The Koch Brothers Want A New Constitution — And They’re Closer Than You Think

That's too simple as you know. Automatic cuts maybe. Still too simple.

 

I will tell you what is even more simple--the government's budget is already balanced. Automatic cuts really won't work because of the way the budget is assembled. For instance, all those intergovernmental holdings require that we have a national debt.

 

Zorro;

1.What has happened to salaries in the construction industry?

2. Another wage topic:

There is an article in USA Today regarding truck drivers at the LA Harbor being forced to work very long hours for small pay and the loss of their trucks when fired. Very sad except--.

I grew up in Los Angeles and did business with truck drivers. Those jobs were held by Americans who made good wages to raise families. They were chased out of the docks by Mexican truck drivers who were willing to work cheaper using substandard trucks.

Now the scabs are complaining that they are being cheated.

3. One more wage topic:

Years ago, if someone decided to drop out of college, they could get a job selling cars and make good money. My family was in the car business at that time.

As a kid, I used to go the dealerships to pick up trade-ins that we bought. If it was payday, the salesmen would show sometimes pay me their paychecks.

A salesman today makes less money than those salesmen made 40 years ago. Most of them cannot make enough money to support a family.

In some stores, salesmen sleep in their cars a couple of days a week to save gas money driving home. Older salesman need their social security checks to make ends meet. Young sales people work long hours and make the equivilant of a little over minimum wage.

A person today would have to be an idiot to leave school in order to sell cars..

 

Zorro:

Employers have been getting away with undercutting the middle class for a long time by flooding the labor market.

There has to be a solution.

 

If something doesn't happen then we'll be in big trouble. I realize some debt is ok maybe even necessary as you say but interest rates will go up at some point. That's trouble IMO.

 

Or what? Not being argumentative, but I am not sure what down side you are looking at. If the fed cuts spending the economy gets hurt and the states have to increase spending and taxation and it flows through o the local governments as well unless you are willing to see some significant contractions in the economy. Not clear what your big picture really would look like.

 

That's a long conversation. Bedtime now. Would love to discuss with you later.

 

Our debt is a big problem and I think a balanced budget amendment is a good idea but needs some exceptions. For example, if we are spiraling to economic disaster the government may need to enact tax cuts without spending cuts to stimulate the economy like what Reagan did, or enact stimulus spending without tax hikes. If you cut taxes you add money to the economy, but if you offset that with spending cuts then some people will get less money so you have blunted the impact of the tax cuts. Cutting taxes or raising spending based on borrowing allows us to flush money into the economy without having to pay for it right now. Theoretically we should pay this off once the recession is over but that isn't happening.

A debt isn't so bad because all you have to do is pay the interest on it which is about 2% every year. It seems like paying for a debt forever is a really bad deal but money devalues at a rate of 2% every year so the debt will naturally diminish over time if its not added to. Unfortunately though we have been adding debt so quickly that we have to spend 300 billion dollars on interest payments every year which is almost 10% of the budget. This is expected to rise to 500 billion in the early 2020s and over 700 billion in the late 2020s. Japans debt is 250% of its GDP and they have to spend 43% of their budget paying off the interest.

One thing we can do is only allow deficit spending or tax cuts during a recession but increased spending or tax cuts aren't allowed until the budget is balanced, and until then they have to come with cuts to existing programs to pay for them.

 

I mean, it may sound crazy to a Liberal but, some countries run a surplus, then make money from loaning it others. I know, I know, that would take all the fun out of destroying wealth creation, destroying jobs, and generally controlling everyone via ever increasing levels of authoritarianism.

 

Wait what ? "we run deficits because people whine about paying taxes..."

Maybe you didn't complete your thought. Clarify this please.

 

We the People don't need to rewrite/amend the Constitution in order to raise taxes and balance the budget.

Anything to do with the Koch brothers and fiscal policies should set off clanging alarms and raise red flags given that they have already turned Kansas into basket case state.

 

Raising taxes on the wealthy 1% won't wreck the economy.

 

There is no proof that Koch brothers are indeed financing this campaign. And yes, even if they are, there is nothing wrong about it. Lobbyism is neither immoral nor illegal. And I still think that those changes in Constitution are light-years away from happening. Unfortunately.

 

If We the People are going to amend the Constitution then making CORPORATE LOBBYING illegal would be at the top of my list.

 

Lobbying is not bribing, why it should be illegal?

 

Corporate lobbying is a form of bribery. Promising campaign donations is a bribe per the legal definition.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/bribery

 

I would like to see this happen but if you think the left has been acting psychotic now just wait till this tries to get passed.

 

If campaign donations are used for spreading your message out and not for buying luxury items for youself then it is not a bribery by any definition.

 

So when my corporation gives you a million dollars so that you can be elected to Congress you don't owe me anything at all?

When I come back to you after you are elected and ask you to vote for a bill that will earn my corporation billions in profits are you going to refuse to vote the way I am effectively telling you to vote?

Explain how that is not bribery and corruption?

 

That's an interesting theory but it's a stretch to say the Democrat party is plotting to push the US into Communism. Balancing the budget has always been a two-sided issue of spending and tax revenues. It's not just as simple as saying that the bill must be paid, it's also that we shouldn't be spending money that we don't have. Both parties are equally guilty and innocent of the mess we're in generally speaking. You can point to Reagan and Clinton on one side or Bush and Obama on the other. Both parties have had presidents that were responsible and irresponsible.

It was Eisenhower that warned us of the military industrial complex and JFK that quickly swept that warning under the rug. Then Nixon came is along and dumped endless resources into Vietnam without ever considering a return on investment (ROI) that would justify it. We fight far too many wars for our allies that leave us with nothing to show for any of it. But it's not just the military industrial complex, its also the foreign-aid give-aways. The concept of giving foreign aid was birthed in Europe back in the 19th century (just before WWI and WWII) but then the Ford and Rockefeller foundations adopted the idea. Just when the US thought it was rich enough to carry the little-guys around the Globe the banks were being deregulated because cheap Congressmen were selling out everybody top lobbyist crooks. The wealthiest among us had decided to back out of the deal and stick the everyone else with the tab by banking in tax-havens (100 years before the housing market crash of 200. Even Bill Clinton knew too much damage had already been done because the boat had been scuttled for far too long to fix it with a simple patch. That money was already out of reach, Reagan's plan couldn't even deny that. Then 9/11 came along and the new policy was to just put everything on the credit card without any idea how to pay it off. The best idea I've heard yet is the one Trump is suggesting by revisiting all of our agreements and evaluating which one aren't affordable any more. We have to put that fascist ideology to bed quick (by for one doing what Roosevelt was doing and ending the lobbies) or the US will eventually resort to Communism by default.

 

Most of those nations are islands, but if you are a conservative who wants the government to take in more of your money than it needs, thereby rendering the taxpayers fewer services than they should be getting, then by all means start contributing your extra cash to the kitty. The only way for a government to run a surplus is for the people to run a deficit.

 

Liberal wackos call veryone who does not agree with them the "radical right"

 

I could live with that; at least its a two-way street.

 

The Constitution we have now is obviously not all that good if every office of government is constantly allowed to ignore and undermined it.

 

The economy has been wrecked for a long time now because we've had lawyers doing things where we needed business people.