by Scott Ott

I agree with the president and his party that it’s going to take “shared sacrifice” to pull through these tough economic times.

Since we, the people, have already sacrificed — our jobs, our former incomes, our retirement account balances, our dreams and plans — it’s your turn, dear public servants.

To ensure fairness in our shared sacrifice, we shall employ the following formula.

We’ll take the average of the standard unemployment rate (9.2%) and the U6 rate which includes underemployed and discouraged formerly-employed folks — roughly 12.5%, and multiply 435 (the membership of the U.S. House) by that figure. Then we’ll immediately lay off that number of House members (54) by random drawing along with all of their staff. In addition, six Senators and their staff will be sent packing, and 12.5% of each department of the Executive branch. (The Executive branch includes roughly 2.7 million civilian employees.)

As the jobless numbers decline, laid-off House members, Senators, staff and bureaucrats may return to work, chosen at random. When we reach 5% real unemployment, they can all return. Should this unemployment index percentage rise rather than fall, more government officials would be laid off according to the same formula.

This is not only eminently fair — the very picture of shared sacrifice — but it is the plan mostly likely to lead to rapid federal budget cuts, regulatory reduction and tax relief, which, taken together, will spawn economic recovery and prosperity.

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