How our economy, and country could be fixed.

So this is just an opinion piece. Here is how I believe we could do it, and what we can do for the American people:

First let me give you my main points and how we will accomplish this following.

Main points:
Point 1:Bring US expenses down to below 20% of GDP within the next 8 years. This in fact happened back during Clinton's years in office, and I believe it could be done by giving various incentives to businesses and a decent amount of responsible cuts.
How to do it: Much of Clinton's success was due to economic expansion in the form of a technology explosion. Currently we are getting outpaced in many of these areas by other countries. I believe what needs to be done is give incentive to companies in America to stay in America. If a company makes X amount of their product or has X amount of employees in America they pay far less corporate taxes. If all of their business is done in America (that means raw materials on up) then they pay 0%. If say they actually do the majority of their business in somewhere outside of America and they pay 35% now, they pay 39% due to doing business outside of America. Another way is the government giving out contracts for certain things such as infrastructure, rails, etc. This will produce thousands of jobs as well.

Point 2:Make social security self sustainable.
How to do it:In order to do this, and keep it from drying up by the time I retire, we must FIRST not borrow from the fund and secondly, have more workers to pay into the system. In order to ensure we have more workers to pay into the system and the dollar be worth more to the system, some of the things on here need to be done. Also the retirement age does need to go to 67.

Point 3:Bush tax cuts need to be gradually phased out starting from the top and going to the bottom; the tax code needs to be simplified, and to qualify from EIC you need to be making less, you also need to be making $15k rather than $20k to get your full federal return back.
How to do it: This requires the sacrifice of all of us, but many of you lived through it just fine no problems, it really is not that big of a deal. If the 2 top points are done, then we would actually be within a surplus. If said surplus was applied to whom we owned debt to, and we spent less, meaning less money needing to be circulated our money would go back to the good ole days of being an incredibly valuable currency, and therefore, being able to be paid off even faster. I read before, had we not had to have dealt with 9/11 or the wars afterwards and didn't have the Bush tax cuts, we would have been done owing China money by 2016. I think if this were done, we could quit owing them money within my lifetime.

Point 4:Create a healthcare system within the government as previously promised by Obama.
How to do it: In order for this to happen, stricter regulations on the cost of healthcare must be created. In Japan, the government has a system in place, where private healthcare providers offer insurance, can charge what they choose, but the healthcare services can only cost so much. In Japan a CAT scan cost 20x less then it does here, and their industry still turns a profit. Healthcare faculties however should not be able to turn a profit. By that I mean, they can all get paid the same, just they can't get kickbacks or have extra money to make a giant useless food court or giant garden for no reason. Alternatively, medicare is expanded to all whom need it. To pay for this, a progressive medicare tax will be needed to help fund it. The less people worry about healthcare concerns and bills, the more likely they will spend in other areas, that money goes straight into the economy.

Point 5:Reduce military, and spending levels to 2000 levels
How we do it: Rand Paul has said it, Ron Paul has said it, it is very simply done, and you do it by not giving government contractors crazy terms, reduce the redundancies in our intelligence, repeal the PATRIOT Act and close up shop on nearly all our international bases other than ones in Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Kuwait. This alone can be done EASILY, and within a year could knock out 2% GDP worth of government spending.

Point 6:Consolidate, merge, and computerize the parts of the government that make sense
How we do it: I think this one explains itself. In doing this we can reduce the amount of government workers needed. Best example is the IRS. The IRS has done a great job of going about doing this. Other examples could be the redundancies of backing things back from state and federal agencies by mail, simply do it electronically.

Point 7:[/B}Re-evaluate the education system; more emphasis on science, technology, financial management, and different languages such as Japanese and German.
How we do it: If kids want to actually know how to do something on their computers other than use Facebook and type, we need to get to that point. Teach them how to set up computer networks, program, and while we are at it how to talk to the Japanese they are helping out abroad when coming up with great new ideas for computers, or to the German car maker down in Alabama while they are designing the way the curve on the back of the latest Mercades looks.

Point 8:Re-evaluate how the welfare, section 8, unemployment extensions and food stamps (SNAP) system is setup
How we do it: Limit the amount of benefits that can be given with unemployment; unemployment should not be extended indefinitely, it causes people to not want to "settle" until things get better. THey could actually make a little more working, but decide not to because it isn't much more than unemployment. This keeps unemployment high, and less money injected into the economy. As for re-evaluation, it could stand to be more computerized, and more centralized, as well as SNAP only allowing specific food items similar to WIC.

Point 9:Allow immigrants to work here without becoming a US citizen, as well as take advantage of government services, however they must pay higher taxes than the average citizen and even if making under $15k are not entitled to a refund. Businesses or people that hire illegals should have a hefty fine, or possible jail time. Some of these things are already being done. No "how we do it" with this one.

Point 10: Make government student loans interest free and unable to effect your credit
How we do it: It's a cute little system; they give you a loan in which part of it you helped fund at some part of your life then they charge you interest on the money so they turn a profit from you. I think if they really want to see a big return, let you keep that money and inject it elsewhere, otherwise if you are unable to pay on time for some reason, it cannot adversely effect your credit.

 

Bud, you know this forum isn't about sensible ideas and/or debating.

 

Yeah, your ideas are way too sensible. On this forum, we only debate the important stuff, like how much Michelle Obama paid for her dress.
By the way I think I agree with at least 6 of your ideas.

 

Massive cuts to spending + increase in interest rates + tax code reform + clean house among the federal oversight agencies = path to long term growth.

 

Really?? American history showed we did our best when we had sensible government spending + progressive taxes + enforced regulations + strong unions + reasonable tariffs

 

The interesting thing, is I think both of your ideas could be accomplished using the same things.

 

To achieve sensible government spending, we'd need to make massive spending cuts. And we grew far faster in the 19th century than in the 20th century.

Unless there is a world war that destroys the rest of the developed world again, the 50s ain't coming back.

The 80s however...

 

I agree with almost all of it except 4.

#4 is draconian, strips our health care establishment of any kind of economic freedom whatsoever and reduces our health care professionals to mere public servants which will lead to shortages because no American raised under the American system of consumerism is going to join the medical caste created by Government.

Who would ever want to be a doctor when a doctor's role in our society is no better than a mailman, firefighter, cop or other public servant?

that is ridiculous. People become doctors to get rich, not help people.

There is no such thing in our society as altruistic intent anymore. Our society is so mean spirited and self absorbed that being a health care professional is the most thankless task imaginable and most people would rather not do it except for the knowledge they can get rich doing so.

I mean really, what kind of society puts a cap on the salary of its most valued professionals?? An evil one.

 

I really cannot tell if you are being serious or not.

 

of course I"m being serious what world do you live in?

In the world I live in everybody is out for themselves and leaves altruism to the Church and teh Salvation Army.

 

In Japan, doctors are still paid very well, they just aren't paid crazy amounts either. They also have many other benefits granted to them for being in the medical field.

 

The thing that is so funny is these ideas would bring us to a depression. Govt spending is not our problem... it's a lack of spending that is the problem.

The Govt should be spending much more right now if they want to get us out of the recession. But because we have people believing what this OP just wrote, we are going to make ourselves suffer. Get educated!

 

Yet you can't back anything up, you just tell me to get educated yet, if you look at the pattern, everything I am saying isn't new. It is true that Germany and Japan have far less financial woes and lower unemployment due to far greater spending to get themselves out of a recession--there is no doubt about that. Had that been the case for us, we would have severed the head of the recession in half the time, but Germany and Japan also did not continuously spend high dollar amounts. However, overall German government spending is over 47% of GDP. Ours currently is 24-37% depending on how you look at it. You could keep the kind of spending we have now, if you do at least a good majority of these ideas, they would just have to work flawlessly.

Essentially, you cannot look at things as black and white like so many want it to be. You have to take the best parts of all sides, and the parts that are painful but have to be done from both sides, put them together, and we can without a doubt, be the greatest nation in the world once more.

 

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??

Japan runs like a 200%+ debt to GDP. They are one of the biggest deficit spending nations in the world. And they do that because their people actually save money and their population is fairly stagnant.

You are just using words. What is the appropriate amount of spending for us to get out of the recession? You can't quantify that so you are just making things up. That $800 billion stimulus which was almost 1/3rd tax rebates was just a band-aid. This country lost over a quarter of it's net worth, $20 trillion, in a span of 9 months. And you think $800 billion is going to cover that???

Even Martin Feldstein the Republican economists who was the top economic adviser for Ronald Reagan and both Bush's... said that Obama screwed up because he simply did not spend enough money. These are real economists we are talking about. Not people on forums.

It is black or white. This country simply doesn't have enough transactions. We need more money. Draining the country of even more money would be disastrous. Which is why even George Bush propose bailouts and stimulus. Real world economists use common sense, not some crazy philosophical theories about money.

 

And I can back up everything I say because I actually know what I'm talking about.

 

The question I've never found an answer for is why the US accepting free trade with countries whom are obviously not competing fairly?

Almost all the heave industries in the US have shut down because they could not compete. Even high tech are suffering from the same problem. Why not simply increase the cost of imports to encourage the industry to set up shop again on American soil? Or is it that Americans do not want heavy polluting industries anymore?

 

Thsi sort of thing has been tried, in one form or another, in at least a couple of dozen countries. It is true that the average wage of a doctor went down, but their level of pay still makes the profession of doctor a desirable one. If you are only going to make $400,000 a year instead of $600,000 you will be p - - - - d off, but a medical student contemplating an eventual $400,000 a year isn't going to be too upset (especially if you can cut down on his or her malpractice insurance costs).

 

How our economy, and country could be fixed?

For starters ... the Elected Officials can come to work and stop acting like Children.

From what I saw on CSPAN the other day; that could be the greatest example:

The Republicans said a prayer, Pledge Allegiance to the Flag, then when the Democrats wanted to begin talking legislation, the Speaker banged the gavel and the Republicans when home.

That is NOT LEADERSHIP Folks!

 

Your not talking population are you??

 

Anytime you screw with the ability for the market to determine wages, you will get burned.

Talking about how someone "won't be too upset" is silliness: you can very easily lose the best and brightest to other professions: why would they want to limit themselves?

 

What? I thought we are all just posting completely irrelevant charts.

We're not?

 

Can't help it. I just get carried away with all the irrelevant posts I keep reading.

 

Japan also has many problems unusual and incredibly unique to them, not having enough tax payers is one of them, however as a percentage of GDP year over year they still spend around what we spend. Having our actual GDP going anything about 50% of GDP would be shock to the system. Claiming it is black and white is more dangerous. As I said before, if incentive was made for more jobs to be created, unemployment benefits were cut, employment and money flow goes up, therefore these factors alone would lower our government spending by GDP. You also forget because of Japan's aging population, even raising the retirement age there is not enough and Japan's population is expected to go under 100 million in the next few decades. However, I do agree they along with Germany spent the right amount of money to get out. I honestly do not know what the right amount is. THe right amount is whatever it takes to make sure companies do not lay off, perhaps even giving government temporary control over private businesses to ensure this, similar to what Germany did. o

 

Unreasonable tariffs can sometimes be seen as an act of war or economically harmful to other countries. I do know we need to not making imports and exports tax free with our biggest industrial competitors such as China as they are today, and companies that work under "USA Safezones" in countries like China and Honduras need to be regulated by the USA if they are indeed on "USA soil".

 

You ever wonder why so many foreign doctors are here? It is because USA pays their doctors far more because it is a total for profit system. Meanwhile however, going to school for medicine is far less in other countries.