Here is my first creative idea (in conjunction with shovel ready and budget gapping) for make-work stimulation:Education Aids: Two of my state's biggest firms, Target and Best Buy, are laying off more employees this week. A good percentage of these employees are young and sophisticated. Why not create a make-work program that places a under 28 college educated professional in the classroom of any public school for a year. This would be different than a traditional teacher's assistant and would probably be well received by K-12 students seeking a different PoV. A $50B program could create 1.6M+ jobs at an average salary of $30k. I know the salary pails in comparison to private salaries but I bet dollars to donuts those with limited prospects for the next 12 months would jump at the opportunity! Everyone can't build a bridge. This program would fill up and BANG...like that 1M jobs that have value are created.
I think it would work. I'm going to bundle it with a few other of my ideas and email it to Amy Klobuchar and Keith Ellison and Norm Coleman. If you like it send it to your congressperson too! Maybe it can make it into Stimulus Part II - The Sequel coming October 2010
