The Big Ideas Project

If a company has more than a thousand employees, you should be able to dial their customer service line, hit '0', and talk to a real live person in America. Trapping people in automated phone trees is key isolating executives from their stakeholders. It's also super annoying. This proposal could be done with a law requiring the FTC to enforce this mandate.

Submitted by Anon in Economy & Jobs Dec. 20, 2014, 10:14 a.m.

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#1585

74 votes

Poor people need money more than anything else. Instead of bailing out the crooked financial institutions, bail out the American citizens who are suffering because of the criminals on Wall Street. Each American citizen should be given $250,000. People could pay off their mortgages, buy a home, pay off medical bills, college loans, etc. This would stimulate the economy and help many poor people.

Submitted by Margaret M. from MO in Economy & Jobs Dec. 11, 2014, 5:29 a.m. 1

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#1585

74 votes

Every two years, progressives should support a coordinated, multi-state campaign to put the same issue addressing economic fairness on the ballot in as many states as possible. The initiative process is available in more than 20 states and nearly every major city, and ballot-based changes can impact more then 140 million people. Potential issues include raising the minimum wage, paid sick days, pay equity, student and housing loan relief and tax fairness.

Submitted by Dave Regan, President, Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers West in Economy & Jobs Dec. 11, 2014, 7:33 p.m.

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#1585

74 votes

No more conversations, or even mention of, GDP and growth. The only financial statistic we should talk about is average (not median) income, broken down by tiers and population.

Submitted by Allen B. from MD in Economy & Jobs Nov. 11, 2014, 5:17 p.m.

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#1591

73 votes

all imports should be subject to a market entry fee just as if you wanted to sell your goods at a state farmers market or a flea market. the fee would be the man hours of labor times the difference in pay between US and foreign labor. domestic manufacture supports the market(infrastructure) on many levels federal,state and local taxes on wages, profits, real estate, road use, utilities etc.foreign manufacturers pay nothing to maintain the market they wish to sell in. completely unfair.

Submitted by William W. from FL in Economy & Jobs Dec. 31, 2014, 8:24 a.m.

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#1591

73 votes

Repeal GPO/WEP in its entirety. Was not sure which place to post this. This travesty of justice needs to be addressed. I, for one, have worked 53 years with 30 being government service, and continue to work and pay into Social Security. I have way more than enough quarters to draw full Social Security and only draw one-third. How unfair is this.

Submitted by Catherine L. G. from AL in Economy & Jobs Jan. 8, 2015, 4:25 p.m.

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#1605

72 votes

Reduce federal retirement age to 60 years old

Submitted by lexout in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 3:09 p.m.

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#1605

72 votes

End corporate welfare. If an employee of Mcdonald's or Walmart working full time has to go on Food Stamps or Medicare to make ends meet, you and I are paying for it and subsidizing the bottom line profits of those companies. The government should audit companies for those abuses and tax them in order to recover those costs

Submitted by scott h. from NY in Economy & Jobs Jan. 16, 2015, 7:35 a.m.

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#1605

72 votes

Race-to-the-top trade agreements instead of race-to-the-bottom ones. Agreements allowing nations to gain competitive advantage for their goods not through efficiency and quality (the goal of market competition) but by keeping wages low and skimping on environmental and worker protections, force all nations to "race to the bottom." Allowing countries to reverse ill-gotten advantages with tariffs could end the "race to the bottom" and incentivize nations to "race to the top" instead.

Submitted by Keith Rouda in Economy & Jobs Dec. 20, 2014, 12:58 p.m.

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#1605

72 votes

Decrease the threshold for "full time" work to 35 hours per week. Mandate overtime for "exempt" or "salaried" employees who work more than 35 hours a week.

Submitted by ronboakes_92127 in Economy & Jobs Jan. 4, 2015, 4:16 p.m.

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#1605

72 votes

Works Progress Administration From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Works Progress Administration / Work Projects Administration (renamed 1939) Agency overview Formed April 8, 1935 Preceding Agency Federal Emergency Relief Administration Dissolved June 30, 1943 Employees 3.3 million in 1938 (peak). Provided almost 8 million jobs between 1935 and 1943 Annual budget $1.4 billion (1935) Key document Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. Let's try this type of program again.

Submitted by mark t. from KY in Economy & Jobs Dec. 11, 2014, 10:17 a.m.

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#1624

71 votes

Establish a low-interest, federal loan program to fund employee-owned business and cooperative start ups.

Submitted by Carol O in Economy & Jobs Dec. 25, 2014, 1:28 a.m.

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#1624

71 votes

ANIMAL AGRICULTURE WORKERS' UNIONIZATION AS A MEANS TO BETTER PROTECT AG ANIMALS -- AS WELL AS ANIMAL AG WORKERS -- FROM ABUSE: As public support steadily increases for policies to protect the animals we eat from the horrific abuses in factory farms, public support too will increase for public policies that facilitate the unionization of agriculture workers if a push toward toward ag-sector and factory-farm unionization can be shown to increase the welfare of agricultural animals.

Submitted by Gregory Wright, ADA So Cal Board Member in Economy & Jobs Dec. 22, 2014, 6:04 a.m.

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#1640

70 votes

Rent Stabilization. While our moderate-income paychecks have not increased in maybe 20 years, our rents have increased to the point where now, moderate- and low-income renters are putting out half or more of their monthly take-home pay just on their monthly rental housing costs. On a moderate single income, buying a house stopped being possible about 15-20 years ago. HELP!

Submitted by Felicia E. in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 9:57 p.m.

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#1640

70 votes

Pay AmeriCorps and Vista workers the hourly minimum wage of the city where their job is located, and make their positions subject to state laws regarding pay for overtime. The minimum wage in Washington state is $9.47 as of 2015, but AmeriCorps positions pay a monthly stipend of around $1000 for a 40 hour work week. This means that AmeriCorps workers make an hourly wage of $6.88, and receive no pay for the often significant amount of overtime they put in serving their communities.

Submitted by asteinnes in Economy & Jobs Jan. 5, 2015, 7:25 p.m.

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#1658

68 votes

The policy of 'One Interest Rate Fits All’ by the Fed that favors 'Too Big to Fail' banks over Main Street (average, everyday savers) has to end! There should be different rates for each - one for banks; one for the public! To do otherwise is morally, ethically, and intellectually wrong!

Submitted by tempered1 in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 4:14 p.m.

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#1658

68 votes

To note on Credit Bureaus and Bank Call Centers which store our information are contracted to Guatamala, India, Pakistan; etc should be held in the United States not overseas; This has been known since the Bush years . This is dangerous where they have unstable political climates.

Submitted by JB in Economy & Jobs Dec. 19, 2014, 8:14 a.m.

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#1668

67 votes

The government should regulate how banks charge fees to the clients for everything they have to verify regarding the property, including the fee for the bank's lawyer during the loan home buying process. Also, in this category should be overseen the Con Edison company, that charges fees after fees and make the gas and electricity users pay double of what they actually use.

Submitted by No in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 3:16 p.m.

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#1668

67 votes

Improve incentives for worker-owned businesses, so that every worker can be an owner rather than an employee.

Submitted by Susan Duhig in Economy & Jobs Dec. 11, 2014, 6:16 p.m.

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#1668

67 votes

Revoke the charters of corporations who abuse or do not serve the public interest. After all, owners incorporate to absolve themselves of responsibilities and liabilities--no reason for them to reap big benefits for that. And a public court should set pay for all employees of the corp, including the former owner.

Submitted by jeshafsh in Economy & Jobs Jan. 3, 2015, 8:46 p.m.

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#1681

66 votes

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