Campaign Spending|Would it be Easier to take out Payday Loans?

How many payday loans would this man have to take out to run for office? With my economic plan, below, he wouldn’t have to take out any loans.

Today the Negative Campaign Ads End.
I am so glad the elections are today and the negative ads that hit my T.V. constantly will be over. I would rather see ads for payday loans than the negative ads this election season. My children notice the ads. They notice one candidate says one thing and his opponent says something completely opposite and they realize someone is lying. My daughter has talked to me about this and she wonders how to know who to trust. Subliminally, are we teaching our children to be negative and mean to each other and that it is o.k. to lie? Can you imagine what the unconscious effect would be on our children if the ads were full of, “What will I do for you?” rather than, “She did this,” or “He did that?”

Then I have to wonder, how can these politicians afford the advertising to constantly slam each other?

$5.3 Billion Dollars in Campaign Spending in 2008.
According to USA Today, our presidential and congressional hopefuls are expected to spend a record-breaking $5.3 billion dollars this election season. Yes, you read that right! $5.3 billion dollars! With $5.3 billion dollars at their disposal, it’s no wonder they can make so many negative ads. With the state of our economy right now, one can’t help but wonder what kind of positive affect we might have if the $5.3 billion dollars was instead put into helping individuals in our country.

While I’m still reeling about the money spent on these elections, I read further that Coca-Cola spent $2.6 billion on advertising in 2006 and American’s spent over $6 billion on Halloween, alone this year.

A New Idea for an Economic Stimulus Package.
So, I have an idea for my own economic stimulus package, so we can avoid taking out payday loans. Say next election, we don’t allow the candidates to spend anything. If they want an ad on T.V., they have to have it gifted from a television station, who then must give equal time to the other candidate. With less time on television, the candidates will have to focus on more positive campaigns. If all we see are short ads, and they are filled with negativism, we won’t vote for the candidate, I’m sure of it.

What Could a City do to Improve its Economy with ½ Million Dollars?
If we took the $5.3 billion spent on campaigning and divided that between every single American citizen (approximately 300 million), we would each get less than $20. That’s not enough to make a dent in the economic problems. But what if we took the $5.3 billion and divided that between 20,000 cities (19,354 cities according to the U.S. Census Bureau). Each city would get $265,000 to work to improve the economy of their city. While we’re at it, each individual could donate $10 of the $20 they spent on Halloween each year to the economic stimulus in their city. This would give each city an additional $150,000. And last, we could all agree to drink Coca-Cola so they don’t have to advertise and they could donate their $2.6 billion to our country’s economy. This is an additional $130,000 per city. Total per city would be $545,000 per city. Every city has different needs so each city would look at what would best stimulate the economy of their city with ½ million dollars. Stimulating the economy of each individual city would thereby stimulate the national economy.

We would be using that money in a more responsible fashion. And the man in this picture, holding this sign, might not have to take out payday loans or stand on the corner to run for president.