Gone Fishin'

Asian carp  have infested the waterways of the Mississippi River basin, and the Obama Administration, along with environmentalists, have been struggling for cost-effective ways to keep the trash fish out of the ecosystem of the Great Lakes.  One expensive solution, to completely sever ties between the river basin and the lakes, has been rejected in favor of yet more lengthy studies and short-term stopgaps.

Obama said he would listen to common sense solutions to America's problems as long as they are made in good faith.  I have a solution to the carp problem.

Put a bounty on 'em.  Yep, that's right!  Put a bounty on 'em.

Invite the laid-off workers of American to go fishing.  Pay them a dollar a pound for the damn carp, and turn them loose.  As a partner,  bring in a cat food company or a fertilizer company, who would weigh the icky things and issue a voucher to the individual fishermen.  The fishermen would then submit the voucher to the gov't for payment.  Uncle Sam would deduct any taxes owed, and pay the hard-working angler.

Who's better at hunting/fishing a species to extinction than us?  Out-of-work Americans would be earning an honest dollar, and feeding their families while contributing to the common good.  They'd be paying taxes on their earnings.

As an added bonus, we'd be keeping money out of the hands of scientific/ bureaucratic nincompoops who make a living by studying a problem as a vocation instead of actually solving something and putting a period on it.

It's a simple, common sense solution.