Political Views

[winnar111]

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Energy:
Why are we giving companies TAX BREAKS when obviously they are not needed. Eliminate oil company tax breaks, if the companies start losing money again or can't make it, think about giving tax breaks back. (more on energy later)

A lot of these tax breaks are built into oil leases signed by the Clinton administration.

Its a law, it can be changed. Maybe we can put them back in when oil is at 20/barrel again.

Why would the oil companies agree to terminate leases they already signed?

I didn't say anything about terminating leases. What I am saying is eliminate the tax break portion and let them sign the new lease. My 'gut' feeling is that all these leases tied to tax breaks are not being developed because its free money to the oil companies. I don't want my tax dollars supporting companies that don't need tax payer support.

Well, that's fine going ahead, but oil leases can last up to 10 years, so Clinton's are still in effect.

 

[GTKeeper]

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Energy:
Why are we giving companies TAX BREAKS when obviously they are not needed. Eliminate oil company tax breaks, if the companies start losing money again or can't make it, think about giving tax breaks back. (more on energy later)

A lot of these tax breaks are built into oil leases signed by the Clinton administration.

Its a law, it can be changed. Maybe we can put them back in when oil is at 20/barrel again.

Why would the oil companies agree to terminate leases they already signed?

I didn't say anything about terminating leases. What I am saying is eliminate the tax break portion and let them sign the new lease. My 'gut' feeling is that all these leases tied to tax breaks are not being developed because its free money to the oil companies. I don't want my tax dollars supporting companies that don't need tax payer support.

Well, that's fine going ahead, but oil leases can last up to 10 years, so Clinton's are still in effect.

Correct, but that doesn't mean they can't be amended.

 

[GTKeeper]

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
For the most part I agree with those. For welfare, they do have to find work and also, every state can tweak the requirements which is nice.

For SS, in the long run it would be better to get some privatization worked in but that would require a budget surplus which isn't going to happen any time soon.

On immigration, it needs to be easier to get citizenship in this country especially for educated workers. We need all the educated workers we can get so we can stay competitive.

For the last part, I agree totally. Not only is the US conducting a transfer of wealth across nations, but I think there is a transfer of knowledge as well.

I have A LOT of friends that come to the U.S on an F1 student visa, complete college, get jobs for 1 year and then are forced to move back home because they couldn't get an H1 or H1B visa. Its quite sad actually.

The net effect of that is that they go back to Europe/Asia/South America with the best education in the world and let those countries benefit instead of the U.S. Innoviation is our country's greatest strength and we need to protect that.

 

[winnar111]

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: GTKeeper

Energy:
Why are we giving companies TAX BREAKS when obviously they are not needed. Eliminate oil company tax breaks, if the companies start losing money again or can't make it, think about giving tax breaks back. (more on energy later)

A lot of these tax breaks are built into oil leases signed by the Clinton administration.

Its a law, it can be changed. Maybe we can put them back in when oil is at 20/barrel again.

Why would the oil companies agree to terminate leases they already signed?

I didn't say anything about terminating leases. What I am saying is eliminate the tax break portion and let them sign the new lease. My 'gut' feeling is that all these leases tied to tax breaks are not being developed because its free money to the oil companies. I don't want my tax dollars supporting companies that don't need tax payer support.

Well, that's fine going ahead, but oil leases can last up to 10 years, so Clinton's are still in effect.

Correct, but that doesn't mean they can't be amended.

Ok, back to my original question: Why would oil companies amend their leases?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: GTKeeper
I consider myself a Centrist in the political spectrum and I am just wondering (both from the left and from the right) who would support the following measures/ideas and whether we share common views.

I'll give it a shot. I never post in this forum, but I gave blood today, so I just might be light-headed enough to do it.
I'm obviously not an economist, so there are certainly some consequences to my proposed actions that I don't see. This may render them useless.

1. Cut back government spending.

I agree.

-Gradually reduce foreign aid to all but the most impoverished countries, especially Israel
-Decriminalize marijuana (and possibly a few other drugs) and release those in jail for marijuana charges
-Increase Social Security Retirement age to 80.
-Lower number of active duty personnel below the rank of E-6, transfer all willing lower ranks to reserve status.
-Begin transfer of illegal aliens to their countries of origin.
-Cut government aid to illegal drug users, able-bodied adults who are not working or actively seeking work.
-Replace all government aid with debit-card-like special currency (similar to food stamps) that are not tradeable for cash. Prosecute anyone found with an unauthorized card.
-Cut number of special sessions for state/national Congress.
-Dramatic tort reform making it much harder to sue an entity
-Attempt to re-establish gold-standard. Stop introducing more currency into market
-Stop all spending on bilingual services and forms.
-Viciously prosecute corrupt officials.
-Halt any Ethanol subsidies

2. Illegal Immigration

-Reassign National Guard to police duties on areas that are most dense with illegals. Deport illegals immediately
-Increase number of legal immigrants allowed in while decreasing costs as much as possible. No per-country quotas. Use point system similar to Canada. It should be relatively difficult to move here.
-Make English the official language. All new legal immigrants should be comfortable speaking English. Partially subsidize ESL classes for immigrants in the application system. Offer private companies the option to tutor those immigrants in exchange for some amount of work which would be deemed fair by the average citizen.
-Require both parents to be American citizens in order for a child to be born an American citizen

3. Energy

-Begin immediate drilling of known oil reserves. Mandate that this oil must be sold in the United States
-Begin dramatic investment into solar, nuclear, wind, tidal, and fusion power research. Offer prizes for milestone accomplishments.
-Establish government site for disposal of nuclear waste and begin building nuclear plants in areas where the above "alternative" power technologies (save fusion) would be impractical.
-Begin dramatic investment into battery technology.
-Begin dramatic investment into power infrastructure improvement with the plan that all vehicles will be powered by electricity by the year 2040.
-Upon achieving energy independance, remove all military personnel from the Middle East unless they are asked to stay.

4.Foreign Policy

-Remove MFN trading status with China
-Remove any embargo on Cuba
-Remove military presence from Europe unless we are asked to stay

Like I said, there are certinaly going to be flaws in this, but hey, you asked!

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: GTKeeper
I consider myself a Centrist in the political spectrum and I am just wondering (both from the left and from the right) who would support the following measures/ideas and whether we share common views.

I'll give it a shot. I never post in this forum, but I gave blood today, so I just might be light-headed enough to do it.
I'm obviously not an economist, so there are certainly some consequences to my proposed actions that I don't see. This may render them useless.

1. Cut back government spending.

I agree.

-Gradually reduce foreign aid to all but the most impoverished countries, especially Israel
-Decriminalize marijuana (and possibly a few other drugs) and release those in jail for marijuana charges
-Increase Social Security Retirement age to 80.
-Lower number of active duty personnel below the rank of E-6, transfer all willing lower ranks to reserve status.
-Begin transfer of illegal aliens to their countries of origin.
-Cut government aid to illegal drug users, able-bodied adults who are not working or actively seeking work.
-Replace all government aid with debit-card-like special currency (similar to food stamps) that are not tradeable for cash. Prosecute anyone found with an unauthorized card.
-Cut number of special sessions for state/national Congress.
-Dramatic tort reform making it much harder to sue an entity
-Attempt to re-establish gold-standard. Stop introducing more currency into market

Pretty decent until that last one. The gold standard isn't workable now and was barely workable back then. Trust me I've taken a couple classes that went into pretty good depth on pegged currencies which is what the gold standard was.

-Stop all spending on bilingual services and forms.
-Viciously prosecute corrupt officials.

I'd love for that to happen but then we'd have no legislature. It's a good ol' boy system they tend not to like to prosecute their own.

-Halt any Ethanol subsidies

2. Illegal Immigration

-Reassign National Guard to police duties on areas that are most dense with illegals. Deport illegals immediately
-Increase number of legal immigrants allowed in while decreasing costs as much as possible. No per-country quotas. Use point system similar to Canada. It should be relatively difficult to move here.
-Make English the official language. All new legal immigrants should be comfortable speaking English. Partially subsidize ESL classes for immigrants in the application system. Offer private companies the option to tutor those immigrants in exchange for some amount of work which would be deemed fair by the average citizen.
-Require both parents to be American citizens in order for a child to be born an American citizen

That last one would require a constitutional amendment to be passed which would have an icicles chance in hell of getting through. Why should it be difficult to move here? Shouldn't we want more people to enjoy our freedoms?

4.Foreign Policy

-Remove MFN trading status with China
-Remove any embargo on Cuba
-Remove military presence from Europe unless we are asked to stay

Like I said, there are certinaly going to be flaws in this, but hey, you asked!

[/quote]

Your first two in the Foreign Policy category seem kind of contradictory. Reward a country that has an abysmal human rights record but punish a country that has a better one? Removing the MFN status would not be good for China nor us. The difference between MFN and not is huge. Also we would be violating the WTO because every member has to maintain that status with each other.

We do need to try to push them more toward a floating exchange rate though. That would be good for us and them. Good for our export industry and good for their inflation levels which are getting pretty high.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: HombrePequeno
Pretty decent until that last one. The gold standard isn't workable now and was barely workable back then. Trust me I've taken a couple classes that went into pretty good depth on pegged currencies which is what the gold standard was.

I see. Well, what could be done to ensure that our money couldn't just disappear overnight?

I'd love for that to happen but then we'd have no legislature. It's a good ol' boy system they tend not to like to prosecute their own.

Well, that's a huge issue. We need to do what we can to make sure that money doesn't buy elections. That should remove a lot of the corrupt politicians.

That last one would require a constitutional amendment to be passed which would have an icicles chance in hell of getting through. Why should it be difficult to move here? Shouldn't we want more people to enjoy our freedoms?

Honestly? No. This isn't the America of the early 19th century. We have too many social programs in place right now to just allow anyone in. We can't sustain the population as it is now. How many people are too many? 1 million more? 5 million? 1 billion? I say we draw the line and make it harder for people to get in legally or otherwise.

Your first two in the Foreign Policy category seem kind of contradictory. Reward a country that has an abysmal human rights record but punish a country that has a better one? Removing the MFN status would not be good for China nor us. The difference between MFN and not is huge. Also we would be violating the WTO because every member has to maintain that status with each other.

I only say change it because our policies are contradictory now. I'm not convinced that Cuba is "worse" than China.

 

[IGBT]

Originally posted by: retrospooty
You make alot of good points... If you went to Washington and started getting any traction on your thoughts, you would wind up dead, of mysterious causes =)

..lots of good ideas but they fly in the face of a government that wants to grow it self and seize as much control and revenue as possible. avoid the grassy knowl.