The Big Ideas Project

change our economic system from one based on unlimited growth for large corporations to one that provides incentives for small, local, environmentally safe and healthy worker and/or community owned businesses that serve the interests and needs of the community where they are established. Increase incentives for renewable, safe and clean energy initiatives and increase incentives for growing small, local, organic foods from farms to stores.

Submitted by yes in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 2:36 p.m.

Tweet Share

#702

252 votes

Establish a large, federal seed money program and guidelines around which groups of people can organize local and regional cooperatives -- for agricultural and energy production, mutual insurance protection, any endeavor -- much like the co-ops that were once essential to the nation's growth and westward expansion.

Submitted by M. Ames, writer and former researcher, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 5:34 p.m.

Tweet Share

#718

243 votes

No off shoring jobs. No tax breaks for off shoring jobs. No off shoring money out of USA to avoid paying taxes . Loose USA citizenship if you hide your millions so you pay no or less taxes to US. Yearly 3% raise for SS Minimum wage increased to #15.00 an hour. all companies pay for sick days , paid vacation , pay Day Care . No company in USA should be allowed to pay so little that the US citizens has to pay for there employees cost of living. Government increase hiring for infrastructure

Submitted by Joanne do not have professional experience in the field in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 4:18 p.m.

Tweet Share

#725

239 votes

Combat income inequality through the corporate tax code. Corporate tax rates should be tied to how well companies pay their employees. Companies with the smallest disparity of pay between the top and bottom (ex 20:1) should pay much less in taxes that companies with a larger disparity (ex 250:1).

Submitted by zackc in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 10:28 a.m.

Tweet Share

#739

234 votes

Remove the penalty against early withdrawal of retirement funds when they are to be applied to the account holder's debt reduction goals. If markets are intensely volatile, why punish those who want to make other investment decisions rather than play the lottery of stocks and bonds with retirement savings?

Submitted by Bramble in Economy & Jobs Dec. 9, 2014, 8:19 a.m.

Tweet Share

#743

231 votes

Job training for inner city and rural youths

Submitted by Marvia L. from NY in Economy & Jobs Nov. 17, 2014, 9:11 p.m.

Tweet Share

#746

229 votes

Mandate that all jobs are union jobs.Unions are the only way a person has even a few rights against these rapacious companies who intimidate poor people any way they can.

Submitted by Jim B. from ME in Economy & Jobs Jan. 3, 2015, 7:38 p.m.

Tweet Share

#749

228 votes

Merged Idea

Create the PEOPLES BANK The real Bank for Americans. Illuminate Reserve as a private Co The Federal Reserve will be the Peoples Bank a bank that has a fixed rate of lending with no special deals for the other Banks and NOT an Investment Bank with the privilege of playing with the deposits.

Submitted by Nigel Dandridge-Perry in Economy & Jobs Nov. 11, 2014, 4:18 p.m.

Tweet Share

#753

227 votes

Obliging all companies with more than an arbitrary number of employees to pay those who work more than 40 hours/week overtime of an additional 50% of their hourly wage. This should radically decrease unemployment and increase efficiency because overworked employees make more mistakes.

Submitted by Ira B. from FL in Economy & Jobs Nov. 17, 2014, 8:13 a.m.

Tweet Share

#756

226 votes

Card check. We need to make it easier to join Organized Labor.

Submitted by Fred K. from IN in Economy & Jobs Nov. 16, 2014, 5:02 p.m.

Tweet Share

#780

220 votes

Stop cities, counties and states from including pensions in a bankruptcy action. These retirees did their jobs, put in their time and should be able to depend on their retirement fund to live.

Submitted by Rosemarie A. in Economy & Jobs Dec. 11, 2014, 2:33 p.m.

Tweet Share

#786

218 votes

CEOs used to be banned from owning stock in their own corporations; re-institute the ban. It is a conflict of interest for the CEO to own stock because he then only cares about shareholders like himself rather than the good of the company and uses profits to buy more stock rather than raise wages and invest in research and development

Submitted by atchelka in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 5:05 p.m.

Tweet Share

#786

218 votes

The cost of living increases calculation used by the government to decide SSA benefit increases needs to include ALL increases in cost of living -- including food and fuel which are essential.

Submitted by SueZbell in Economy & Jobs Dec. 26, 2014, 11:01 p.m.

Tweet Share

#791

217 votes

If Corporations not longer wish to pay taxes in the U.S., either through tax inversions or off shore shell accounts, instead, when they go global they have to declare to whom they will be paying taxes to. It's okay if they choose not to be an American Corporation. But that is where the corporate welfare ends. Let's take the corporate tax payer funded largesse, and invest it in the re birth of American Middle Class, by investing in companies that stay in the U.S., and pay their taxes proudly.

Submitted by Bridget J. from CT in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 3:31 p.m.

Tweet Share

#798

215 votes

Have all members of congress live on the minimum wage for a month.

Submitted by The Real Dr. Laura in Economy & Jobs Dec. 10, 2014, 1:48 p.m.

Tweet Share

#801

213 votes

Grant a path to legal residency to the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Stop separating families through deportation!

Submitted by amy in Economy & Jobs Jan. 4, 2015, 8:51 p.m.

Tweet Share

#801

213 votes

Amend the Constitution to guarantee a job for all able bodied people. a. A massive investment in Job Creation in the spirit of the WPA that will bring about Federal Gov’t jobs to Urban and other poor districts across the country. b. Providing a living wage indexed to the price of the cost of living c. Call for Job Training and Paid Apprenticeship programs to enter into the private sector.

Submitted by Roger M. from NY in Economy & Jobs Dec. 30, 2014, 3:17 p.m.

Tweet Share

#834

202 votes

mount a major public relations campaign to educate the voters about the difference between supply side economics and demand side economics in language that they can understand. for example: the basic (and false) premise of supply side economics is that rich folks who own large companies think, "wow! I just got a ten million dollar tax break. I guess I'll hire 50 more people" ... rather than "more people want to buy my product, so I'll hire more workers to meet the demand". ( =demand side)

Submitted by none in Economy & Jobs Dec. 30, 2014, 7:15 a.m.

Tweet Share

#844

198 votes

Set a higher minimum wage automatically in areas that have been determined to have a higher than mean (average) cost of living. Further, automatically increase the minimum wage on a set, periodic, basis to adjust for inflation.

Submitted by ronboakes_92127 in Economy & Jobs Jan. 4, 2015, 4:04 p.m.

Tweet Share

#844

198 votes

Afford Home Ownership for every class, low and middle.

Submitted by Mercedes Moore in Economy & Jobs Nov. 6, 2014, 8:29 a.m.

Tweet Share

#858

194 votes

Who’s voting?

Thanks for voting on your favorite ideas!