Easy Fixes for Difficult Problems

Although I lay it on pretty hard to conservative Republicans because of their intransigence over fixes for the economy -- as well as their loyalty to their financial overlords in fighting continually for more tax breaks for the rich -- I do so because we see many opportunities to get to work repairing our damaged job machine, and the Republican resistance is downright unpatriotic.

Republicans are starting to feel the heat as more and more Americans side with the Occupy movement, higher taxes on the wealthy,  and Democratic ideas for job creation, may we're ripe for the least controversial solutions to have a chance at enactment.

One of the best ideas I've encountered comes from Jeffrey Leonard of Washington Monthly. It's beautiful in its simplicity. Here's how it goes:

1. We need jobs, and the 40 million newly insured under Obama's health-care reform, starting in 2014, will need clinics.
2. A perfect place to start in with the highly successful non-profit community health centers.
3. Although they rarely fail, their low operating margins make initial financing hard.
4. Changes in the rules governing Small Business Administration lending would make it easier to finance new community health centers.
5. Thousands of idle carpenters and construction workers would be put to work immediately, and thousands of health-care workers would be put to work as the thousands of needed clinics come online.
6. These clinics, since they are meant to serve low-income earners and Medicaid recipients, which most of the newly insured are likely to be, will be just the right fix for dealing with these newly insured citizens in search of health care.

Read the article here, and then email the president and your congress persons.