Portland.CityJournal.us

Ten simple ways to stimulate the economy that will help everyone:

1. Have your car detailed. $100
   Your car needs it and 100% of the money goes to pay for the salary of a person who needs the money. Do us a favor though, at least make sure the detailer is working here in the US legally.
2. Go out to dinner at a local restaurant. $40
   Most of your money goes for labor and some may even help out a local farmer. You're going to eat food anyway so take your significant other with you and do something that will help everyone.
3. Have something in your house fixed. $100
   For about $25-$50 an hour, you can pay someone to fix some of the things on your list of things to fix. For just $100 you get a shorter list and everyone's a winner as most of the money here goes for labor and to a sector where employment is now hard to find. You might even get a great deal.
4. Buy a pair of Danner boots. $120
   Danner makes their boots right here in the USA. Their factory is in my neighborhood. These boots will be good for a lifetime and if that's not long enough they will rebuild your old ones for you.
   Now, maybe you don't need any boots. That's ok, just look for a factory in your neighborhood and buy one of whatever they make. Everybody wins!
5. Buy a fitness club membership from 24 Hour Fitness. $50
   You know you need to. Buying a health club membership employes locals and you get fit. What a great combination!
6. Start using Netflix. $14
   I know that does not sound like much but Netflix is such a cool deal and you'll save gas by not having to go out to the video store. Saving gas is good because using gas means sending money to people in other countries and we want to give money to cool Americans like the founder of Netflix, Reed Hastings. Did you know Reed was a math teacher in the Peace Corps and does all kinds of things to help schools? Help yourself to some DVDs and help out an American company at the same time.
7. Buy a Leatherman Flashlight $70.
   Leatherman makes lots of cool stuff right here in the USA. The Leatherman factory is typical of many small US businesses. It grew from a small shop and has a long history of doing things the right way and helping in the community. Tim Leatherman invented the multi-tool. If you don't have one of those, get one with your flashlight.
8. Buy a Worksman Classic Cruiser. $279
   The Worksman Cycles Factory in New York has been making bicycles for 110 years. Riding a bike is good for you and you never know when the price of gas will go back up.
9. Buy some Fiestaware dinnerware $27
   That's not much for a 5 piece placesetting (dinner, salad, soup/cereal, cup & saucer). I like to mix and match the colors myself. Fiesta has been made in the USA for a long time and I still get warm fuzzies when I use it because it reminds me of my mother and what could be more American than that?
10. Donate to your favorite charity. $500
    Times like these can be hard on organizations that rely on donations. That makes it all the more important that we step up and do what's right. One of my favorites is the Boys and Girls Club of America. These folks provide healthy, wholesome activities for over 4.8 million kids all over the USA. They deserve our help.

There, for $1520 you can stimulate the economy and look at all the fun you get to have doing it. Wouldn't you feel better though if you did all this with your own money? You know, money that you earned yourself from working? If you earned and spent about $126 a month over the next year, you could stimulate the economy yourself and not have to wait for the government to do it. Using your own money has the added benefit of not asking your grandchildren to bailout the economy now before they are even born. This is truly a do-it-yourself project.

How much will it cost?
If 300 million people each spent $1520 to stimulate the economy, it would cost about $456 billion. The question is, can YOU do a better job of stimulating the economy than the government? If you think so, start today!