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name two things you'd like congress to address....

for me, it's finding the best way to fix the mess that bush and co. got us into in iraq and producing real and meaningful legislation in the area of campaign finance reform.

edit - spl
 
1) Fix the budget deficit without tax increases

2) I can't think of anything else the Democrats would do that I'd be supportive of.
 
I'd like them to fix the deficit we have by cutting spending.

Freer trade would be nice but I don't see that happening.

Other things I don't see happening:
Privatizing SS
Lower farm subsidies
Income tax reform
Eliminating minimum wage along with raising the EITC

A higher gas tax may get passed which I would be fine with.

Edit: I guess I completely ignored the constraints of the topic. If I had to choose two that I could see being changed, it would be cutting spending and raising the gas tax.
 
interesting to note that so far, the problems we face in the middle east is not a high priority and that domestic concerns are.

ntdz and hombre, am i correct in assuming that you both feel that we should concentrate on getting our own house in order with lesser attention being paid in attending to business elsewhere?
 
Originally posted by: tweaker2
interesting to note that so far, the problems we face in the middle east is not a high priority and that domestic concerns are.

ntdz and hombre, am i correct in assuming that you both feel that we should concentrate on getting our own house in order with lesser attention being paid in attending to business elsewhere?

Not really, I think it should be our absolute #1 priority to make sure we don't lose the Iraq war. Losing would be a devastating and dangerous scenario that should be avoided at all costs.

It's my personal opinion that our house isn't in any real disorder besides the ridiculous deficits, at least not that the government can fix...

 
-Repeal EGTRRA tax cuts for highest income tax bracket which also raised taxes for the lower brackets thru 2014

-Get me a nice girlfriend.
 
Start pulling religion out of government, equalize gay marriage/union rights. Just for a start. Then want the military industrial shrunk, electronic voting investigated, reduction in executive authority, rebuilding the erosion of our rights and liberties, balance budget, and so on. Of course, it's unlikely any of it will happen, but that's what I'd like to see.
 
Originally posted by: ntdz
Originally posted by: tweaker2
interesting to note that so far, the problems we face in the middle east is not a high priority and that domestic concerns are.

ntdz and hombre, am i correct in assuming that you both feel that we should concentrate on getting our own house in order with lesser attention being paid in attending to business elsewhere?

Not really, I think it should be our absolute #1 priority to make sure we don't lose the Iraq war. Losing would be a devastating and dangerous scenario that should be avoided at all costs.

It's my personal opinion that our house isn't in any real disorder besides the ridiculous deficits, at least not that the government can fix...
well, we're sort of like-minded in regards to iraq, in the sense that leaving the situation as is without shoring up the dangerously weak government that's in place at the moment will only make things worse. how to do that...well that's another topic altogether.

as an aside, daniel inouye(d), one of our senators from hawaii made it a point that we shouldn't leave iraq until we get the place stabilized, but i don't know to what extent his remark implies.

on the topic of deficits, yeah, it was one of my highest concerns also, but realistically, i don't think much can be accomplished in this area before the '08 elections.

 
lobbying reform.

I feel like there really needs to be a record of which congressman is on the take from which corporation.
 
Originally posted by: Brackis
-Repeal EGTRRA tax cuts for highest income tax bracket which also raised taxes for the lower brackets thru 2014

-Get me a nice girlfriend.

repeal tax cuts for the rich? if you've viewed some of my previous posts you'd know that i'd be all for it. but really, what concerns me is how far down in income levels and what other trade-offs are required for this repeal to pass muster in congress and the bush admin?

girlfriend? come to hawaii- the possibilities of hooking up with an exotic polynesian princess is only limited to how thick your wallet and how thick your skin is.😉

edit - spl

 
Originally posted by: tweaker2
interesting to note that so far, the problems we face in the middle east is not a high priority and that domestic concerns are.

ntdz and hombre, am i correct in assuming that you both feel that we should concentrate on getting our own house in order with lesser attention being paid in attending to business elsewhere?

Of course getting our house in order is always going to be more important than attending to business elsewhere. That's not to say other places aren't important. I would say that we need to pay MORE attention to foreign matters (reason why I'd prefer lower farm subsidies). I just don't think the attention we should be paying to foreign countries should come in the forms of the military (whether it be occupying them or subsidizing their military).
 
Undo the recent 12Billion cut in student loans and make the interest rates variable again.

Restore the 4th amendment
 
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Privatize social security... lock in the tax cuts.
well, not to lead this thread off-topic or anything, but i thought it being of interest to note that i've heard this scenario being talked about: making SS an optional, one-time irrevocable pick co-existing with "privatized accounts" having conditions attached whereby among other regulations, the gov't controls when and how the "privatized" retirement fund kicks in as in SS. i don't know the particulars on it, but it did grab my attention.



 
Raise minimum wage and index it to inflation.
Remove SS payroll tax cap to fix its solvency.
AMT limit raised and indexed to inflation.
Ban direct to consumer advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals.
Make all educational expenses (not just loan interest) tax deductible.
 
Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Privatize social security... lock in the tax cuts.

That's not very fiscally responsible. You want to keep our deficits and also add to them by privatizing SS?

Nope. I'm encouraging fiscal responsibility by shrinking governemnt (no need to raise taxes with less federal spending) and preventing a whole generation from being victimized by continuing to promote a pyramid scheme that masquerades as a retirement program.
 
really interesting to see the concerns being mentioned here vs. what i'm seeing on the MSM.

real meat and potato issues that affect our everyday lives vs. issues that gets air time for fighting the ratings wars i guess.

i really thought i'd see more mention of what the recent exit polls were showing as to voter's top concerns and how it affected their decision making process.

IIRC, corruption in gov't was the top issue and one that voters wanted congress to take on asap, as was bad leadership, terrorism, iraq and the economy. i kind of expected that sentiment to be echoed here. i wonder if the dems taking over congress might have changed people's priorities in that regard.
 
Get every one of our troops out of any country that's predominantly made of sand, and institute a $5 per gallon gasoline and diesel tax. Oh, and start spending our money where it will make a difference: wind and solar electric power, and research of electric vehicles that have no gasoline or diesel engines.

We also need a minimum wage that leaves a couple of dollars per week, after buying gas and insurance for the vehicle that's required to have a job, so we can all continue to take advantage of the young &/or uneducated people in our populace. Dang, one last one: make it okay to send jobs overseas/to other countries, as long as the company pays some American the salary that they're trying to get out of paying, by sending the job overseas/to Mexico.
 
The two biggies

a. A bi-partisan resolve to get a stable Iraq we can get the hell out of safely.

b. Address defecit spending and the balance of trade imbalance.
 
Originally posted by: ntdz
1) Fix the budget deficit without tax increases

2) I can't think of anything else the Democrats would do that I'd be supportive of.

That is sad.


I'd vote for ethics reform-ntdz wouldn't support this as he said.

Cutting ties to lobbyists-ntdz also doesn't support this apparently.

Approve more stem cell research.

Get rid of the patriot act.

Get rid of NSA spying without warrants.

NTDZ wants them to fix the 300 billion deficit without taxes though;... how convenient... the republicans get us into a massive deficit, and then want the democrats to fix it without raising taxes!? So stupid. If people cared so much about taxes, they shouldn't have re-elected Bush after what he did with the deficit the first half of his term... Reckless spending requires cleanup...
 
Originally posted by: ntdz
Originally posted by: tweaker2
interesting to note that so far, the problems we face in the middle east is not a high priority and that domestic concerns are.

ntdz and hombre, am i correct in assuming that you both feel that we should concentrate on getting our own house in order with lesser attention being paid in attending to business elsewhere?

Not really, I think it should be our absolute #1 priority to make sure we don't lose the Iraq war. Losing would be a devastating and dangerous scenario that should be avoided at all costs.

It's my personal opinion that our house isn't in any real disorder besides the ridiculous deficits, at least not that the government can fix...

Didn't we learn anything from Vietnam? There is nothing left to win. It is too late. There is no path left for "success." The actual war was won in weeks. The planning was awful. That led to failure. nothing we could do now could stem off the massive increase in terrorists that have formed because of our incompetence.
 
1. Raise taxes on the rich.

2. Raise taxes on the rich again.


Seriously, it would be nice if they could actually do something concrete about the illegal alien problem. That problem will need some real bipartisan cooperation to solve.

And as long as I'm dreaming, it would be nice to impeach Bush's azz.

 
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