How about a plan for the United States?

[Xonoahbin]

I originally posted this in that particular discussion, but it seems to me I'm being ignored through the flame wars. If you're interested in seeing a good plan for the United States to remain strong and be an excellent place to live, read on.

Our economy's in shambles. It's time to fix it. How about a plan?

1. Withdraw from Iraq. Large scale, in less than one year. It's time to cut our losses, it's a lose-lose situation. If we're there, we lose $5 billion per month and 1,800+ soldiers so far. This is unacceptable.

2. Take away Bush's tax cuts to mainly the wealthiest 1% of Americans. It's time to forget about stupid Reaganomics and use real economics that really work. We could take the money from the taxes that the wealthy would be paying and put it towards education. In the next ten years, we could see the future leaders of America better prepared and the general public more informed to make the decisions of the country.

3. Cut government spending. Iraq- $5 billion per month, $500 billion so far. Enough is enough. NASA needs to go. Money is very much so wasted by our space endeavors. Nothing important has been yielded from space in the past thirty years. We need to take care of our own world before looking to other worlds. Also, we can get rid of the "goodies" that senators and politicians get. Tax write-offs, free money for vacations, etc.

4. Increase relations with foreign countries. Many superpowers of the world are beginning to doubt the United States greatly. It's time to lift trade restrictions with China and get on their good side. By 2020, China will have the second most powerful economy in the world, barring that the United States screws up more. Russia also doubts us, France really doesn't like us, and many other countries feel pretty strongly against us.

5. Increase trades with foreign countries. China predominantly needs to be traded with more. However, our neighbors, Mexico and Canada, could do with better trading with the US. If we help to improve Mexico's economy and standard of living, we wouldn't have to have such high restrictions on border control. Mexicans would want to stay in Mexico. It's also time to lift the embargo on Cuba. Enough is enough, Fidel even helped us with Katrina relief. Let's do them a favor and lift the embargo and give their people a better standard of living.

6. Finally, we need to get rid of the fallacies in our government. Man, are we getting corrupted. This whole "Liberal-Conservative" bs is getting out of hand. It's time to vote people into office that are qualified, not those who are labeled by a party. We need to get rid of corruption in the form of cash under the table and payoffs to political icons. President Bush, like it or not, is buddies with the oil companies. They're in his pocket. This isn't right. They have more power than the average American citizen, and that's not the basis of our country. It's out of hand, buying off politicians is unethical and must be done away with.

Today, we have some major problems that have to be fixed. I don't see Democrats nor Republicans aiming to get rid of them, they're not really that different. They only care for themselves and their image, greed and status. This has to end.

Part two: social security and medical costs.

Social security will have to be dealt with later rather than now. Our economy must be restrengthened before we can worry about social security. 6-8 years from now, we can worry about social security.

Medical costs: a shame upon America. Our healthcare system is terrible. Millions uninsured, millions who can't afford their medicine, millions under Medicaid that will soon be unable to get any kind of insurance help on their prescriptions. Going back to trade relations, we could up trade with Canada and get rid of the $200 per pill that some prescriptions carry. Unacceptable. I was uninsured for years, in a middle class family. How is it right that only the people that can actually afford the medical care and prescriptions can get insurance without giving out half their paycheck? Unacceptable. $200 per month for a family of three to be insured, maybe $50 per month that the insurance pays to us. But, be uninsured and it'll come back to bite you in the rear end. Unacceptable.

 

[Polish3d]

For schools, how about:


Abolish the public school system in its current form. Set up a system in which private schools can compete for students and be paid via government vouchers only.

Ie, introduce the innovation and far, far greater performance of the private sector into educating children, as public schools are, on a whole, absolutely terrible, particularly Junior High and High School .IMO

Also continue to assist in college funding.

Plan would need some tweaking, but the public school system suffers from all the typical ails of a govt. bureaucracy, and results in really poor education for children.


MORE money is NOT the answer here. It will just be sucked up by the bureaucracy. What schools need are the innovation resulting from and personal pressure to perform from free competition.

 

[Tab]

Originally posted by: Frackal
For schools, how about:


Abolish the public school system in its current form. Set up a system in which private schools can compete for students and be paid via government vouchers only.

That would be interesting; I've always thought about that. More choices for parents on what "type" of school they send their child too and it's not like they can complain about it.

It would have to be something done overtime; it would be an extremely complex issuse.

 

[Xonoahbin]

Good enough idea, but it is not plausible to implement it during lower level education. Most young minds don't mature enough to know that they would need to compete and get good grades to get into good schools. High school perhaps more like college without tuition? Sounds like a decent plan to me. But the fact is that this idea would take some time to put into effect. In the meantime, we would need more money to fund our public schools to be better.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: Frackal
For schools, how about:


Abolish the public school system in its current form. Set up a system in which private schools can compete for students and be paid via government vouchers only.

A county in Virginia tried that before, although it was for a different reason - you can thank them for vouchers though. :roll:

 

[piasabird]

Why does China need to be trades with more? There are lots of other countries on earth.

Maybe we should just hire some guys from India to run the government and quit having elections. This is something that Savage keeps bringing up. We could do just as well if we just hire replacement workers for our elected officials.

 

[2cpuminimum]

That sounds like a great plan so far, but step six has to happen first. Accountability needs to be brought to government, starting with election reform. We need a system that counts every single vote, and in which every single person has the right to vote. The primary means of deciding elections since the late 20th century has been rigging the vote counting system and preventing people from voting at all. This needs to be at the top of the priority list, otherwise there will never be any true accountability. Too many people are prevented from voting by the system.
At the minimum:
1. Election day should be a nationally recognized holiday, and labor law should require time and a half pay for that day, even for part time and salaried employees.
2. Nationally, it should be illegal to fire someone for going to vote, and for being late in returning to vote. Mandatory severence pay of twice their annual salary if this law is broken.
3. There should be nationally standardized voting and vote counting machinery, which at the very least leaves a paper trail and may be inspected by the public down to the last line of code.
4. People in prison and in hospitals should be allowed to vote.
5. The number of people assigned to a single voting location should be nationally standardized at a low number.
6. All ballots for federal elections must comply with standards for clarity and be easily read by people with poor vision.
7. The constitution should be amended to require that felons be allowed to vote.
8. If citizens are turned away from the polls, or are otherwise prevented from voting illegally, then there should be a whole new election, with an interim government presiding pending the results.

In addition to the above minimal changes, it would be beneficial if it were documented who voted and who didn't, and the people who don't vote at all in a federal election should pay an additional 10% on their income tax. This apathy tax should dramatically increase voter turnout, and could be used to cover election costs. (Be sure to keep your receipt after you vote for tax purposes.)

I also think that the voting age should be lowered to 14, since not allowing them to vote as teenagers is basically training them to be apathetic about politics.

 

[ntdz]

1. Pulling out of Iraq will be a horrible mistake. Just let the terrorists win and let Al Qaeda take control of a country?!?! Are you INSANE?

2. Dumping more money into education is quite possibly the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Schools need to be changed, not have more money thrown at them.

3. WOW, getting rid of NASA. What a terrible idea.

4. Agree, but I'm not that worried about getting on China's side.

5. Agree

6. Eh?

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: 2cpuminimum
That sounds like a great plan so far, but step six has to happen first. Accountability needs to be brought to government, starting with election reform. We need a system that counts every single vote, and in which every single person has the right to vote. The primary means of deciding elections since the late 20th century has been rigging the vote counting system and preventing people from voting at all. This needs to be at the top of the priority list, otherwise there will never be any true accountability. Too many people are prevented from voting by the system.
At the minimum:
1. Election day should be a nationally recognized holiday, and labor law should require time and a half pay for that day, even for part time and salaried employees.
2. Nationally, it should be illegal to fire someone for going to vote, and for being late in returning to vote. Mandatory severence pay of twice their annual salary if this law is broken.
3. There should be nationally standardized voting and vote counting machinery, which at the very least leaves a paper trail and may be inspected by the public down to the last line of code.
4. People in prison and in hospitals should be allowed to vote.
5. The number of people assigned to a single voting location should be nationally standardized at a low number.
6. All ballots for federal elections must comply with standards for clarity and be easily read by people with poor vision.
7. The constitution should be amended to require that felons be allowed to vote.
8. If citizens are turned away from the polls, or are otherwise prevented from voting illegally, then there should be a whole new election, with an interim government presiding pending the results.

In addition to the above minimal changes, it would be beneficial if it were documented who voted and who didn't, and the people who don't vote at all in a federal election should pay an additional 10% on their income tax. This apathy tax should dramatically increase voter turnout, and could be used to cover election costs. (Be sure to keep your receipt after you vote for tax purposes.)

I also think that the voting age should be lowered to 14, since not allowing them to vote as teenagers is basically training them to be apathetic about politics.

Most of these would probably enlarge the democratic voting base

You'd also have people claiming they werent allowed to vote in order to re-do elections

 

[TheNoblePlatypus]

Alright, time for some out of left field lurker action...


1. I agree completely with withdrawing from Iraq. Any type of government entity that is set up in place of their previous secular dictatorship is going to be tenuous at best. Saddam was an evil bastard, but he managed that whole separation of church and state at least.

2. Yeah, the top - down method never worked and never will. Those tax cuts were put in place to appease his friends in high places.

3. NASA has been a tremendous source of technological advancements, so I don't see the wisdom in abandoning the space project just because of poor administration.

4. Making friends is always good policy.

5. Yeah, we need to boost trade relations with China. I mean seriously, we still have SOME manufacturing here. Outsourcing is a temporary profits boost for corporations that will choke our middle class to death down the road. As for exportation of finished goods to China... why? I mean honestly, they have such a strong manufacturing base now why would they want to buy products from our workers that cost a lot more?

6. Yeah, I would love someone that could break the two party system in this country. We need a logical majority.

 

[Polish3d]

Don't count the Iraqi government out yet... its rough to hear people championing Saddam as the better of the two choices.

 

[HombrePequeno]

I actually agree with a few of your ideas.

I don't quite agree with #1 as I think Iraq would go to complete sh!t if we pulled out now. I think we need to stay at least another two years.

I would be fine with #2 if it weren't for your #3 really. If you're shooting for a balanced budget, your proposal to cut the federal budget would do. It would be easy to just cut the bloated military budget and a few other programs and we would have a balanced budget. I don't see the reason for repealing the tax cuts in that case.

One problem I have with #3 is killing off NASA. Sure we haven't gone to the Moon in over 30 years but that doesn't mean they aren't coming up with innovating ideas. The only problem with NASA is the fact that it has become a political play toy. "Oh, this seems like a fun idea, let's do this." When they try to get that idea going some moron politician will say, "Oh let's add this and this to make it better." Then they're surprised when NASA goes overbudget on the project. Politicians aren't engineers, they don't know how costly and time consuming a project will be.

I agree for the most part that trade barriers need to come down. I'm not sure we should be trading so much with China though. It's not exactly a level playing field. They don't exactly buy nearly as many products from us as we give to them. I definitely agree with the part about Mexico. Many people say that NAFTA is taking away jobs from Americans but if they can't work for cheaper, then they can find a new job. Plain and simple. Mexico provides us with cheaper goods and eventually when their quality of life raises, they may stop coming here in droves.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: NeonAura
I originally posted this in that particular discussion, but it seems to me I'm being ignored through the flame wars. If you're interested in seeing a good plan for the United States to remain strong and be an excellent place to live, read on.

Our economy's in shambles. It's time to fix it. How about a plan?

1. Withdraw from Iraq. Large scale, in less than one year. It's time to cut our losses, it's a lose-lose situation. If we're there, we lose $5 billion per month and 1,800+ soldiers so far. This is unacceptable.

2. Take away Bush's tax cuts to mainly the wealthiest 1% of Americans. It's time to forget about stupid Reaganomics and use real economics that really work. We could take the money from the taxes that the wealthy would be paying and put it towards education. In the next ten years, we could see the future leaders of America better prepared and the general public more informed to make the decisions of the country.

3. Cut government spending. Iraq- $5 billion per month, $500 billion so far. Enough is enough. NASA needs to go. Money is very much so wasted by our space endeavors. Nothing important has been yielded from space in the past thirty years. We need to take care of our own world before looking to other worlds. Also, we can get rid of the "goodies" that senators and politicians get. Tax write-offs, free money for vacations, etc.

4. Increase relations with foreign countries. Many superpowers of the world are beginning to doubt the United States greatly. It's time to lift trade restrictions with China and get on their good side. By 2020, China will have the second most powerful economy in the world, barring that the United States screws up more. Russia also doubts us, France really doesn't like us, and many other countries feel pretty strongly against us.

5. Increase trades with foreign countries. China predominantly needs to be traded with more. However, our neighbors, Mexico and Canada, could do with better trading with the US. If we help to improve Mexico's economy and standard of living, we wouldn't have to have such high restrictions on border control. Mexicans would want to stay in Mexico. It's also time to lift the embargo on Cuba. Enough is enough, Fidel even helped us with Katrina relief. Let's do them a favor and lift the embargo and give their people a better standard of living.

6. Finally, we need to get rid of the fallacies in our government. Man, are we getting corrupted. This whole "Liberal-Conservative" bs is getting out of hand. It's time to vote people into office that are qualified, not those who are labeled by a party. We need to get rid of corruption in the form of cash under the table and payoffs to political icons. President Bush, like it or not, is buddies with the oil companies. They're in his pocket. This isn't right. They have more power than the average American citizen, and that's not the basis of our country. It's out of hand, buying off politicians is unethical and must be done away with.

Today, we have some major problems that have to be fixed. I don't see Democrats nor Republicans aiming to get rid of them, they're not really that different. They only care for themselves and their image, greed and status. This has to end.

Part two: social security and medical costs.

Social security will have to be dealt with later rather than now. Our economy must be restrengthened before we can worry about social security. 6-8 years from now, we can worry about social security.

Medical costs: a shame upon America. Our healthcare system is terrible.

Millions uninsured, millions who can't afford their medicine, millions under Medicaid that will soon be unable to get any kind of insurance help on their prescriptions. Going back to trade relations, we could up trade with Canada and get rid of the $200 per pill that some prescriptions carry. Unacceptable.

I was uninsured for years, in a middle class family.

How is it right that only the people that can actually afford the medical care and prescriptions can get insurance without giving out half their paycheck? Unacceptable.

$200 per month for a family of three to be insured, maybe $50 per month that the insurance pays to us. But, be uninsured and it'll come back to bite you in the rear end. Unacceptable.

Topic Title: How about a plan for the United States?
Topic Summary: My post from the "Liberals don't think of ideas" thread. Sparked my ideas to flames.

Oh come on. Admirable post but you failed to remember one important thing:

All of the above is going exactly according to Republican plan, where have you've been?

You will not get one Republican especially those on here to admit that the Economy is in shabbles.

 

[redhatlinux]

Nobody seems to question 'why are the costs so high in Iraq'. I'm sure that the majority of the military are not raking in the dough. The question to be answered is why the cost of Iraq is so high.

My number 1. Abolish the current federalist system of government. It doesn't work, no accountability. Too much government, local, state federal. The feds (no matter if dems or repubs) control the states by the way they dish out the money payed in by the states. This is pure BS.

Number 2. Focus schooling actually on academics, forget the BS sports, it takes too much away from academics. Establish a school year that comes close to a year, reduce summer closure to no longer than 4 weeks.

number 3. Term limits for all politicians, a small number of politicians have way too much power, 6 years is enough.

Number 4. Amendments to bills are outlawed, let the amendment stand as a bill on its own merits, pork goes away.

The rant could go on but I'm bored.