I’ve been asking people what Obama could do now, without needing the approval of Congress, to address many of the serious problems facing the country.

Alan Grayson:

1. End the wars, and bring the troops home. Even if Obama didn’t cut a dollar from the defense budget, all the money spent on the troops, and all of the money that they spend, would be spent in the United States, and that money would circulate in the United States, boosting aggregate demand and creating jobs.
2. Direct the Attorney General to prosecute foreclosure fraud and other white-collar crimes vigorously.
3. Determine that China is a “currency manipulator” (which is stating the obvious), and impose trade sanctions on China, to offset Chinese manipulation of the exchange rate.
4. Accelerate the award and performance of infrastructure projects and competitive grants to the full extent of FY11 appropriations now, instead of the usual end-of-September orgy of contract awards 11 months from now, to accelerate the spending of appropriated funds in order to create jobs.
5. Employ Government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to: (a) finance and refinance loans at lower rates, and (b) temporarily eliminate the down payment requirement — if you can make the monthly payments on the house, then you can own it. (This is, in effect, how FHA mortgages have worked for years, but only at the low end of the market.)

Alan Grayson is a member of Congress from Florida’s 8th Congressional District

Other posts in this series:

• Question: What Things Can Obama Do Now?
• Bill Black: What Obama Could Do Now