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Obdigore, on 08 November 2012 - 05:50 AM, said:
BalrogLord, on 08 November 2012 - 05:29 AM, said:
Obdigore, on 08 November 2012 - 04:11 AM, said:
HoosierDaddy, on 07 November 2012 - 01:51 PM, said:
Specifically, I think these are some areas where we can look at to reduce the budget:
1. Defense. Commie socialist liberal that I am, I think we can probably reduce some of the outstanding projects and overall R and D some, without hurting fighting effectiveness.
2. Education. We can probably kill some overhead here, but without taking away from funding actual school programs and struggling schools.
3. Energy. Kill oil and clean coal subsidies.
4. Soc Sec. Means test. I'm for it to a certain percentage of cost. Raise age to 67 starting in 2017.
Edit: Changed Medicare to Soc. Sec. I'm for single payer.
1. Defense. Commie socialist liberal that I am, I think we can probably reduce some of the outstanding projects and overall R and D some, without hurting fighting effectiveness.
2. Education. We can probably kill some overhead here, but without taking away from funding actual school programs and struggling schools.
3. Energy. Kill oil and clean coal subsidies.
4. Soc Sec. Means test. I'm for it to a certain percentage of cost. Raise age to 67 starting in 2017.
Edit: Changed Medicare to Soc. Sec. I'm for single payer.
My changes:
1) Tax Changes -> Let the bush era tax cuts expire. Tax capital gains at the same level as regular income. Donating to churches no longer counts as a tax break for donating to charitable organizations.
2) Defense Spending -> Close down 1/3rd of our overseas bases, especially the glut we have in Japan. Take all the Military R&D spending and shuffle it over to NASA. Task NASA with getting us into the asteroid belt by 2030 and doing it securely. The US is currently planning on replacing its 10 supercarriers over the next 15 years with new models. Why do we need 10? If we stop being TEAM AMERICA, we don't need more than five to secure our nations and be able to help our allies if needed.
3) Education -> We need to move away from low paying manufacturing jobs that we cannot compete with other countries with much lower standards of living. We need to increase Science and Maths educations, and move to a government funded Uni/College system for citizens of Average and higher intelligence.
4) Energy -> Invest in Nuclear Power while it is the cleanest and best way of deriving energy. Invest in research into Solar, Wind, and Geothermal. Hope NASA figures out Cold Fusion. I agree that the oil and coal subsidies need to end.
5) End the War on Drugs. Decriminalize everything, Legalize and Tax Weed, Acid, and Shrooms.
6) Legalize Prostitution. Prostitutes must be tested for diseases every 2 weeks and setup the DEA to make sure there is no sexual slavery and that the people doing the prostitution are willing. Make sure the prostitutes take home at least 65% of their fees.
7) Offer temperary military help to mexico to wipe out, with extreme prejudice, the drug cartels. The legalization of weed and the military assault on these organizations should be enough to end them. If we help make northern mexico livable, we should have less of an illegal immigration problem
8) Change Immigration. All first world countries thrive on immigration. A capitalist society needs to continue to grow, and as a country catches up with technological advancements and abandons religion the average children of a couple goes down to just under 2. Immigration is key. We need to make it easier for intelligent and motivated people to immigrate to this country. But we need to find a way to spread them out instead of having them live in large enclaves and be semi-absent from US society as a whole.
9) Offer Taiwan the chance to become an US protectorate. It is currently technically (according to the US military) under US military control after the end of WW2 and is not an independent country. This will also possibly bring things with China to a head, when the US has a clear military and logistics advantage.
That is all for now.
1) Churches are NPOs the same as any other, excluding them from donations makes no sense. What about NPOs with religious affiliation, you going to cut them too based on this logic? Its a taxable deduction because it's a way to encite people to give money. If it's Cap gain, raise the rate yes (50-75% range works for us just fine), but it shouldn't be 100% aside from the fact it severely hurts most investments models the gain/loss does not reflect any change in value due to inflation. Here's an idea, raise personal tax rates, create more higher income tax brackets and lower your corporate tax rate. That'll solve many of your revenue issues. Corporate tax rates are a formality more then anything else, since any income earned by a corp eventually filters out (employment income, business income, property income, cap gain etc). They give rise to issues of double taxation which are a pain to account for.
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3)and what about those who can't work in these high tech industries eh? Not everyone can be a mathematician, a scientist etc. There needs to be employment for people of all levels else they become a drag on the economy and hold everyone back. Manufacturing domestically accomplishes this goal. Yeah you don't get to take advantage of economic advantages but if a larger % of your people are employed it's an overall net gain. Unless of course you wanna go full socialism at which point by all means yes let's only employ a few and have everyone else live off that wealth.
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5) end the war of drugs yes, decriminalizing everything? that's a step to far man. There are some substances you do not want people on period. Some substances should not be legally purchased.
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6) Legalising prostitution may actually help some of these poor women (or men) so i'd be down. Working conditions for prosititues in places like holland are sligthly better from what i hear.
7)that's one helluva can of worms you're thinking of opening. At the same time didn't you also sya you wanted lesser military expenditures. Bit of a contradiction there. I know you said short-term but let's be realistic wars rarely happen the way you plan them to be, usually end up lasting longer then anticipated.
7)that's one helluva can of worms you're thinking of opening. At the same time didn't you also sya you wanted lesser military expenditures. Bit of a contradiction there. I know you said short-term but let's be realistic wars rarely happen the way you plan them to be, usually end up lasting longer then anticipated.
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9) yes, let's give imperialism a whirl again, We all know how well that ended.
1)your local catholic church is still an NPO, regardless of whether or not you perceive it as a charity. No different then a soup kitchen, a historical society or boating club. As far as im concerned it's still open to treatment as a charity. Just out of curiosity is it tax deductible for individuals where you live?
3)then use manufacturing to compete locally. Setup tariffs if need be. Domestic manufacturing is a great source of employment. Construction tends to be periodic, not a consistent form of employment.
7)Somehow i don't think Mexico would be that easy to stabilize. Then there's the whole sovereignty issue as well as finding something to replace the power vacuum that isn't drug trafficking, sure offing all the local crime bosses will help but who is to say it won't creep up again once the special forces leave. This mexico issue isn't as clear cut as you seem to be making it.
9) i get the feel Taiwan like's it sovereignty just fine the way it is, besides do we really need to prod china further? Senkakku island dispute was bad enough already. What's the gain? What's the cost? From my perspective all this will result in is needless expenditures and piss china off, who happens to be a big trading partner and soon to be global super power.
This post has been edited by BalrogLord: 08 November 2012 - 02:33 PM
don't like most of the people who live here, and c) want to split off whenever they don't get their way.
