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.
1. Cut back government spending.
Obviously we all agree here that it needs to be done, but lets see if we can agree on what.
I personally think that the department of homeland security is a bloated entity that could use a few cut backs. And I think the reason we haven't had any terrorist attack is more to do with FBI and CIA getting their head out of their A$$ focusing less on political aspirations and actually start protecting American people. I am not sure they need 50 billion / year.
Other cuts:
Welfare: Immeidately institute laws that say if you are on drugs or are not actively seeking work, you lose your welfare check. We stop giving away cash, and give food stamps instead.
Defense:
I think we can defend our country for less than 515 billion for FY 2009. Cut it by 10%
War:
If we finish up in Iraq within the next 2 years, expect 150b+ savings a year.
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)
Agriculture:
Why are we giving farmer's subsidies? Farmers should be treated just like any other entrepreneur. Lets not go down the path the EU and especially France went down and give away more money to people who don't need it.
Medicare/Medicaid:
Enough with the BS, pass a law that allows Medicare/Medicaid to negotiate prices with drug companies. This step requires 0 dollars upfront but could yield big savings.
Social Security:
If you really want to stop SS taxes going up every year, pass a law that PROHIBITS the government from using SS money as a slush fund and borrowing against it. Its not supposted to be a tax but right now it sure feels like one. If the money would actually stay in the trust that its supposed to, we would not have anywhere near the shortfall that we do not. Raegan, Bush Sr, Clinton, and Bush Jr. are all guilty of borrowing the money.
2. Illegal Immigration
As a naturalized US citizen myself, who went through the fun process of getting citizenship legally, here is what I think on the whole immigration issue.
I don't care if illegals are here or not, what i DO care about is whether they pay taxes. I suggest we implement the following rule:
You create a method for illegals to 'declare' themselves and start paying taxes, they have 1 year to do so. Once they do that they enter a 'protected' status where they can apply for a Visa and go about naturalization in the legal way without being deported immediately. Same goes for companies, they have 1 year to convert their illegal workers into tax paying citizens.
Once the 1 year time frame passes, start deporting everyone who did not declare themselves and did not start paying taxes and start prosecuting companies who did not do the process on their end.
3. Energy
This is the big one right now, but I think a few steps can dull the pain.
Clamp down on oil speculators. We all know this is a problem, lets do something about it.
Give Oil companies incentives such as opening up more land for drilling etc. by forcing them to spend a significant amount of their R&D budget on developing alternative sources of energy. I personally like Pickens' plan and the idea of using the Mojave desert to get us solar power.
Increase the MPG rating on cars, we haven't touched this really since the 80s. Now this is just the AVERAGE rating keep in mind. If we make it 35MPG that doesn't mean all cars need to be 35 MPG cars, it just means that the fleet of cars produced by lets say Ford has a collective average of 35MPG. If you still really want that 10MPG or 5MPG guzzler, go ahead and buy it.
Those are my thoughts. Flame away or add your own input or your own solutions. I think I am being reasonable and not too far left or right on these issues. I am interested on what everyone else has to say.
1. Cut back government spending.
Obviously we all agree here that it needs to be done, but lets see if we can agree on what.
I personally think that the department of homeland security is a bloated entity that could use a few cut backs. And I think the reason we haven't had any terrorist attack is more to do with FBI and CIA getting their head out of their A$$ focusing less on political aspirations and actually start protecting American people. I am not sure they need 50 billion / year.
Other cuts:
Welfare: Immeidately institute laws that say if you are on drugs or are not actively seeking work, you lose your welfare check. We stop giving away cash, and give food stamps instead.
Defense:
I think we can defend our country for less than 515 billion for FY 2009. Cut it by 10%
War:
If we finish up in Iraq within the next 2 years, expect 150b+ savings a year.
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)
Agriculture:
Why are we giving farmer's subsidies? Farmers should be treated just like any other entrepreneur. Lets not go down the path the EU and especially France went down and give away more money to people who don't need it.
Medicare/Medicaid:
Enough with the BS, pass a law that allows Medicare/Medicaid to negotiate prices with drug companies. This step requires 0 dollars upfront but could yield big savings.
Social Security:
If you really want to stop SS taxes going up every year, pass a law that PROHIBITS the government from using SS money as a slush fund and borrowing against it. Its not supposted to be a tax but right now it sure feels like one. If the money would actually stay in the trust that its supposed to, we would not have anywhere near the shortfall that we do not. Raegan, Bush Sr, Clinton, and Bush Jr. are all guilty of borrowing the money.
2. Illegal Immigration
As a naturalized US citizen myself, who went through the fun process of getting citizenship legally, here is what I think on the whole immigration issue.
I don't care if illegals are here or not, what i DO care about is whether they pay taxes. I suggest we implement the following rule:
You create a method for illegals to 'declare' themselves and start paying taxes, they have 1 year to do so. Once they do that they enter a 'protected' status where they can apply for a Visa and go about naturalization in the legal way without being deported immediately. Same goes for companies, they have 1 year to convert their illegal workers into tax paying citizens.
Once the 1 year time frame passes, start deporting everyone who did not declare themselves and did not start paying taxes and start prosecuting companies who did not do the process on their end.
3. Energy
This is the big one right now, but I think a few steps can dull the pain.
Clamp down on oil speculators. We all know this is a problem, lets do something about it.
Give Oil companies incentives such as opening up more land for drilling etc. by forcing them to spend a significant amount of their R&D budget on developing alternative sources of energy. I personally like Pickens' plan and the idea of using the Mojave desert to get us solar power.
Increase the MPG rating on cars, we haven't touched this really since the 80s. Now this is just the AVERAGE rating keep in mind. If we make it 35MPG that doesn't mean all cars need to be 35 MPG cars, it just means that the fleet of cars produced by lets say Ford has a collective average of 35MPG. If you still really want that 10MPG or 5MPG guzzler, go ahead and buy it.
Those are my thoughts. Flame away or add your own input or your own solutions. I think I am being reasonable and not too far left or right on these issues. I am interested on what everyone else has to say.