I have the solution to the US debt crisis and pretty much to everything else.
People are happy to buy tickets to the movies. We heard about how the final Harry Potter film grossed almost $300M in its opening weekend alone.
So what I propose is this - have everyone who bought a ticket to that film buy a "ticket" to the stability of the economy. Right there, $300M will be raised in a single weekend. Then I propose that anyone who bought a ticket to any of the top 10 grossing films of the past weekend buy a "ticket". Now we're talking $1B in "sales" in a single weekend. Then take that money and put it towards the national debt.
Now of course the first thought that will cross people's minds is "Why should *I* pay for the idiocy of the government?"
Well the answer is you're already paying, it's in the form of economic collapse which could (and probably will) result in losing your job again and losing your house again and losing your will to live *again*.
People piss away the cost of a movie ticket on a daily basis. I say harness that power. I would rather buy a ticket to economic stability than to see the Harry Potter film. And when the economy is finally stabilized, I will still have a job and a home and then I can go see HP as many times as I want.
I would pass an iron clad law that the money raised in economic ticket sales be used solely to pay down the national debt. Nobody can make a dime off it. No overhead costs and no bullshit bureaucracy.
When the ticket is purchased, that money goes directly to the Treasury. The end. All banks will participate and not charge any transaction fees to move money from the citizens to the Treasury.
Then the Treasury pays it out to its creditors. Done.
I'm not saying we pay down the entire gazillion dollars owed, I'm saying we pay it down just enough that the government can get its head out of its ass long enough to get the economy back on solid footing. Oh and in that law, they can't build ticket sales into the budget. It won't ever be a source of revenue. That's what taxes are for.
If you like this idea, feel free to pass it around. Who knows, maybe we can save our economy one movie ticket at a time.
Epilogue aka DONE
15 years ago
Except, that the US debt is currently 14 TRILLION dollars. That's 12 0's behind the 14! Broken down, the amount owed, BY EACH US CITIZEN, is roughly $47,000.00 . That's a lot more then just one movie ticket.
ReplyDeleteEven Harry Potter can't fix this mess :P
As I said in my post, I'm not saying we attempt to pay down the entire debt, or even a significant portion. What I'm saying is to provide a bridge in the gap they are currently experiencing. Right now they are struggling with whether they can pay the salaries of their troops. I've got a very close friend in the army who has 2 young boys. If they cut off his salary, how will he keep his kids fed? If I buy a $10 ticket and he gets paid and feeds his kids, then I think it's worth it.
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