The way to create jobs, prosperity, and rebuild the middle class actually does begin with government. .gov needs to levy import tariffs on foreign produced goods. Follow that up with a moritorium on environmental and OSHA regs, massive refundable tax credits for manufacturing startups, and yes, direct loans to domestic (only) corporations for capital investments in stateside factories. Screw giving Wall Street more of our (and our children's) money.
The first part there is what extended the Great depression by
years. Imposing tariffs just creates retaliatory protectionist tariffs and policy in other nations which further depresses economic activity. And it slows or stops foreign investment and job creation completely if raw materials or partly finished goods they need will be more expensive.
The second part of this has some merit. Less regulation and taxes is
always a good start. And a sane monetary policy would make the need for .gov loans unnecessary. The Federal Reserve needs to focus on protecting the value of a STABLE dollar, and nothing else. The fact that they now see themselves as the guardian of markets that are "too big to fail" is a big part of why we are in the current economic mess. Failure is a healthy thing for markets, because the pain/losses of that will keep the market from repeating whatever negative behavior it was that got them in the mess in the first place.
Privatize Social security/FICA match, eliminate the payroll tax, capital gains taxes, and reduce the corporate income tax rate to match that of China's, and the U.S. would have a labor
shortage crisis within five years.