I'd like to tackle this one first as it is obviously so important at the moment. The first thing I'd like to say is that there is no place for nostalgia in commerce. A company should succeed or fail due to the level of demand for its products and the popularity of its produce. The next thing I would like to say is that it's not the company that is important, it is the workforce. If 10,000 people are unemployed that is a very serious situation to be in, if 10,000 people leave a company to work for another company this is not nearly as critical.
Currently the government is offering car manufacturers lots of money to keep people in jobs. Why? If nobody is buying cars now why should we assume they will be in 6 or 12 months time? If we pay car manufacturers to pay their employees to not produce cars all we are doing is putting today's critical issue on hold. The car industry is important to this country not only for the people it employs but also for the amount of indirect jobs it creates. Many companies providing screws, nuts, bolts and so on. If the government prop up the car manufacturers it doesn't mean that they are going to continue manufacturing cars, so these indirect jobs will still be lost.
What we need to do is to utilise this work force in such a way that they are able to produce something else. We need to pay them to produce something that we could all do with but couldn't otherwise afford. If the population are going to be paying money into something then we really need something in return. I believe that this is an opportunity to mobilse a massive work force to produce something of interest to us as a nation, to mass produce products that until now have been too expensive for people to want to buy for themselves but which would be beneficial to the entire nation and possibly even the rest of the world.
I propose that instead of being paid to not produce cars, the money invested should be used to mass produce home energy solutions such as solar heating panels and small wind turbines. Mass production will lower the cost of production, and these items could be provided to homes free of charge as we have already paid indirectly through our taxes for the materials and labour. With this large work force actually creating products it will continue to support all of the jobs that are indirectly dependent upon it, so it will guarantee the jobs of not only the car manufacturers' employees but also the industries built up around it.
Although these energy generating devices would not make homes entirely self-sufficient energy wise they should reduce homes' heating bills which would help to bring many homes further away from "fuel poverty". Tax payers will get a return for their investment rather than it just being yet another bail-out, we'll all see the benefits for years to come, and with many homes generating energy from nature there will be a reduced dependency on foreign fuel supply and less of an impact on the world's environment.
To get money moving again in the short term I think that the government needs to help guarantee loans made to small businesses and individuals. I don't think the government should guarantee 100% of the loan because this will be a free ticket for banks to be reckless (again) and reap all of the rewards whilst taking none of the risks. I propose that the government guarantees, for example, 90% of the value of each loan so that the banks will suffer financially if they make unwise decisions; but the banks also are in a safer position to lend money. In exchange for this public funding I (as a large share holder in these banks) would expect to see the banks passing on huge benefits in the way of interest rate cuts.