Well, it's looking better out there.  However, as I have written in the past week's update, the activities of the stock market doesn't act as the barometer or panacea for turning a recession into a recovery or boom cycle. 

Another week, and news isn't that positive for some established American companies.  General Motors has reportedly been precariously close to declaring bankruptcy.  This is the same General Motors which received $12 billion in bailout money.  I understand the difficulty in transforming a poorly-run company into a profitable corporation again, that it may take several years to achieve.  Yet, I have a possible idea to make American companies profitable without the usual CEO excuses that American Unions are causing the problems and thereby hurting the company and economy.

I propose that all American companies (of any size) which provide vision, medical, and dental benefits for their employees should be given a yearly tax break which reflects the amount of investment in employee benefits (for example, if a company has employee coverage totaling $100,000, then the company can declare that as a tax write-off of $100,000).  Certainly, small businesses would get fewer tax breaks simply due to the amount of employees in their company, so I am hopeful that the readers out there will submit ideas to bridge this inequality.  However, if American companies want to outsource their operations but keep their business headquarters in the United States, the government will have authority to slap excise taxes on the importation of the items manufactured by that company or utilize protective tariffs as a punitive measure.  Yet, global operations are a part of the certain business practices and models so perhaps a compromise or list of ideas can be proffered to hammer out a solution.

Hopefully, this will keep American businesses in the country and provide employment and health coverage for its employees. 

Companies can also receive tax breaks similar to the Carbon Credit, although in a more effective form.  Businesses can receive massive tax breaks by using energy-efficient equipment and building materials or through environmentally-sound waste management systems designed to reduce pollution in all forms.  Conversely, companies will have one or more tax breaks stripped if they do not meet environmental standards in manufacturing practices.  For example, if GM decides it doesn't want to produce fuel-efficient vehicles with existing technology or continues to pollute excessively, it will lose the tax benefit from the employee health care coverage until the company has cleaned up its act, no pun intended.  Keep in mind, the government will purchase new energy-efficient machinery for the production line, so there should be no reason why a company (in this case, GM) has to be on the list of polluters.

Certainly, a family-run restaurant wouldn't be able to receive the same amount of tax relief as a company such as General Electric, but they can have the government purchase energy-efficient appliances for the business.  Not only would this eliminate immediate and expensive bills for refrigeration units, ovens, mixers, and heating and cooling systems, but it would benefit the environmental aspect right off the bat, leading to more immediate year-end tax savings.

Now, this is only an idea, but, provided the GOP has accepted my "Boxing For Office" concept, I hope to be in office to make this a reality.