Business

My 3-step plan to save the US. You’re welcome

The US economy is broken, and there are lots of people to blame.

At the same time, it’s becoming increasingly clear that it won’t be fixed through conventional methods.

You and I spent too much in the good ol’ days and saved too little. We even spent money we didn’t have by taking the equity out of homes that eventually fell sharply in value.

And trillions of our savings went into tax-advantaged retirement accounts that can’t be touched for years. That’s a good, solid idea but one that doesn’t help the present economy.

Washington, of course, spent too much as well. And part of the reason is one that I don’t like to bring up.

Osama bin Laden egged us into expensive battles, most of which we probably needed to fight but definitely couldn’t afford.

Bin Laden might have ended up with a well-deserved bullet in his brain, but now — a couple of days after we honored the victims of 9/11 — this maniac is still having influence over the US economy.

And we have to put a stop to that.

Today, the Federal Reserve will announce whether it will take any further steps in its futile quest to help the economy, which has been getting weaker by the month. What the Fed is doing really isn’t helping; it’s just taking money out of savers’ pockets.

Worse, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has taken the wildly dangerous step of printing money so that the US can act as a shill in its own bond auctions. The high price of gasoline today is largely the result of speculation that the Fed is causing; it’s not because demand for fuel is high.

So let me get to a point I’ve made many other times. Washington needs to think of new ways to help the economy. Simply shifting the tax burden from one group of Americans to another (as politicians like to do) isn’t going to help, especially when the Fed’s powers have been neutralized and our government can’t spend a dollar without aggravating the already enormous $16 trillion federal deficit.

Here’s my plan for the economy. And if I do say so myself, it’s a more detailed one than either of the presidential candidates have.

First, the US needs to change the rules on how some $15 trillion in retirement funds can be invested and/or spent. My suggestion is simple and painless: Let people invest some of their retirement funds directly in real estate and give them some sort of tax break for doing so.

This will create demand for houses, which will also benefit everyone from banks that are swamped with bad mortgages and want to write new ones to plumbers.

Real estate is bouncing along near the bottom of the market. It would be lower if not for speculators. If IRA and 401(k) owners could spend some of their savings on real estate, the housing market would improve.

The jobs that follow would have a domino effect.

But jobs won’t come overnight with just this change. So, second, the US should permit American companies with foreign profits locked overseas to bring those profits back home if they use that repatriated money to create jobs.

A company should be able, for instance, to bring a specific portion of its profits back home at a substantially reduced tax rate if it increases its payroll by a certain amount. What if the company doesn’t keep its promise to create jobs? Then the saved tax — and a penalty — would be due.

Third, the price of oil and gasoline needs to be kept under control.

Step 1 will revive the housing market and economy in the long term, and Step 2 will create jobs quickly. But Step 3, restraining speculators in the energy futures markets, will put money in the pockets of Americans immediately by keeping oil and gasoline prices down.

Why hasn’t Washington done this already? Why would our elected officials let gasoline to shoot up 22 cents a gallon in a couple of weeks simply because of speculation when there is really no fundamental justification for the rise?

After Steps 1, 2 and 3 are done, the politicians can then do whatever they wish with taxes. Tax the rich, soak the poor and middle class, flat tax, no tax — hell, they can double the tax on Twizzlers for all I care.

I don’t know about you, but I think four years of a lousy economy is enough. It’s time to realize that the Fed isn’t coming to the rescue and that Washington can do nothing but posture.

For cryin’ out loud, it’s time for some new thinking!

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Wall Street analysts had better start going over their growth estimates for Facebook.

Late last week I met with two more major Facebook advertisers.

They were shaken by the social-network giant’s refusal to take down the “Pedophiles are people too” page.

On top of that, one of these advertisers said it had already scaled back its business with Facebook because the Menlo Park, Calif., company has proved to be ineffective in driving business its way.

It’s very easy to lose advertisers and tough to get new ones.

And Facebook’s irresponsible and juvenile policy toward child sex — it thinks the subject is a joke — as well as toward hate groups is driving away business.

Meanwhile, Andrew Noyes — the Facebook executive who made the decision to keep the pedophile page because it was “humour” — is annoyed that I put his email address in my column.

OK.

So just complain to his boss, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg. His e-mail address is Zuckerberg@fb.com.

Tell him you think certain of his policies stink.

john.crudele@nypost.com