Unemployment

The USA has a huge debt, manufacturing is going overseas, and the people are already taxed more than they can pay. Unemployment is high and rising. How can we solve these problems?

I know that anytime the government creates an incentive for something, people will use it! Look at welfare, cash for clunkers, the solar energy credits ... all the things the government should NOT be involved with (in my opinion). The federal government should defend the nation, deal with foreign countries, and provide an infrastructure for trade. Not much else, read the constitution and federalist papers. It should not fund the arts, health care, there should not be social security, ... but don't get me started, we all have opinions on these things and I am sure to be unpopular with many and popular with many. But maybe here is something we could all agree upon (although fundamentally this is also something the government should not be involved in...)

If a company sells a product, they get a tax credit for each percentage of the product's components manufactured in the USA, and another bit if it is assembled in the USA. So if you want to sell a cheap DVD player or cell phone, manufacture all the components in the USA and assemble it in the USA.

If something is 100% made in the USA with 100% USA manufactured components, then you get a huge (100% ?) tax credit. This could start immediately and be phased out over, say, 10 years, so next year it is 90%, then 80% ... This would give a HUGE incentive to manufacture things here rather than in, say, China or Mexico.

Comments anyone?

--PLH