through this century.