Jobs for the umemployed seems to be the main issue in this election. I've spent some time in thought as to how I would try to generate more jobs for Americans. I'm very interested to hear other ideas.

First, I try to get to the root of the problem. The main point that people gripe about is that there are so many jobs outsourced to foreign countries. What's the root cause of this? Companies exist for one reason: to make money. The main motivation of any company is to make as much profit as possible. One of the ways to do this is to keep costs as low as possible, i.e. keep labor costs as low as possible. Due to working conditions in some countries, companies have the option of outsourcing their work to these foreign workers who work for pennies on the dollar.

So how do we bring jobs back to America? The left believes in more taxes and the right believes we need to lower taxes. America has the highest corporate tax rates of any developed country. Thus, companies try to use every legal angle possible to move their money overseas, where it's taxed at a much lower rate. Something seems to be wrong in America if companies are moving labor and money to other countries. How can we stop this? Do we cowtow to corporations? Do we become even more strict? What's the answer?

I honestly don't know. Corporations already have so much power. I've considered an idea where, if a company's labor force is 100% American, then they will owe no income tax. If it's 90%, then maybe a 2% tax rate. 80% etc. you get the idea. Would that tax savings be enough to entice companies to employ Americans at good labor rates? What other incentives can we offer companies? Maybe a subsidy for employing X number of people?

Conversly, should we get more strict? Is it possible to force American companies to hire Americans? If we did change the law, would that cause companies to pack up and move? Or can we threaten with fines and higher taxes? Basically, do we use the carrot or the stick? I've haven't really made up my mind. I think I might be leaning towards tax incentives, versus forcing somebody to do anything (which is a very slippery slope).