Name what you would do to turn the economy around

[randallscott35]

Originally Posted by GPK

I have some backup I could contribute.

You've done enough.

[GPK]

Originally Posted by randallscott35

You've done enough.

[Danzig]

i'm reading book two in the oxford american history series. covers from 1789-1815. something jumped out at me-the feeling by most in the early days of forming our federal govt that citizens could rule themselves without much govt interference, without the govt 'knowing what's best' or 'what's good for us'-since many only knew about their own region, and not the larger country. i think we've really gotten away from that line of thinking. too many now believe the opposite, that the elite have our best interests at heart, and will take care of us.

those who ignore history.....

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by Danzig

i'm reading book two in the oxford american history series. covers from 1789-1815. something jumped out at me-the feeling by most in the early days of forming our federal govt that citizens could rule themselves without much govt interference, without the govt 'knowing what's best' or 'what's good for us'-since many only knew about their own region, and not the larger country. i think we've really gotten away from that line of thinking. too many now believe the opposite, that the elite have our best interests at heart, and will take care of us.

those who ignore history.....

exactly. we depend way too much on the government now. It's like we cant think for ourselves.

[clyde]

Does anyone have their own thoughts anymore?

All I see are someone elses words and time worn bromides.




If you must suck..do it on NA.

"The Simpsons did it"

[somerfrost]

Not being an expert in economic matters, I can only list measures I'd like to see, cannot say their effect on economy.
1. Restructure tax system eliminating all loop holes, folks making $30,000 a year or less would pay no tax, families with $50,000 or less likewise, all others would be taxed at 25% up to income of $200,000, 35% for rest.
2. Institute a 2 year service requirement for all folks to be served immediately upon completion of high school or 18th birthday if not in school. No exclusions unless person is deemed physically or mentally unable to care for self.
3. Mandatory reduction of salaries/bonuses/benefits for CEO's, other upper management folks, professional sports figures...nobody makes more than a million a year.
4. Legalize marijuana, to be sold in government "stores" and grown on government farms, sold at price much lower than street cost.
5. Raise salaries of folks providing health care, especially nurses, techs, and those providing direct care to those folks who are disabled, sick or elderly. Universal health care for all citizens.
6. Term limits for all political offices (except Supreme Court)...Senators...2 terms, Reps...5 terms.

[clyde]

Boy, this is getting shallow.

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

Not being an expert in economic matters, I can only list measures I'd like to see, cannot say their effect on economy.
1. Restructure tax system eliminating all loop holes, folks making $30,000 a year or less would pay no tax, families with $50,000 or less likewise, all others would be taxed at 25% up to income of $200,000, 35% for rest.
2. Institute a 2 year service requirement for all folks to be served immediately upon completion of high school or 18th birthday if not in school. No exclusions unless person is deemed physically or mentally unable to care for self.
3. Mandatory reduction of salaries/bonuses/benefits for CEO's, other upper management folks, professional sports figures...nobody makes more than a million a year.
4. Legalize marijuana, to be sold in government "stores" and grown on government farms, sold at price much lower than street cost.
5. Raise salaries of folks providing health care, especially nurses, techs, and those providing direct care to those folks who are disabled, sick or elderly. Universal health care for all citizens.
6. Term limits for all political offices (except Supreme Court)...Senators...2 terms, Reps...5 terms.

1: Why 2 rates instead of one? One rate - total proportionality. No problem with the first $30,000 exempted for everybody though.

2: The service requirement would violate the 13th amendment, which banned slavery. Slavery can be defined, at a minimum, as mandatory labor without compensation, among many other bad things to go with it.

3: It is no concern of the government what individuals make in their own private enterprise. There is no maximum salary and never will be.

4: What would be the disincentive to abusing the drug? That crap is illegal for a reason. I don't want stoned airline pilots, surgeons, or accountants for that matter handling any aspect of my life. No thanks.

5: Get rid of ObamaCare and maybe the salary structure WOULD resemble more of a free market.

6: Like the term limit idea - but make both houses equal: 2 terms for senators, 6 terms for reps, so both are 12 years. 24 years total in Congress for the career politician. And those experienced people would make good presidential candidates.

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by joeydb

4: What would be the disincentive to abusing the drug? That crap is illegal for a reason. I don't want stoned airline pilots, surgeons, or accountants for that matter handling any aspect of my life. No thanks.
.

more like No thanks to your not well informed opinion. Is it legal for an airline pilot to fly while drunk? is alcohol legal? legalizing pot DEFINATELY does not mean it will be legal for your pilot to fly stoned, use some common sense.

what is not right is you having an opinion on a naturally grown plant and wanted your opinion enforced on everyone else.

and the reasons it's illegal are probably not anywhere close to the reasons YOU THINK it's illegal.

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

more like No thanks to your not well informed opinion. Is it legal for an airline pilot to fly while drunk? is alcohol legal? legalizing pot DEFINATELY does not mean it will be legal for your pilot to fly stoned, use some common sense.

what is not right is you having an opinion on a naturally grown plant and wanted your opinion enforced on everyone else.

and the reasons it's illegal are probably not anywhere close to the reasons YOU THINK it's illegal.

Not well informed? Tell me - what was the reason that marijuana was outlawed in the first place?

You're correct in it being a naturally occurring crop, so it must have been legal at one time. What was discovered about the side effects or the behavior brought about that made the government outlaw it, instead of just taxing the hell out of it like tobacco?

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

more like No thanks to your not well informed opinion. Is it legal for an airline pilot to fly while drunk? is alcohol legal? legalizing pot DEFINATELY does not mean it will be legal for your pilot to fly stoned, use some common sense.

what is not right is you having an opinion on a naturally grown plant and wanted your opinion enforced on everyone else.

and the reasons it's illegal are probably not anywhere close to the reasons YOU THINK it's illegal.

OOOOOOOOOO

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

4. Legalize marijuana, to be sold in government "stores" and grown on government farms, sold at price much lower than street cost.
.

really?? The goverment has to grow and sell it? the only thing the goverment should do is tax it.. not grow and sell it. Though G13 is quite nice.

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

3. Mandatory reduction of salaries/bonuses/benefits for CEO's, other upper management folks, professional sports figures...nobody makes more than a million a year.
.

how extremely un-American. there are other countries you can live in if you really think this is a good idea.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

how extremely un-American. there are other countries you can live in if you really think this is a good idea.

No, I love this country and will remain here, thank you! As I said, don't know the effect on economy but think it's a good idea. There would be exceptions of course for income derived for innovations, sale of businesses etc. But I strongly believe no person deserves a yearly income of over a million for running big businesses or playing sports.

[somerfrost]

RE: two years of mandatory service constituting slavery....don't see that argument as I (and my father before me) was drafted into the military. Folks would be paid good salaries and would be assigned to a litany of occupations based solely on skills. The key is that EVERYONE would serve, not just the poor and others lacking the means of securing an exception (other than I noted).

[wiphan]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

No, I love this country and will remain here, thank you! As I said, don't know the effect on economy but think it's a good idea. There would be exceptions of course for income derived for innovations, sale of businesses etc. But I strongly believe no person deserves a yearly income of over a million for running big businesses or playing sports.

If you love this country and what it stands for you would not make a statement like you do above. Stating that no one should make over $1 million a year is absolutely ridiculous. If you truly believe this you should probably move

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

No, I love this country and will remain here, thank you! As I said, don't know the effect on economy but think it's a good idea. There would be exceptions of course for income derived for innovations, sale of businesses etc. But I strongly believe no person deserves a yearly income of over a million for running big businesses or playing sports.

That's way too low. There needs to be the right mix of both Capitalism, and Socialism. Conservatives hate Socialism until you mess with their Medicare, or a twister tears their shyt up....... The emphasis in this country has been on getting rich, and we've been willing to give our jobs away to people (in other countries) in order for rich people to keep making tons of money (off poor people.) We've finally come to the point where that has caught up with us. There aren't enough jobs here, and it's because we've given our jobs away to other countries. One of the reasons we would ever do such a thing is because we have a lack of concern for fellow citizens. Part of the reason for that is because we don't give value to American Citizenship. That's a huge mistake. The 1st thing I'd do is to treat our borders, immigration, and healthcare the way most other industrialized countries do it. We are paying about 7k a year per person for healthcare, and they pay roughly 4k. If we value citizenship rights, jobs for Americans, and the health of fellow citizens, then, we can start cleaning this up. You can't just give jobs away to people in other countries (because they will do it for almost nothing,) and then bring the products here to sell. O.K., we've tried that. We don't have enough people working anymore to buy those products. I can guarantee you the solution to most of our problems lies in giving more respect to citizenship rights of Americans. People need to know exactly what they belong to. They don't right now. We keep giving the club memberships out, and wonder why people don't care about fellow club members..duh. Put Americans 1st. Do that, and people will care a lot more about their country. That will lead to a better economy. We can't keep worrying about every stray from every culture that overproduces beyond their means. That's a problem they need to come to terms with. Our culture has specific problems that need to be dealt with, and that starts with giving citizens something definite to belong to. If we want to solve our problems, we have to care about us a lot more than we do now.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by somerfrost

6. Term limits for all political offices (except Supreme Court)...Senators...2 terms, Reps...5 terms.

Having term limits removes all incentive (re-election) for responsible behaviour.

3. Mandatory reduction of salaries/bonuses/benefits for CEO's, other upper management folks, professional sports figures...nobody makes more than a million a year.

What would be the point? This is America, that would be illegal anyway.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Riot

Having term limits removes all incentive (re-election) for responsible behaviour.

Really?