What will start a long-term economic recovery?

Cut the miltary budget by 75% and close many of the overseas bases.

Personal responbility

Return to Eisenhower & Kennedy era aspects. Which means get rid of all Regonomics(top down) which have been going on staroids with a race to the bottom!
Study all of history dilligently and You find that increasing taxes propotianetly always makes things better for everyone. Close the loopholes like Kennedy did. Greed is killing the happy qoutient! Agian history has proven that proportionaly increasing taxes has made it a far more happyier country than what we have now! True history now people.
Enforce the ethical oversights & regulations. Money has been flying out of the country beyond a treasonist level! War & hostile occupation profiteering is treason! Deceiving We The People is Treason!

The Founders had it right! They did not establish a Fascistic, Communistic, Socialistic form of governance, nor did they establish a Democracy. In fact they considered a Democracy to be the worst form of governance that would only substitute a unitary form of tyranny for the tyranny of the majority. Hence they established a rule of law (not of man) Constitutional Federal Republic.

We must return to Constitutional Governance. Our Constitution contains all the principles that allowed the US to become the envy economic envy of the World in less than 200 years. It is the trashing of that great compact that has allowed this abomination that it has now become to emerge from the bowels of Hell. The "blood" of the Constitutions demise is not only on the hands of those traitors that purport to be public servants by taking the oath of office requisite to holding an office of public trust within the three branches of the Federal Government, but can equally be laid at the feet of the ignorant electorate that acquiesces to the blatant treason that comes from their servants that have have made themselves the masters through usurpation of the powers of government clearly enumerated in the Constitution.

Nothing short of educating the citizens and then verifying that they have the knowledge of the Constitution and free market economics requisite for being qualified to become a member of the electorate for choosing candidates for Federal Offices of public trust will extricate us from the predicament that such ignorance has allowed to occur.

An educated certified electorate will not knowingly send a knowledgeable or an ignorant traitor to the Federal Congress or the Executive, but if one slips through an educated electorate will take the necessary steps to immediately remove the dunce or traitor from office which is what a good Citizen must do out of shear duty. At the very least the electorate made up of knowledgeable (I.E., a good Citizen) will insure removal at the next election.

With an educated electorate the propaganda dog and pony show by the establishment media will all but be eliminated because they will only be able to influence a small number of the qualified electorate's members. All the rest of their audience of "voting age" will not be able to cast an ignorant vote for the usual traitors of the People's Constitution and their inalienable rights.

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERANCE IS THE ONLY VIABLE LASTING REMEDY.

Those that disagree with this assertion should study again or for the first time the history of the Constitution and first years that led up the US becoming the foremost economic powerhouse the World has ever known.

An organized, viable worker's movement intent on establishing a worker's government and economic democracy is the only way to permanently fix our schizophrenic system.

get the government out of the way and let capitalism do what it was meant to...have some faith in capitalism..think it would react favoribly to this crisis if we let it..time for some enterprueners to "capitalize" on the situation....they might have been able to react better had they not depended on false hope from the gov....politicians have their own agendas...like a giant pyramid scam..

New tax system along with getting back in touch with our Constitutional principals. I agree with Frank Rambin (above) that until we get back to our principals, we (the people) are screwed. Repeal the 16th & 17th amendments, and institute a flat, fair tax to encourage SAVING. Give the States their rights back by stopping the popular election of Senators and enact term limits for both houses just like for the president.
It would be a good start.

I think John has got it--pass the Fair Tax (read the book), and impose term limits. Immediate positive impact.

Convert the war economy to a sustainable, life- and peace-based economy.

Gov't needs to stop spending. All but the essencials.
Military, power grid, and smooth roads....nothing else.

Infrastructure. Aids the demand side now and the supply side later.

Bring back ALL outsourced jobs, make outsourcing a criminal act as well as a nation security breach. FIRE Ken Lewis and make sure he leaves Bank of India (I MEAN, America) penniless. Imprison anyone who even thinks about hiring someone in another nation to do the work that someone in the USA can do. You want foreign workers? MOVE. Move your entire fucking company to India and, oh yea, dont catch the plague while you live and work there.

Separation of corporations from state, just as there is supposed to be a separation between religion and state.

There needs to be a consorted effort to return our currency to a more worth based, hard item standard. The silver or preferably, gold standard should be re-applied. When we as a nation allowed the federal reserve to pull this kind of monetary slight of hand, our present situation was set in motion.
Our money in it's current reserve base, is nothing more than an invitation to inflationary outcomes. Our currency is based presently on this and is the reason why we are sliding towards an out and out world wide depression. This is because that the US dollar has been the world currency since the end of ww2. Roosevelt financed ww2 through a deal with the world bank by resending the silver standard and initiating the reserve standard.

Cut taxes across the board by 50%. Get rid of the death tax, it is a crime. Had an Uncle died with 3 million in assets , they took half. He worked in a small machine shop and saved all his life for what!!!. Let the banks bring all the money they have offshore back into the country. And let business spend without penalty. As Mark Scott said " ILOVE MY COUNTRY BUT I FEAR MY GOVERNMENT!!!!

End the Fed!

Pass the Fair Tax and bring 4 trillion back home.

Raise taxes on the top 40% on a graduating scale, severely reduce or eliminate corporate taxes and eliminate capital gains taxes. I believe any economist would agree that this would stimulate economic recovery better than most ideas we are hearing.

Opportunity is the key. Cut taxes and government buracrasy and cost of being in business. Don't rape employers so they can hire more people. Cut government spending unless 90% of it actually and provably creates employment in the PRIVATE SECTOR. No government job creates money for the government via taxes. Why can't people understand that most simple of principles? The government does own a dollar - it is the people's money and they any money they spend comes out of a working person's pocket. Any money coming from a government job simply recycles tax money. It is not the same!

Stop running with sissors. Cut the military & give up trying to run the world as our empire.

Nearly every business/mba student that I've asked this question had one answer in common: Repeal the Capital Gains tax. In their educated opinion, this would cause the stock market to nearly double in value overnight and cause most business' to recover to a sustainable level. It would remove the PENALTY for being profitable and successful in you investments, and would encourage people to invest heavily. There is a reason you have high concentrations of business activity in countries and states with low to no taxes.
Tax credits are not the answer. As a student, when I filed my taxes this year I received several "credits" and was surprised to find I was receiving a federal refund of 5x what I paid in through withholding. I've never gotten back more than I paid in until 2009. Through tax credits, the IRS views me as having NO income. ZERO. Yet, since I'm a student, the fact that I make a single cent at my job makes me unable to access programs that would actually help me, such as food stamps so I don't keep going broke trying to feed myself while in school. I am unable to get health coverage through medicaid because I'm a student, however meager my income is, thus I am uninsured. Last time I had to seek medical attention it cost $1500 out of pocket to get stitches, a bill I am still struggling to pay back nearly 2 years later.
How is this unbalanced system sustainable?

How do we expect people to lift themselves on the wings of freedom available to all Americans if we send the message that if you have a few kids before your 20's & don't strive for success you'll be set. You'll have assistance to buy food, get money BACK from the government at tax time, and have state-funded medical care......as long as you don't become successful.
Once your situation changes though, the apron strings get cut and you better be ready to stand strong on your own, because that's when everyone is waiting to beat you back down...if you can go back down.
When did we become a country that is wiling to sacrifice defense of all for the comfort of a few? Some clamor for reductions in defense spending, but I ask what is more important than the national defense? Sure, let's cut defense spending to zero and eradicate poverty: we can use the extra money to care for the hundred's of thousands wounded when we're first invaded.
Why, on the cusp of one of the most promising times in space exploration is the US deciding to take 5 years (minimally) off from the shuttle program and then cutting funding to NASA? The point keeps getting presses about the US lagging far behind other nations in math and science education, yet we slash and marginalize what has been the US' most concentrated and successful scientific endeavor? This makes no sense! We'd rather PAY THE RUSSIANS TO GIVE US RIDES TO THE SPACE STATION WE MAJORLY FUNDED!
Wouldn't the trillion dollars used in the bailout been put to better use inspiring a new generation of mathematicians, engineers, science & technology majors that they can make their mark in history and elevate mankind like Kennedy did with the mission to the moon. I think it could have been. I think we should have used that money to challenge the US to set foot on Mars. Mobilized an entire army of bright young people, like myself, to strive to help advance human history. We need something to both bring together and excite our nation!
We need change, but not for the sake of change. We need something to be proud of again. We need the kind of change that tells some young kid living in the hills of Appalachia in poverty with no prospects to see you are more than your situation. Men and women just like you from the same background and disadvantage successfully put a human on the moon once and in doing so put America back on center stage, in the spotlight of world admiration....and we can do it again!