Conservatives

[0marTheZealot]

I've seen this a lot lately, a lot of bashing what Obama has done and is going to do.

How do you propose to address the myriad of problems the United States is facing, given that supply-side economics has been thoroughly discredited as a legitimate way of running an economy? What is the conservative plan for fixing healthcare, education, tax system, etc etc.

As far as I can tell, conservatives have no plan. They are simply against whatever plan the Democrats have been putting out. Most conservatives here on this board are cutting off their nose to spite their face. I have yet to see one person articulate what should be done with America's problems.

Now, don't say we have no problems. Healthcare is an absolute mess. We spend more goverment money than any other nation on earth and have a less healthy population to show for it. People go bankrupt because they can't afford to treat their conditions. 40 million people simply cannot get any medical care unless it's an extreme emergency.

What about education? Our public school system is a joke, our students are ill-informed about mathematics, science, engineering. Over 50% of the population does not believe in evolution. Our math and science in K-12 is near the bottom of the developed world. Graduate programs in science and engineering are dominated by foreign students.

Our tax system is a mess. Past a certain threshold, you can effectively hide your earnings and shelter your gains. Something is wrong when you can pay an accountant $15K and he'll save you more money than just simply paying the taxes outright. Tax cuts simply do not work, there is very little trickle down and the effect is minimal at best. A huge portion of revenue, state and federal, is actively being hidden through dubious means.

Our infrastructure is collapsing. It was built with a 30 year life span back in the 50s and 60s and we are living on borrowed time. Private companies have proven they can't be trusted nor can they effectively manage the huge amount of infrastructure in the US. We have sewer systems that are 100+ years old, our electric grid is at least a generation too obsolete, our roads, highways, bridges and dams are all in need of some pretty major repair. Every year, the US infrastructure report goes down.

And this is just a small list of problems. What is the conservative address to all these problems? GWB simply ignored most of them. Others, like the tax system, his administration simply played the GOP line without regard to future consequences. Still others, like the education system, it is most likely that the wrong approach was taken. NCLB is a farce of education reform, it does nothing to address the core and root problems in our education system. We don't need better test takers, we need better thinkers.

I've seen what the Democrats/Obama's plan is for many of these problems. I may not agree with the implementation on some of them, but at least they are trying to address the problems. And with Obama, I know that there is some iterative process going on. He has the intelligence to realize that if a certain approach isn't working, that a retooling must be done to correct the path. I haven't seen a single conservative actually put out a plan that adequately addresses even half of these problems. Doing it the Reagan/GHB/GWB way has not worked at all. We've had a steady decline in nearly every category doing it their way.

 

[OrByte]

The GOPs plan is to just say

"NO"

and let the economy collapse. Once that is done they will pick up the pieces all the while blaming the Ds

And if the economy DOESNT collapse they are going to pretend it did anyway and blame the Ds.

Its all very transparent.

 

[tm37]

GWB was not a conservative.conservatives know we need to spend money to fix the roads, but we should not be paying for failures of others.

I understand that at least he is trying and that is great. Trying is not enough to fix the problem. I had an instructor in high school who said some thing very profound.

"the worst thing we teach aour children is that if first you don't succeed try try again" He said that would should teach "iof at first you don't succeed, stop, look at what you are doing, is that the best thing?, now try again."

I am frustrated that because people live in an investment I must shoulder the loss they experenced in it. I am frustrated that the solution to get people back to work is create jobs in goverment. The solution to the automakers who, with the help of the unions, have run bussinesses into the ground because they were unable to adapt.

A conservative think that government should allow bussinesses to succeed AND FAIL. Failure is a part of the natural order.

GWb did not ignore them BUT he ran to the center with the FARM BILL, the BAILOUT. Now the dems are saying that Bushes Bail out did not work we need more. That would be like ordering a soup at a restraunt and when you get it declaring "that is awful!, Can I get some more?"

I believe in School reform that includes vouchers, and the ability for teacher to be rated and FIRED if needed. I believe that The private sector can do things more efficently than the public sector.

SO sayin that GWB proves consevative does not work shows you know very little. GWB spent money, alot of money, and tried to make everyone happy. As a conserative I am poffended that you would lay his fiscal policy on my feet and ask that I take the blame.

 

[Zebo]

I think the opposition can be summed in two words. Moral Hazard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard
Depending how Obama does all these programs in your post, many of which I like, I agree with them.

You can't create a situation where a majority of net consumers is living off a minority of producers and have a first world nation anymore - it falls apart on itself and the only way you can maintain people actually working is force.

They have plans.

Vouchers for schools to make competition and freedom of choice.
Taxes they want income flat and none on inheritance or capital gains.
Infrastructure they think is a local issue unless it's building military bases, more the better.

America just does not agree with them at the moment.

 

[Slew Foot]

Now, don't say we have no problems. Healthcare is an absolute mess. We spend more goverment money than any other nation on earth and have a less healthy population to show for it. People go bankrupt because they can't afford to treat their conditions. 40 million people simply cannot get any medical care unless it's an extreme emergency.

If some guy wants to spend his money on beer and cell phone ring tones, that his problem, not mine.

What about education? Our public school system is a joke, our students are ill-informed about mathematics, science, engineering. Over 50% of the population does not believe in evolution. Our math and science in K-12 is near the bottom of the developed world. Graduate programs in science and engineering are dominated by foreign students.

Liberal education has focused more on people feeling good about themselves rather than actually teaching kids stuff. I wouldn't trust the far right wing either, but dumping money into the teachers union isnt the answer, but stricter requirements and quicker curriculum progression would help. Most science and math fields dont lead to easy money, Americans like easy money, so they go into law and business.

Our tax system is a mess. Past a certain threshold, you can effectively hide your earnings and shelter your gains. Something is wrong when you can pay an accountant $15K and he'll save you more money than just simply paying the taxes outright. Tax cuts simply do not work, there is very little trickle down and the effect is minimal at best. A huge portion of revenue, state and federal, is actively being hidden through dubious means.

Which is why a progressive flat tax without ANY deductions or credits, taxing both earned income and "unearned income" the same is the ideal way to go.

Our infrastructure is collapsing. It was built with a 30 year life span back in the 50s and 60s and we are living on borrowed time. Private companies have proven they can't be trusted nor can they effectively manage the huge amount of infrastructure in the US. We have sewer systems that are 100+ years old, our electric grid is at least a generation too obsolete, our roads, highways, bridges and dams are all in need of some pretty major repair. Every year, the US infrastructure report goes down.

Largely agree, and I would add internet infrastructure in there as well. The stimulus that Obama campaigned on would have helped here, but most of that money got fiddled away to special interest groups and we ended up a with a big barrel of pork.

 

[Jaskalas]

Tax cuts, ZERO bailouts.

 

[EXman]

I have one thing to let you ponder on.

I have never got a job from a poor man

just let that sink in some.

marinate.

hmmm...

 

[MotF Bane]

GWB was not a true conservative. Socially, perhaps in some aspects, but certainly not at all fiscally.

 

[BigJelly]

Originally posted by: 0marTheZealot
I've seen this a lot lately, a lot of bashing what Obama has done and is going to do.

How do you propose to address the myriad of problems the United States is facing, given that supply-side economics has been thoroughly discredited as a legitimate way of running an economy? What is the conservative plan for fixing healthcare, education, tax system, etc etc.

As far as I can tell, conservatives have no plan. They are simply against whatever plan the Democrats have been putting out.

LOL coming from a democrat is classic--where the fuck have you been for the last 8 years?

My answers (just from the top of my head):

Healthcare:
Governement gives free health care to everyone that can't afford it given that the people that apply for it...do not have cable/satelite, cell phones, a TV bigger than 20", jeans that cost more than $20, sun glasses that cost more than $10, etc. If they can afford the mentioned and unmentioned LUXURY items then they can afford their own healthcare. They aren't entitled to free healthcare because they buy luxury items instead of healthcare.

Education:
1. Fire the bad teachers ASAP. Teachers that can't pass placement exams are fired and any pensions are removed. We can't allow morons to teach our children.
2. Place the bad kids in psedo prisons/schools where they are treated how they deserve to be treated. This may fix some of the bad students by scaring them, but more importantly it will stop the bad kids from preventing the good kids in their learning.

Tax System:
1. Require that the head of the treasury isn't a tax cheat.
2. No way to fix this because the reason we have so many taxes is so that they can cycle through the taxes they increase so that your taxes are constantly increased.
3. Make sure that the democrats that demand that we pay more in taxes ACTUALY PAY THEIR TAXES.

But the best solutions to most of our problems:
1. TERM LIMITS
2. In the case of deficit spending, the politicans savings are raided--maybe if they treated government money as their own we WOULD NOT HAVE DEFICT SPENDING.
3. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY--not just talk but acting on it.
4. Anyone on the government dole loses their rights to vote; this will prevent what Jefferson said would be the downfall of America. (NOTE: SS is not the government dole but the money OWED to people that were FORCED into the government run retirement plan).

Things I wouldn't do...
1. Hire a tax cheat as the head of the IRS
2. Spend $789B on pork that the non-partisan CBO says will hurt the US economy in the long run and then call it stimulus.
3. Let government near healthcare--they fucked up retirement savings (social security), education (private school costs less BUT delievers a better product than public school--why do think almost all politicans send their kids to private school), etc.
4. Bail out people that bought homes they couldn't afford at the expense of those that played by the rules.

If you haven't learned that once government gets their claws in anything, it drives up the cost and reduces the quality then you are a moron.

 

[wjgollatz]

Originally posted by: 0marTheZealot
I've seen this a lot lately, a lot of bashing what Obama has done and is going to do.

As far as I can tell, conservatives have no plan. They are simply against whatever plan the Democrats have been putting out. Most conservatives here on this board are cutting off their nose to spite their face. I have yet to see one person articulate what should be done with America's problems.

You should listen more carefully. For instance, denying debate on Republican amendments to bills is Democrats not even wanting to listen to any plans.

I haven't seen one person articulate how all the money Obama wants to spend is going to be paid back. Nor has anyone ever articulated when in the history of humankind, a government spent its way into prosperity.

All of my clients make more than 125K. All of my suppliers make more than 125K, equipment, advertisers, insurers. I don't make that, my employees do not make that. The Obama solution is to reduce the wallet of my clients, so they start canceling my services because their smaller wallet is facing larger price increases I need to pass down from my suppliers. End result? I tell some of my employees look for a new job, and the rest get small paychecks - because a part of the stimulus package will also increase employer payroll taxes. With increasing debt, the interest rate on my revolving credit line goes up - so do my monthly payments on it - so then I have less money overall now. I buy less advertising and now the advertisers nix some salesmen. Why try to sell to me when I just canceled a magazine insert ad? (and I just did that last month). That is the Obama Plan. Put people on welfare. The Obama plan rests entirely on the well being of the "rich" in which he wants to tax more and reduce their well being.

EDIT: The Obama plan also rests on the faith and goodwill of his fellow communists in China to buy our debt.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Slew Foot

Which is why a progressive flat tax without ANY deductions or credits, taxing both earned income and "unearned income" the same is the ideal way to go.

What's a progressive flat tax?

Not taking deductions is an impossibility for business big and small and for individuals they would pay taxes on taxes. Totally unreasonable.

How about no taxing of anything until individual end user gets it then a progressive scale on those dollars got no matter the source. Inheritance, income, rents whatever $20,000 got, taxed @ 10% and so on.

 

[Butterbean]

It's always telling when people think GWB was a conservative.

I couldn't go at all the problems mentioned by OP but for the economy right now the thing that would spur revival would be to get gov out of the way and appeal to investors. Even just say suspending taxes for a year would be cheaper and more effective at inspiring investors that digging the hole we are digging. The economy would explode into action once the gov got its foot off its neck.

Right now we are going into debt to pay for debt and paying for political pork that actually turns off investors and breeds more problems (as intended).

Our neo Marxist administration has made it clear they consider the producers to be criminals and villains. Obama talks (absurdly) about "A New Era Of Responsibility" while at the same time releasing fools from the responsibility of their actions and transferring it to others who supported the rules and principles of good sense. I don't see whats responsible about bailing out ACORN and the illegals who have mortgages conjured up by same.

Right now people see there is going to be huge, massive, soul sucking debt and inflation, regulations out the wazoo, judges beating down principal for some groups and not others (Obama did say he wanted judges to be partial) - what sane person wants to invest in that sort of atmosphere?

The fact is our neo Marxist's want the economy broken and the people vulnerable and in need - thats why Obama cant talk up the gloom and doom enough.

A lot of the other problems could use the same simplicity of care.

To fix health - enact tort reform as was so successful in Texas. The lawyers are parasites driving up costs and the Dem party is their home base. They are total fakers on health care.

Stop passing laws forcing more and more coverage for more and more things. I am sorry if some kid dies during a volley ball game - thats no reason to get politicians to pass a law forcing kids to have stress tests before going out for sports.

Ge the millions of illegals out of the health care system because they are bankrupting it.
There is a lot more that can be done but thats a start.

Education is easiest of all. You would think kids were being born dumber to listen to education unions etc. They are making kids dumber of course. One of the greatest amounts of national treasure in history has been spent on education and the more they get the less good happens. Right now the education system is totally rancid because of the people that control it.

The best answer to it is for people to get their kids out of public school and let the fetid system collapse to be rebuilt. Until that happens the corrupt neo Marxist teachers unions, NEA etc need to be broken up and weeded out. They are more interested in teaching kids to hate the country and to be confused about their identity that they are about basic skills.

Fixing infrastructure is a matter of ending corruption and getting rid of parasites that drain the public treasury. If you have millions of illegals and fatties/sluggards sucking benefits from the treasury there is less for real needs.

More than enough money is generated to fix things and keep them maintained. The country has just down bred and allowed parasites and corruption to drain states of vitality. A lot of people come together to constitute what is akin to an autoimmune disease. We have millions of people with no sense of responsibility for their own health and well being and they want to plunder the state/country - as they have been made to feel entitled to be the liberals (neo Marxists now) who like to recover a good image of themselves by playing god and spoiling people to like them - while also hating people who are resourceful and responsible (indeed innocent and of good character).

Most problems fix themselves when egotistical people stop creating problems that they then try to rescue people from. Liberalism (neo Marxism) is all about "hurt and rescue". They pull rugs from under people, throw wrenches into the works, encourage dependency and senses of entitlement etc - and then they rush in with another answer that feeds another problem. Breaking up the family was of course the first step in a lot of problems. Men need to be fathers again. Libs hate men.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
GWB was not a true conservative. Socially, perhaps in some aspects, but certainly not at all fiscally.

Sorry, but at the time he was called the 'dream candidate' for the conservatives, and the 'conservatives' certainly were united behind him over the democrats.

I predicted in 2001 that he'd be a disaster that the right would deny was one of their own later, and I've certainly been proven right on that.

Make you this deal - say now that in hindsight Gore was a far better choice, and I'll let you go on against Bush as not your guy. Otherwise, he's all yours.

 

[marincounty]

Originally posted by: tm37
GWB was not a conservative.conservatives know we need to spend money to fix the roads, but we should not be paying for failures of others.

I understand that at least he is trying and that is great. Trying is not enough to fix the problem. I had an instructor in high school who said some thing very profound.

"the worst thing we teach aour children is that if first you don't succeed try try again" He said that would should teach "iof at first you don't succeed, stop, look at what you are doing, is that the best thing?, now try again."

I am frustrated that because people live in an investment I must shoulder the loss they experenced in it. I am frustrated that the solution to get people back to work is create jobs in goverment. The solution to the automakers who, with the help of the unions, have run bussinesses into the ground because they were unable to adapt.

A conservative think that government should allow bussinesses to succeed AND FAIL. Failure is a part of the natural order.

GWb did not ignore them BUT he ran to the center with the FARM BILL, the BAILOUT. Now the dems are saying that Bushes Bail out did not work we need more. That would be like ordering a soup at a restraunt and when you get it declaring "that is awful!, Can I get some more?"

I believe in School reform that includes vouchers, and the ability for teacher to be rated and FIRED if needed. I believe that The private sector can do things more efficently than the public sector.

SO sayin that GWB proves consevative does not work shows you know very little. GWB spent money, alot of money, and tried to make everyone happy. As a conserative I am poffended that you would lay his fiscal policy on my feet and ask that I take the blame.

GWB is not a conservative? Then who were all of the idiots that voted for him?
It certainly wasn't liberal democrats. All of the conservatives lined up for him, donated money to him, and voted for him. Nice try.

 

[wjgollatz]

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
GWB was not a true conservative. Socially, perhaps in some aspects, but certainly not at all fiscally.

Sorry, but at the time he was called the 'dream candidate' for the conservatives, and the 'conservatives' certainly were united behind him over the democrats.

He might have been call the dream candidate for conservative, but he was not called a dream candidate BY conservatives.

George Bush is a Republican, but no Republican elected to office will ever be ideal. If you want to claim that George Bush should be embraced by conservatives because he was a Republican, then liberals should be embracing Jefferson Davis because he was a Democrat.

 

[Butterbean]

Originally posted by: wjgollatz

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
GWB was not a true conservative. Socially, perhaps in some aspects, but certainly not at all fiscally.

Sorry, but at the time he was called the 'dream candidate' for the conservatives, and the 'conservatives' certainly were united behind him over the democrats.

He might have been call the dream candidate for conservative, but he was not called a dream candidate BY conservatives.

As soon as Bush was touted as "compassionate conservative" real conservatives knew that meant RINO. It wasn't hard to beat Gore but GW made it close by not being conservative.

 

[wjgollatz]

Originally posted by: marincounty

GWB is not a conservative? Then who were all of the idiots that voted for him?
It certainly wasn't liberal democrats. All of the conservatives lined up for him, donated money to him, and voted for him. Nice try.

The people that voted for him were pragmatic and did not believe that the combustion engine is the enemy of mankind.

 

[marincounty]

Originally posted by: Butterbean

Originally posted by: wjgollatz

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
GWB was not a true conservative. Socially, perhaps in some aspects, but certainly not at all fiscally.

Sorry, but at the time he was called the 'dream candidate' for the conservatives, and the 'conservatives' certainly were united behind him over the democrats.

He might have been call the dream candidate for conservative, but he was not called a dream candidate BY conservatives.

As soon as Bush was touted as "compassionate conservative" real conservatives knew that meant RINO. It wasn't hard to beat Gore but GW made it close by not being conservative.

"Wasn't hard to beat Gore", uh, he got more votes than GWB and only lost because of the Republican Supreme Court.
Real conservatives still voted for Bush. And this RINO stuff is crap and needs to stop.
Tax cuts for the rich, excessive military spending, deficit spending, fear tactics, demonizing of the left, foreign adventures, all are hallmarks of the Republican party, so I would say GWB is not a RINO, but a TYPICAL REPUBLICAN.

 

[UberNeuman]

OP -

If there weren't term limits - the same folks decrying GWB at this time would still vote for him over anyone the Democratic party offered.

You can't and won't be able to find reason with these people - so stop trying....

 

[Butterbean]

Originally posted by: marincounty

Originally posted by: Butterbean

Originally posted by: wjgollatz

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
GWB was not a true conservative. Socially, perhaps in some aspects, but certainly not at all fiscally.

Sorry, but at the time he was called the 'dream candidate' for the conservatives, and the 'conservatives' certainly were united behind him over the democrats.

He might have been call the dream candidate for conservative, but he was not called a dream candidate BY conservatives.

As soon as Bush was touted as "compassionate conservative" real conservatives knew that meant RINO. It wasn't hard to beat Gore but GW made it close by not being conservative.

"Wasn't hard to beat Gore", uh, he got more votes than GWB and only lost because of the Republican Supreme Court.
Real conservatives still voted for Bush. And this RINO stuff is crap and needs to stop.
Tax cuts for the rich, excessive military spending, deficit spending, fear tactics, demonizing of the left, foreign adventures, all are hallmarks of the Republican party, so I would say GWB is not a RINO, but a TYPICAL REPUBLICAN.

The NY Times and other libs that went though votes/chads etc said Gore lost anyway - which is why they stopped harping on it . I agree the RINO stuff must stop - we need real conservatives. Even Obama ran mimicking a conservative with his endless tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts promises and phony calculators all over the net. Now he flushed the economy down the potty like Chavez.

 

[marincounty]

Originally posted by: Butterbean

Originally posted by: marincounty

Originally posted by: Butterbean

Originally posted by: wjgollatz

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: MotF Bane
GWB was not a true conservative. Socially, perhaps in some aspects, but certainly not at all fiscally.

Sorry, but at the time he was called the 'dream candidate' for the conservatives, and the 'conservatives' certainly were united behind him over the democrats.

He might have been call the dream candidate for conservative, but he was not called a dream candidate BY conservatives.

As soon as Bush was touted as "compassionate conservative" real conservatives knew that meant RINO. It wasn't hard to beat Gore but GW made it close by not being conservative.

"Wasn't hard to beat Gore", uh, he got more votes than GWB and only lost because of the Republican Supreme Court.
Real conservatives still voted for Bush. And this RINO stuff is crap and needs to stop.
Tax cuts for the rich, excessive military spending, deficit spending, fear tactics, demonizing of the left, foreign adventures, all are hallmarks of the Republican party, so I would say GWB is not a RINO, but a TYPICAL REPUBLICAN.

The NY Times and other libs that went though votes/chads etc said Gore lost anyway - which is why they stopped harping on it . I agree the RINO stuff must stop - we need real conservatives. Even Obama ran mimicking a conservative with his endless tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts promises and phony calculators all over the net. Now he flushed the economy down the potty like Chavez.

If Obama completely fails in his job, leaving us in a depression with a huge amount of debt, I'll just wash my hands of it by calling him a DINO. See how this works?

 

[Hacp]

You're got it all wrong Mr. OP. Supply side economics hasn't been disproved. Look at what Bush did in his eight years. He increased government, not decreased. He gave the old people a big fat pork injection with the prescription drug plan. He went into Iraq, costing us hundreds of billions each year. He increased bureaucracy by forming the homeland security department. All this spending and regulation led to the weakening of the dollar, which increased borrowing costs for homeowners. That is what caused the housing crisis. With less government, lower borrowing costs, and a strong dollar, we can get out of this mess.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I've seen this a lot lately, a lot of bashing what Obama has done and is going to do.

Some of his decisions are open to scrutiny and worthy of debate...we are allowed to question the President in this country. Given the tone of your entire post, you are giving Obama the benefit of the doubt and essentially blaming everything on conservatives.

How do you propose to address the myriad of problems the United States is facing, given that supply-side economics has been thoroughly discredited as a legitimate way of running an economy?

Thoroughly discredited by what standard or set of criteria?

As far as I can tell, conservatives have no plan. They are simply against whatever plan the Democrats have been putting out. Most conservatives here on this board are cutting off their nose to spite their face. I have yet to see one person articulate what should be done with America's problems.

The Democrats did the same thing under Reagan and under both Bush Administrations. The folly of a two-party system of government is that opposition often falls along party lines.

What about education? Our public school system is a joke, our students are ill-informed about mathematics, science, engineering.

Our culture does not place a premium on education in the sciences. Teachers have no power to enforce discipline. Bad parenting is part of the problem. Liberals think that big government can solve systemic, societal and cultural issues.

Tax cuts simply do not work, there is very little trickle down and the effect is minimal at best. A huge portion of revenue, state and federal, is actively being hidden through dubious means.

Ah...the rally cry of the liberal...that the wealthy are somehow hiding all of their money or cheating the system. I agree with you that tax cuts for the rich have very little societal benefit, but for the liberal, the "rich" are your Al Quaida...and for the record, rich liberals have also shown an ethical lapse when it comes to finding tax law loopholes.

Our infrastructure is collapsing. Private companies have proven they can't be trusted nor can they effectively manage the huge amount of infrastructure in the US.

Wrong. The government has proven that it is incapable of managing large civil works projects...just look at the Big Dig in Boston I agree that we need to invest in infrastructure, and the government needs to serve in an oversight and contracting role, but leave the management to private companies.

And this is just a small list of problems. What is the conservative address to all these problems?

Some of your items are a bit dramatic, and have the same hollow ring to them as GWB's claim that Iraq posed an immediate threat to our national security.

NCLB is a farce of education reform

Yet thus far, Obama's policies are seemingly rebranding and building upon that very concept.

Doing it the Reagan/GHB/GWB way has not worked at all. We've had a steady decline in nearly every category doing it their way.

Reagan and the Bush clan have very little in common. Ironic that you would take a shot as Reagan, given the number of political pundits now comparing Obama to Reagan.

I haven't seen a single conservative actually put out a plan that adequately addresses even half of these problems.

None of these problems are new or unique to Republican Administrations...out of fairness, what exactly did Carter or Clinton due to address these problems, or the problems of their time in office.

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: Zebo
What's a progressive flat tax?

A progressive flat tax is one where you only get personal deductions and nothing else.

The personal deduction though is rather large and anyone making below that amount pays no taxes.

Most of them start with a personal deduction of at least $20,000 and then perhaps another $10k per kid.

So a single mom with 2 kids who makes $40k would pay no income taxes at all.

The progressive comes from the idea that you start the tax rate at 5%, everything above that 40K you pay 5%, and then you slowly raise that rate as you go up in income. So someone making $100k might pay a 15% rate.

That same mom would still get the $40k in deductions, so they would pay 15% of $60k or $9000 which is still only a 9% tax rate.

Good thing about this type of tax system is that filing becomes insanely simple, 1040ez for everyone, and it still taxes the 'rich' more than the poor. Plus it has the added incentive of taking away the ability of congress to give breaks to their friends and pet groups etc etc.

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: 0marTheZealot
I've seen this a lot lately, a lot of bashing what Obama has done and is going to do.

How do you propose to address the myriad of problems the United States is facing, given that supply-side economics has been thoroughly discredited as a legitimate way of running an economy? What is the conservative plan for fixing healthcare, education, tax system, etc etc.

Please explain to me how supply side has been discredited.

Our current economic problems have NOTHING to do with supply side economics.
Instead they have to do with government interference in the market. Telling banks to give loans to people who shouldn't have gotten loans.

Also, every time supply side economics has been tried, every time!!, it has worked. JFK cut tax rates and it spurred economic growth, Reagan did it and started the long expansion in history, and when Bush cut tax rates the economy accelerated.

The only real debate about supply side economics is whether the increase in economic activity is enough to offset the decrease in tax rates, and that is a VERY hard question to answer.

Finally, we tried the liberal way of fixing healthcare, education etc etc in the 60s with the great society and the result was the 70s which were just awful economically.