At a speaking engagement this week at the Birmingham Tip-Off Club, Billy Packer had something on his mind other than basketball. Namely, how to fix the economy.
Packer, who now works in real estate in Charlotte, said he didn't vote for Barack Obama, but is "1,000 percent" behind the president. And like Obama, Packer has a plan. Call it the Packer Plan.
In a nutshell, Packer's plan calls for a moratorium on all job firings and home foreclosures; have those with jobs take about a 5 to 7 percent decrease in salary as a sacrifice; and re-hire educated people who have been laid off and use them to rebuild communities.
Packer used the example of 10,000 job cuts a Wachovia in Charlotte as a way the country could get out of this mess. The 10,000 lost jobs represent 7 percent of the Wachovia workforce, and every current Wachovia employee should agree to take a 7 percent payroll hit to rehire their former colleagues.
"We can all handle 7 percent," Packer said. "The anxiety of losing your job has gone from 0 percent to 100 percent, and it's something no one can stand."
Packer estimated 99 percent of those who were laid off are educated.
"We don't have to find new jobs," Packer said. "We take the jobs that they had and put them right back where they belong, we take a small hit, and we turn out these communities to be vital.
"I see your streets need to be paved in this town [Birmingham]. I see your educational system needs to be improved. Those people that take that hit, turn them around, put them to work in our government, in our global communities, and all of a sudden we're going."
Always knew Packer was a communist.
Posted by: ACE | February 18, 2009 at 07:53 PM