A New Model

No, not this type (Although I wouldn't mind having one or two of these).
But a new business model.
Someone asked - 'how could we go about fixing our current economic system when so many are a part of it' (or something pretty close to that).

I never said that it wouldn't hurt - only that it's necessary.
It would be like jumping from a speeding train moments before it was to fall from a collapsed bridge into a valley.
The jumper might suffer a broken arm, leg or even death - but the chances of dying from the final fall would almost certainly produce the effect of death.

But how do we fix our current model?
There is no one answer.
Governments are set up to address the largest problems (effecting the most people) with the least amount of effort.
They are not set up to micro-manage. (At least no effective ones.)

But any number of directions would have had a more immediate impact on generation a positive outcome for our country's residents.
- Paying off all outstanding credit card debt (for every person with a credit card in America) - An ABC News report (2008) put the figure close to 960 billion dollars. This would have given the banks capitol as well as lowered consumer debt. A win/win for the country.
- Paying off all outstanding student loans - This would have effected the country in much the same way as the first example. This would have rewarded those who invested in themselves and taken away the onus of an insurmountable debt. (Both a financial and psychological benefit.)
- Only giving stimulus money to profitable banks and credit unions - Letting the new market determine which banks could be trusted with large (and even unimaginable) sums of money. These historically profitable banks and credit unions could buy the "toxic" assets of those foolish enough to have created them - at a price point closer to the asset's real value. This would be a reverse of the trickle down economics practiced today. (A kind of "Trickle-Up" theory.) But at least in this model, local economies could determine their own future.
- A million millionaires - One trillion dollars to a relative few bankers does little good for most of the country. The same trillion dollars could have been given to a million people (at a million tax free dollars each). The stipulation would be that the people who would win this national lottery would be required to spend the whole amount in one year (paying off debt first, and with no acquisition of new debt (the punishment of any new debt would be that the whole million would be taxed at the current tax rate.) . This would have absolutely jump-started the economy.

As it stands now- we are trying to keep a colander full of water. Doable, yes - but one would have to keep water flowing fast and often to accomplish such a task.