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Guest Post: A Modest Proposal
Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform
A Modest Proposal
As we have debated various issues on this site for the last couple years
my understanding of our economic system has changed. I’ve come to the
conclusion that the middle class of this country has been caught in a
pincer movement by two armies. My definition of the Middle Class is
households making between $50,000 and $150,000 per year. The Free Shit
Army is attacking us on the left. The middle class has been the backbone
of the country, doing the heavy lifting in this country. They get up
every morning and trudge off to work to support their families. The Free
Shit Army sleeps in. They have chosen to not educate themselves in
order to advance in our society. Politicians have enabled them to stay
in poverty by providing welfare, disability, food stamps, and tax
incentives that make their lives just comfortable enough to not work. If
you provide money to people who are classified as disabled, you get
more disabled. The Free Shit Army has 50% more disabled than the general
population. If you pay people for not working, why should they work?
The middle class works and pays their taxes. These taxes are then
redistributed to the Free Shit Army.
The second pincer movement on the middle class has been conducted by a
stealthier army. This army has experts in propaganda, misinformation,
and obfuscation. I call them the Ruling Elite Army. The generals are the
ultra-wealthy CEOs of Wall Street banks and mega-corporations. Their
armor divisions are manned by the corporate mainstream media. They are
excellent at laying down a great smoke screen before blasting away. The
infantry is manned by 535 Congressional officers with thousands of
corporate lobbyist foot soldiers. This army has been given the mission
to capture the supplies of the middle class.
The middle class were not prepared for the assaults they have been
fending off. They became soft and satisfied. They stopped training. They
became distracted by their gadgets, delusions of home wealth, and fear
of phantom terrorist enemies behind every bush. The propaganda machine
of their true enemies has convinced the middle class that foreign
enemies are massing. The enemy is within. The middle class will need
to sacrifice and go to war against two enemies. Are they up to the task?
I’m not sure.
In my opinion the following platform is the only way to save this
middle class country. Liberals and supposed Conservatives will be
outraged. No one will be happy with my solutions. So be it.
MY TEA PARTY PLATFORM
Political System
-
Term limits of 6 years for Congressmen
and Senators. Serving in Congress is not a career. It is a duty to the
country. They are not in Congress to bring home the bacon to their
district or State. They are in Congress to ensure that future
generations have a country that offers opportunity to live a better life
than their parents. -
The entire election process would be
scraped. It would be transformed into a 3 month publicly financed
election. No money from corporations, unions, or individuals would be
allowed. Candidates would have 3 debates on public TV. -
Lobbyists and PACs would be eliminated from the political process.
-
Every bill before Congress would
immediately be put online. The constituents of every Congressmen and
Senator would be allowed to voice their opinion by voting yes or no
online. -
Every bill that is proposed by a
Congressman MUST have a funding mechanism. If the proposal increases
costs to the American taxpayer, something else must be cut to pay for
the new proposal. -
NO American troops could be committed to
firing their weapons without a full vote of Congress as required by the
US Constitution.
Economic Policy
- The first thing to be done is to abolish the Federal Reserve. It has
been around for less than 100 years. The Treasury has the authority to
issue the currency of the country. - The currency of the US would be backed by hard assets. A basket of
gold, silver, oil, uranium, and some other limited hard commodities
would back the USD. If politicians attempted to spend too much, this
basket would reveal their plans immediately. - The FASB would be directed to make all banks and corporations value
their assets at their true market value. This would reveal that the mega
Wall Street banks and corporations like GE are insolvent. An orderly
bankruptcy of all insolvent financial firms involving the sell-off of
their legitimate assets to banks that didn’t screw up and the
bondholders and stockholders would be wiped out. - The 16th Amendment would be repealed and the income tax would be
scraped. It would be replaced with a national consumption tax. The more
you consume the more taxes you pay. Saving and investment would be
untaxed. - A balanced budget amendment would be instituted. It would phase in
over 5 years. This would require a massive reduction in spending. A
downsizing of the US Military from $900 billion to $500 billion would be
initiated through the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Iraq,
Germany, Japan and hundreds of other bases throughout the world. - The two most worthless departments in the government (Dept of Energy
and Dept of Education) would be eliminated. All corporate subsidies
would be eliminated. All Federal employees would have their pay slashed
by 10% and the workforce would be reduced by 20% over 5 years. Federal
health benefits and pension benefits would be slashed. - The Social Security System would be completely overhauled. Anyone 50
or older would get exactly what they were promised. The age for
collecting SS would be gradually raised to 72 over the next 15 years.
Those between 25 and 50 would be given the option to opt out of SS. They
would be given their contributions to invest as they see fit if they
opt out. Anyone entering the workforce today would not pay in or receive
any benefits. The wage limit for SS would be eliminated and the tax
rate would be reduced from 6.2% to 3%. - The Medicare system is unsustainable. It would be converted from a
government program to private market based program. The rules and
regulations would be eliminated. Senior citizens would be given
healthcare vouchers which they would be free to use with any insurance
company or doctor based on price and quality. Insurance companies would
compete for business. Doctors would compete for business. The GAO would
have their budget doubled and they would audit Medicare fraud
& Medicaid fraud and prosecute the criminals brutally. - The healthcare bill would be repealed. Insurance companies would be
allowed to compete with each other on a national basis. Tort reform
would be implemented so that doctors could do their jobs without
worrying about slimy lawyers. Doctors would need to post their costs for
various procedures. Price and quality would drive the healthcare
market. - The entitlement state would be dismantled. The criteria for
collecting welfare, food stamps and unemployment benefits would be made
much stricter. Unemployed people collecting government payments would be
required to clean up parks, volunteer at community charity
organizations, pick up trash along highways, fix and paint houses in
their neighborhoods and generally keep busy in a productive manner for
society. - A free market method for stabilizing the housing market would be for
banks to voluntarily reduce the mortgage balances of underwater
homeowners in exchange for a PAR (Property Appreciation Right). The
homeowner would agree to pay off the PAR to the Treasury (and
administered through the IRS) out of future price appreciation on the
existing home or subsequent property. The homeowner would be excluded
from taking on any home equity loans or executing any “cash out”
refinancings until the PAR was satisfied. The maximum PAR obligation
accepted by the Treasury would be based on the value of the home and the
income of the homeowner.
Education Policy
-
With the elimination of the Dept of
Education, the education of children would go back to localities. Every
child in America would receive vouchers for grade school, high school
and college. They could choose any school to attend – public or private.
If the private school cost more than the voucher, the family would pay
the difference. Excellent schools would flourish, poor schools would be
forced to improve or they would close. -
Teacher tenure would be eliminated.
Teachers unions could exist, but schools will only receive the amount of
the student vouchers as funding. This would essentially force public
schools to run their operations based on excellence in teaching.
Energy Policy
- Without the Dept of Energy to block the free market, companies
should be guaranteed a fast track approval process to build nuclear
power plants ASAP. The approval process for refineries and LNG
facilities should also be fast tracked. - The Pickens Plan to convert our truck fleets to natural gas should
be given priority. The government can actually do something to help the
market. An upgrade and expansion of the electrical grid could connect to
windmill farms built across the plains. - Increased drilling off the coasts and in Alaska would be allowed with proper procedures in place.
- A national project to create high speed electric rail lines between
major cities and light electric rail connecting the suburbs to the major
cities would be undertaken based upon ROI. Only lines that could
reasonably make profits would be built.
National Defense/Foreign Policy
-
Elimination of foreign aid to other countries would be implemented immediately.
-
Withdrawal of US forces from the Middle
East and other countries would take place over 3 years. Amazingly, after
we leave the Middle East, terrorism will miraculously decline. -
Conduct free trade with all countries. Make treaties with no countries. Do not bully or threaten any country.
-
The US military would be used to efend
our country. Any commitment of forces to battle would require a full
vote by Congress as the Constitution states. -
The torture of anyone would be outlawed.
Immigration
-
If we want to keep illegal aliens from
entering the country, then we need to build a fence/wall and use
technology to truly seal our southern borders. Illegal aliens are
illegal. Their children are not legal. If you break the law, you are
punished. -
We should encourage the immigration of
smart people to this country. Legal immigrants built this country. We
should encourage the foreign students who graduate from our best
colleges to stay in the country and work for American companies. -
To help stabilize our housing market, all
foreigners who would buy a US property in cash would be guaranteed a
fast track to citizenship as long as they break no laws.
Social Issues
-
Let people do anything they want. Gays could marry. People could practice whatever religion they want.
-
The Dept of Homeland Security would be reduced dramatically.
-
Wire tapping, monitoring, and spying on US citizens would be outlawed.
-
Personal liberties would be restored. Individual rights would take precedence over corporate and government rights.
- Only modest restrictions on gun ownership would be allowed (criminal
checks). An armed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.
The mainstream media would classify me as an extremist with the views
I’ve detailed above. I find that laughable. The current administration
is running annual $1.6 trillion deficits, the Federal Reserve has 0%
interest rates and is about to monetize another $1 trillion of debt
after already monetizing $2 trillion of debt, Wall Street has been
handed $2 trillion of taxpayer money, our National Debt is up from $5.7
trillion in 2000 to $13.5 trillion in 2010, and peak cheap oil is on the
verge of shocking our system AND MY PROPOSALS WOULD BE CONSIDERED
EXTREMIST.
This country is on the precipice of collapse. I truly believe that.
Republicans winning seats in November will bring about gridlock in
Washington DC. That is better than the alternative, but it will do
nothing to save the country. Dramatic measures are required to avert
financial collapse. I do not see anyone honestly telling the American
people the truth. Our future as a country is at stake. Do enough people
care? I fear not.
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Great idea. Can you give me a week or two to work on this?
You need a month. You will also need:
A large supply of ammunition and weapons.
A place to hide, from whence your attacks must be launched.
A safe storage place for you and your army's food stores.
All the other strategic and tactical equipment with which to fight a war.
The guts to use them.
*cough* *cough* -David Koresh- *cough* *cough*
You left off that no bill can be longer than 10 pages. Bills that go on for 100's of pages are deliberately written to make them unreadable. How large was the homeland security authorization (that had to be passed now, RIGHT NOW), and how large was the healthcare bill (that had to be passed now, RIGHT NOW).
The more shit our leaders try to hide, the larger the bill.
First: if you don't know the low, and brake low, you are guilty any way. So you should know the low.
Second: having a chance to know the low, is some basic social human right.
Now, how it corresponds to complexity of the bills served by ruling elite? For my understanding, such a bills are simply illegal. Its not even financial crime, it's "low crime" !
I wouldn't be surprised, if next revolution simply cancels any bill that can not be understood by average (!) person by reading 1 hour long.
Napoleon's Corporal redux - Ned
In that case you need to define font size and line spacing as well, and I'm not joking. http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2780
Amen to that!
Yes, but why? I mean, if you classify two opposing camps as enemies, then what do you think they consider you to be? And if that's the case, do they oppose the intrinsic nature of the themes you are advancing, or do they oppose them simply because you are the enemy?
IOW, a rationale person would probably consider your proposals perfectly reasonable ideas, yet the power-elite have larger goals in mind, hence terminating this platform is merely an expedient to a grander vision.
Here's a perspective that steps outside the box of political systems that missassign sovereignty to parties not fit to exercise it.
Don't steal. Initiating any involuntary exchange is theft. "Taxation", meaning a involuntary exchange, is theft. Voting or assigning political power to anyone within or to establish a system that has power to "tax" is being an accessory to theft or conspiracy to commit theft.
Don't deceive others for gain. Voting or assigning political power to anyone within or to establish a system of monopoly adjudication power within a certain geographic area, (that is greater than any one private property owner's jurisdiction), is an accessory to defrauding others or conspiracy to defraud others.
Don't initiate violence. Voting or assigning political power to anyone within or to establish a system of monopoly security or enforcement power within a certain geographic area, (that is greater than any one private property owner's jurisdiction), is being an accessory to aggressive violence against others or conspiracy to commit aggressive violence against others.
Don't pay taxes (meaning a non-voluntary exchange),purchase the services people associated with "government" from entities that uphold voluntary non-monopoly exchanges.
Don't seek adjudication of damages from a monopoly provider of adjudication services.
Don't seek security or enforcement of adjudication from a monopoly provider of security or enforcement services.
Concerning adjudications:
Here are some suggestions and historical examples that might become broad consensus among the various adjudication service provider entities. Some of these suggestions can be derived from vast cultural experience about what works reasonable well and efficiently over long periods of time, or what might be predicted to work based on human actions of non-predatory actors.
*************************************************************************
(This part is an exercise for the individual). For more understanding here, you could start with the works of Murry Rothbard or Hans-Hermann Hoppe as useful basis of instruction.
Here is one idea inspired from a somewhat similar practice of non-monopoly adjudication that was practiced in Ireland for at least 1000 years prior to the British conquest:
Train your dependants according to the rules stated above because you face liabilities in adjudication if any of your "clan" members breaks the agreed to rules such that: for "small" value adjudications - the first generation (father, mother and all siblings and dependants) are liable jointly. For "medium" value adjudication of damages: liability for 2 generations (all grandparents and all descendants of all these grand parents including dependants). For "serious" value in adjudication of damages such as murder: liability to 3 generations (all great-grandparents and all descendants of all these grand parents and all dependants). "Small", "medium" and "serious" adjudications are within the definition of the system(s) of adjudication/arbitration that apply in any conflict resolution between two or more parties to a disagreement but tend to become consensus over time. Decent being all blood lineages or guardianships that a "minor" was subject to before becoming a person claiming capacity of entering a binding contract.
Ireland also had a varying severity of adjudication that was based on the level of wealth of a person (his "honor price") and so more serious adjudication penalties were applied to those with greater wealth or social standing. The adjudication providers (called "Brehon") and security providers ("kings" of the various "tuatha") had very stiff penalties for violations indeed!
Here is another idea: Becoming an "adult" could be a state of maturity that is attested to between a former dependant and their guardian/parent through a formal written declaration that can be circulated to those interested parties who might want to know the nature of an individual entering into some kind of binding agreement , and also serving to establish broader liability in the case of a future possible adjudication. Such attestations would be of interest to those who provided an "archival" type of service (generally within a "bundle of services" provided by adjudication entities).
All land is private property if it has been developed or homesteaded. It remains unowned property if no one has started using it (no one has homesteaded it yet). There is no such thing as "public" property. Air pollution is a form of trespass against another property owner. Likewise water pollution could be similarly defined. Water streams could be owned by the owner(s) of the property the feeder steam(s) originate from. "Permanent" bodies of water could be owned jointly by all parties owning private property that abuts the body. There are similarly other ways to define property rights that better ensure the survival of threatened species then the present "state" based solution.
This is excellent.
I would modify only the stream/waterway portion. You own the land under the stream, not the water itself. You have a right to use the water in whatever way you desire so long as it is on your property. Once it leaves your property, it is no longer yours.
This system of thinking allows people to own waterways and oceanic property. There is no reason that people can't own the "open waters". To allow communal ownership is communism, and such actions have resulted in severe damage to fisheries, not to mention damage from oil spills, etc. Such things can be avoided, with private ownership of the land under the water. Should said land thrust up above water, then the same person still owns it. Should someone's beachfront property be eroded away, well, then they own a fine peice of fishing or crabbing land.
*cough* *cough* - zombie - *cough* *cough*
Great platform. I'm writing your name in when i vote next.
OT - does anyone here know how to get the world series on an iPhone
Jam your icrap up your posterior. This is a pretty damned good effort. If I were an americano the author would get my vote.
Ahh ,I think that would be the Maxi-pad or the I-pad not the I-phone.
Exactly! Tell me...when do you suppose these Apple zombies actually begin feeding on human flesh?
And how many rounds would a guy need to keep the skin on his bones?
One day, this is all going to end...badly.
Cdad
By the number of junks you received, I guess the ZH crowd didn't get the joke. I thought it was pretty funny.
Humor has its place -- that wasn't it.
As you are a fucking extremist, and thus a threat to the status quo, you have my vote.
great stuff, only a few dozen bugs-you have my support!
You got my vote. Anything that would basically tear it all down and start over is fine with me.
The first thing that i thought of after reading this is that:
I find many people that I know saying they wouldn't vote for someone like Paul even though they like his ideas because they want to vote for someone that has more of a chance to get in.
It drives me crazy, but its a short drive.
"Saving and investment would be untaxed."
this one made ME smile...It's the american version of "...and 30 virgins"
By the way, I'd vote for this guy too...Such a choice would only be forthcoming AFTER a collapse of course...
Completely and utterly unworkable. You are wasting your time even posting such bullshit. You are in denial about how power is ultimiately relinquished. There is only one way and you know it. So stop bullshitting yourself that even 1/10th of this platform could ever (or should ever) be enacted.
" Those between 25 and 50 would be given the option to opt out of SS."
Who the fuck do you think is paying the current beneficiaries?
Larry R. Felix
aero - too bad for you. A guy posts some good ideas and you come out and take a crap in his general direction?
Aero is simply trying to remind everyone that while these kinds of dorm room discussions are great, in reality:
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
If you understand what this means, then you wouldn't be wasting your time doing anything but:
aerojet,
You are right: the majority are stupid and greedy bums. The things they are looking for are to
Masses are electing their leaders who promise most for nothing
You are right that real changes require lots of hard work and sacrifices, as well as lots of bloodshed and suffering. Well, this is life!
Obama is a good example: he promised changes and delivered none but it was bloodless. This is exactly what his handlers were looking for.
Most real changes in the world have ocurred because a group of people picked up and went somewhere else and started over. That worked when there was unexplored land to escape to. What significant changes have ocurred in history by totally revamping the status quo of a society that stayed in place?
"Completely and utterly unworkable...1/10th of this platform could ever (or should ever) be enacted."
So the current status quo is preferable?
I would only add that parents would be responsible for educating their own children- nobody else.
"Who the fuck do you think is paying the current beneficiaries?"
I've taken this issue on as a sort of mission in life. The statistics are available online at census.org and various other government sites if you care to do the homework or are curious as to the truth of this issue.
Statistics reveal that most people die long before they use more than half of what they paid into Social Security over their lifetimes. The age to collect gets ever closer to the age at which most people will die, anyway. The past 40-50 years of Boomer participation, the largest and most productive population in the history of the U.S., would have filled the public coffers to overflowing. If invested wisely, these Boomer dollars contributed to SS should have ractically guaranteed Generations X and Y a nice cozy retirement of their own, simply partaking in the leftovers of the Boomers.
Social Security has long been the petty (petty?) cash of the seamier elements in power/in elected office. This is the simple truth of why Social Security will never go away. It is the proverbial cash cow for those serving (themselves) in government.
It is also one of the most aggregious sins committed against its ctizenry. To promise one some small security in old age, once they have reached the end of their productive phase in life and no one will hire them, anyway - only to deny them the use of their own money until they are near death, forcing them into an old age characterised by deprivation, isolation, and neglect, is quite telling with regard to our society's predatory and immoral nature.
We. Are. Animals.
Technology aside, we are not very far removed from a bunch of monkeys, intent on stealing each others bananas.
And talking about fruit, you do realise that this is all going to end very badly - one last giant fruit fight of global proportions. Our political elite (the Top Bananas) are going to go bananas with our nuclear tipped bananas while Banana Ben goes bananas with his fruitless efforts to stop us becoming a Banana Republic!
Don't say you weren't warned!
So, what would work, smart guy?
We are eagerly awaiting your article: Create content
You forgot to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, NPR, the NSF, privatize the post office, eliminate farm subsidies, subsidies for AMTRAK, and all other subsidies for that matter. It is a good start indeed, but only a start.
Anarchy Bitchez!
yes, some of the bugs. On 2d thought, lets just return to the government of 1836 as the starting point, then add anything that is clearly useful. That way, we can eliminate the 30,000 useless bureaucracies without effort.
Good idea. Back to the future - 1836! No national bank for starters. Maybe you could lead the Tea Party? Seriously, someone besides the MSM imposed plants has to or it's just more charade for the masses.
It's a non-violent plan. It should be tried.
Read Kunstler's World made by hand. A hypothetical post peak oil America. Throw out the post peak oil and insert "post-dollar" or your favorite black swan event. Good read for the preppers.
http://worldmadebyhand.com/
http://worldmadebyhand.com/jobe-bullock.html
Funny you should mention that. I got into an email exchange with Kunstler a while ago. Despite how he likes to present himself, he's a rapid zino-fascist Likudnik. Good luck with that as you try to get along with your upstate neighbors Jimbo.
Example - anyone who does not support Israel is an anti-semite. WTF?!?
It's not a non-violent plan. What the author hasn't realized is that there's a human population bubble. Lifting the social security benefit age to 72 will kill millions of people. Ending medicare will kill millions of people. Resetting our foreign policy and pulling our troops out of foreign countries will cause a massive disequalibrium which will likely kill millions of people. I think it's mostly necessary, and it will happen anyway when our country runs out of money, but don't pretend like it can happen without alot of bloodshed (either incidentally, or directly as entitled people fight to maintain their subsidies and those in power direct others to kill the revolutionaries).
Creating some of the things that you say will kill millions by their elimination have, in their creation, killed a fairly nice number of folks. Had we looked at the human toll in the first place these things would not exist. No?
And one of my least favorites............
THE UNITED NATIONS!!!!!!!!OUT of NYC, and we opt out, stop giving them a dime.
whats wrong with amtrak?
Its those saggy, fat assed middle classes that's the problem. We don't need those whining fuckers, all they seem to do is complain about their lot and the other social strata within society.
The problem here clearly is really about sleep isn't it? You see the middle classes have just enough money to get by. If they didn't then they'd be poor, without work and get a lie in. And if they were rich and had too much money then they could afford to have a lie in. Being middle class you have to work to let you enjoy your Winnebago's and your golf club memberships and to enable you to afford to run your middle of the range cars, live in Averageville and squirt out your average 2.4 kids. Consequently, for the middle class there's no time for sleep and as for having a lie in - forget it! So that's what really behind all this middle classes grouchiness - lack of sleep.
As for cutting the military?????? What we need is more military not less - what the fuck are you on Tyler? When the revolution comes we're going to need those guy's to make sure all the poor and the middle class obey the New Order. It'll just be anarchy otherwise!
This is very astute. All of human productivity has only one clear goal: Leisure time. And Sleep is one of the most awesome things in the world. I believe it will be the post-post modern substitute and replace for the old mantra of (para) "Education should be free as water and air, available night or day" Peter Cooper.
Meaning truly free and secure people sleep as much, or as little as they want, when ever they want, for what ever reason.
Zero Hedge is the middle classes bleeding edge for finding that they are not alone in feeling like they are being put upon like a <insert personal favorite whore reference here>.
This owned corporation has been queaked to maximize the labor and purpose targetted products that it delivers to its masters. These include products, intellectual output, and other esoteric products [human flesh, emotional products, etc].
Its structure can not be altered without knowledge of what it is and who owns it.
It can not be changed by "sending representatives" to DC. That is failure.
What is success? Obtaining enough understanding to know what the following things really are:
(1) Constitution, (2) Freedom (complete service and responsibility to others) (3) Who you are and where you are? Who is undefinable, so give up the definitions. Where is undefinable so give up being a who myth in a body myth.
Give up those limitations: race, sex, job, country, religion, backstory, place, time, etc.
Use it as it fulfills you. Become flexible in your "face" to society. Use it when it fits and walk away when it does not.
Global Corporatocracy: that is the target for info gathering. Who are they? What are their myths of purpose and being? Know them.
I am on this journey as well. I don't know everything. It wouldn't be fun if I did.
Peace/War/Love/Hate = Same thing.
your whole post rocks LeBalance, but this is core:
y'know, the original post has nice ideas, but at this stage, is pointless.
there are way to many "versions" of people's "realities" running hot right now, and trying to fix things won't fly - it's naive to think anyone has a say, and not many are willing to co-operate. . .
there are some home truths that will be perceived incrementally, and the wake up will be brutal for some. . .
IF I had a say, I'd let the structure crumble, and let communities / states evolve naturally based on people's choices and affinities - this "central command" top heavy meme is oppressive, every time.
not everyone is looking for leaders, or to be led.
Nicely placed IF.
One can aspire to know the structure. That is a start.
There are those on ZH who know a good deal about the structure and its appendages. It certainly has manifestations we see every day.
As long as it is needed by those who partake it will be hard to have it leave. So if the planet space nears a time of vibrational experience change or if our need is truly to be reflected in a change in the space then it will be.
Otherwise we need what is to be and should gladly accept it bounty though it taste like ashes in the moment.
What Thetan level are you operating at then?
Commencing auditing process R2-45, please stand by.
The more power is concentrated at the macro level the more the micro imperatives will assert themselves.
I agree virtually 100%, but then isn't this pretty much Ron Paul's platform from 2008?
No.
Don't believe that he is not thinking along these exact lines. The fact that he is not talking about it doesn't mean he doesn't believe it. It's the subtext in all he has ever advocated. Read some of his older writings...
Yeah, and if I were king!
Tyler:
I sent you an invitation late last week to be on the Solari Report on November 4th at 9:20pm ET for 35 minutes. Since it is no doubt buried in your many e-mails or in your spam filter, I thought I would post here.
Our subscribers would love to hear more from you -
Catherine Austin Fitts
731.609.2412
catherine@solari.com
Ms. Fitts, what a pleasure to have you here...Welcome
+100000 to my favorite misfit. Cheers lady, you make my day
Ms. Fitts
It is such a wonderful privilege to see you on this forum. As you well know, one of the central objectives at ZeroHedge is to expose the corruption and manipulation that exists between Washington and Wall Street.
Since you worked on Wall Street and then went to work for George Bush as a commissioner at HUD (one of the regulators of Freddie and Fannie), I would be interested in knowing what sort of warnings you issued regarding the collapse of Freddie/Fannie that occurred shortly after you left. What sort of changes did you implement to steer Freddie/Fannie from needing trillions in tax-payer money?
All to often, it seems that a highly paid executive on Wall Street receives some sort of do-nothing inside job in Washington and then leaves the department worse than when they arrived.
I'm wondering what your thoughts are on this matter, and whether or not you could have done anything different while working for Bush and watching Freddie/Fannie completely implode after you left. Did you take your job seriously, or was it just another check mark on your resume?
Warmest regards...
Not so nice attempt at redirection. Go for the ad hominem attack instead of addressing the ideas/platform raised by Quinn. Trying to discredit the ideas by discrediting or putting into question those associated with them or supporting them.
Both parties have largely avoided meaningful debate on topics at the core of what truly ails our country, often through such tactics. I see the tradition didn't stop at your door.
Read her writings on these topics, THEN ask relevant questions ... you repulsive cockhead!
PS. I didn't junk you ... you're not worth it ... instead, I'm waiting for a DDT button.
RNR - nicely put, perhaps we should invite her for tea?
It might be helpful to have your facts in order. I assume you don't know that there were two Presidents who used the name George Bush, right? Do you define "collapse....shortly after you left" as two decades? I only ask because Fitts served in the first Bush Admin, not the 2000-2008 reincarnation? You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own set of facts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Austin_Fitts
Yes, Cognitive Dissonance, it appears that I made an error and I humbly apologize for the confusion.
However...
My criticism of her and my point still stands.
Do you know how she got her job at HUD by Czar Bush I?
Nicholas Brady, who was George Bush's Treasury Secretary, had been her partner and boss at Dillon Read.
Why would anyone take a government job if you've got a Wharton degree and a prestigious investment banking job on Wall Street?
These are her words:
I was a Wall Street insider and a political insider...
By going to work for HUD, she was suddenly tethered to trillions of dollars and collected all the inside connections.
After a few years at HUD, she then opens Hamilton Securities and...viola! - she leaves the government and is suddenly awarded the contract to become the leading advisory to HUD, which pockets her millions.
Very shrewd. That's exactly how the Wall Street to Washington to Wall Street circle jerk works, and she was a perfect example of it. Examples of this circle jerk are endless and it's sickening.
Again, her own words: I was a Wall Street insider and a political insider...
She had no problem with HUD and Freddie/Fannie while she made millions from them. Then, when it's evident that it will all blow up, she offers an endless number of post-mortems.
Bullshit. Pure bullshit.
While I admit that I got my dates wrong on my first post, my point remains intact.
Regardless of what her intentions are today, for most of a decade she was just another sperm trail in the Wall Street/Washington circle jerk.
Fitts readily admits she was on the inside track to fame, fortune and fuck-em-all. She also says she couldn't stomach it and got off that very same track. And was punished by the machine for being a traitor, something that continues today.
So I guess you don't believe in redemption, in recognizing you were worshiping false idols? Have you spent any time on her web site or listening to her mp3's? Or reading her essay's?
Could she be promoting a false agenda? I guess so. Could she be a deep plant, a sleeper? Of course. Has she done much to expose the dirt and filth in DC and on Wall Street? Very much so. I bet you never ever did anything wrong in your life that needed to be forgiven. Good for you.
Sure, I believe in redemption.
However, I do not believe in redemption for Wall Street thieves who get a sudden case of altruism after they've already pocketed millions from their inside connections.
It's so easy to be concerned for the common good after you've already looted the system and filled the pockets for generations of your family.
Fucking bullshit.
She is a classic example of the Wall Street to Washington back to Wall Street circle jerk that has (collectively) picked America to the bone.
Similarly, what do you think of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet advocating higher taxes for rich people? It's a lot easier to push for higher taxes and more regulation when you've already made an incomprehensible amount of money.
Five steps to the American dream:
1. Get a fantastic education.
2. Take your intelligence and education, then manipulate/loot the system. Often times, this includes a cozy government job (for a brief moment in your career) to make your resume look impressive or to have the connections to direct future contracts and legislation in your direction.
3. Put millions (or billions) in your pocket
4 Retire on the Forbes 500 list
5 Get bored, reflect on your legacy and suddenly decide to become altruistic.
Regarding step 1--it's far easier to be born rich with a strong network of wealthy/powerful contacts than to get a fantastic education.
The education doesn't necessarily help much.
I'll second that
Tyler - Do it.
Catherine, thanks for letting us all know you're here and welcome to the comments free-for-all fight club.
What a peelling can do for you ... waw
http://www.drugwar.com/images/fitts4.JPG
S.O.S
How can you stand against a numerically superior and tactically superior force when you fight on a battle field of your opponents choosing and your own troops are not only ill equipped and ill trained but morale is so low as to break at the first sign of struggle? Quite simply, not even Hannibal could pull off such a victory. The smart money is on running before the slaughter.
The reforms listed above are simply not going ot happen. We could argue about their merit or find our fault with them but it's just not going to happen. Look around you, do you see a mass of people that is willing to fight and sacrifice? To do without and cut themselves out of the ponzi game? I daresay not only is the majority not willing to do so, but the majority would actively fight these measures. Far to many are dependant on the government dole and they will not fight against it so long as "they get theirs". Reform is only possible after a collapse, how else could one fight the systemic corruption and the masses of voters getting freebies? The masses must be forced off the welfare/warfare state, and this will only happen after we have been bled completely dry and lord willing the oligarchs go to a new hunting ground.
"It's only after we have lost everything that we are free to do anything"
"It's only after we have lost everything that we are free to do anything". Amen!
which "we" u b talking 'bout? - Ned
So you guys and gals have a choice. If you decide to run guessing you may have left it late in the day...
Actually there is another choice it's just not talked about much, nullification and succession. If the states decide they have had enough they can give nullification a try, when the Fed courts shoot it down, just leave the union. The legality of leaving was never decided by anything other then the barrel of a gun. Let the states break away and form whatever union(s) they wish. Leave Mordor on the Potmac the Dollar and the debt.
That is the only real hope America has. Nothing can be solved on the Federal level, that's oligarch territory. Would be better for the world too, don't think CA would try to have world spanning military empire.
california already has a world spanning empire but it shoots a whole nother thing. It would be interesting if someone started to make that noise. I don't think the feds would allow it and we'd have a whole new class of terrorists
Hollywood kills less then the military. And unlike the military they can be defunded with out pal the Internet :)
Oh I have no doubt that people who favor nullification/succession will be labeled as terrorists. What we face is a future choice, we really don't have on now, save for preparing and warning. After the dollar dies or the debts become so large that even the most dim witted foreigner will not lend us money is when the choice is made. Either we break up the union or we go gently into a total fascist police state. If the USSR could peacefully dissolve after their insolvency I'm hopeful the US can do the same. Otherwise we face the horrors being brewed up for us by the military/industrial complex. What we have going for us is it's likely the states will not want to march into total oblivion (especially when Fed money dries up), and soldiers are not as likely to fire on their fellow citizens if they are not getting paid.
the most rational alternative, well argued, in both your posts Shameful.
let the states succeed, and let the people choose the state they will pay their taxes in, based on their principles. . .
I don't believe "we" have a choice, but I'd back yours.
CA and Shameful - Alvin Toffler decribed the collapse of hierarchic political systems geared to industrial production in the Third Wave. First went the rigid hierarchy of the USSR. Now it's our turn.
Just as with any change that gets made, a catastrophe has to occur. Total melt-down of the federal gov't would have to take place on its own to prompt the States to secede. There is too much to be gained by federal monies to the States for the States to up and forgo that largess. I could see some western states which are lacking in natural resources and have unnatural borders either combining or going to war to balance out the resource problems.
I guess you haven't heard of Arizona where armed citizens outnumber all law enforcement and National Guard/military units by a ratio of 20:1.
~Misstrial
Outstanding attempt, Shameful, in this and your other replies in the thread.
Sadly, as Jim's interesting list and the responses to your posts demonstrate, everyone still wants to get in on the central planning "I know which new/additional/replacement regulations will fix it" act. (eg. Even your own suggestions on limiting incumbent enrichment is just a finger in the dyke).
Statism is dead!
Shameful - consider your not-gonna-happen assessment and Reform is only possible after a collapse. I agree with both of these points, but I still greatly appreciate the author Jim Quinn's efforts. A friend a greatly admire told me that those aware enough to see the collapse coming should envision what the least worst post collapse world should look like and work towards influencing us into that outcome.
That's how I see the author's efforts, whether that's his conscious intent or not.
Option 2. Buy lots of gold & silver, buy a big boat. Go to a tax friendly country. If that is not an option, then I guess we could give your ideas a try.
aye matey, release the kracken.
Shameful, TC, Rusty,
The Bearing continues to be baffled as to what happens (likely real bad, real soon). Equally baffling is whether to stay and fight (with my AK and my Beretta and my resources) or just scram out of the USA while able.
While the Bearing ponders all of this and Quinn's article while here on a boat in French Polynesia (it IS our 25th Anniversary after all), I keep feeling like I should be drawn to the bow of our ship to howl into the night winds:
L'or putains! L'or!
Warning! Term limits are not a panacea. The county commisioners in San Diego have actually done a good job managing the finances of the county. They started laying off early and shrinking the size of government in response to declining revenue from property taxes. Liberals have put a term limit law on the ballot to get rid of them. Having an informed populace is more important than term limits. A bigger difference can be made politically by joining your local PTA and even running for your local school board and making sure every high school graduate has had four years of economics and has read Free To Choose, the Communist Manifesto, Road To Serfdom, and Wealth Of Nations. I’ll go a step further and suggest four years of government in which they read The Federalist Papers, Common Sense, Mein Kampf, The Constitution, and understand in detail the inner workings of governments around the world. Not just liberal goo that is currently filling their ears.
The problem is the aggregation of power and wealth, people using the office for self aggrandizement. So I think the solution is clear, make them real public servants. That after leaving office that all wealth is seized from the elected official and their family (generated before and during their term). They can live on their retirement stipend, not more going into congress "middle-class" and leaving a multi millionaire. If it's found they took money (or gifts) from anyone say for lobbying work they are promptly publicly executed. Of course this is about as likely as the reforms listed above.
And how would this be decided? I am all for an amendment to the constitution that would require a congressman to put their business and personal affairs in a conservatorship. That would require a constitutional amendment.
Most meaningful reform would require a constitutional convention.
It can't be. As you point out any meaningful reform would take a constitutional convention. However that would be the worst possible thing. Can you imagine this bunch hamming out a new constitution? I would be stunned if it came in at less then 100k pages! We can't have reform in the system the way it's built. The system must break. Breaking it on our terms would be far better though, with a nullification/succession movement. We keep playing their game by their rules and we all know who the winner will be.
Secession. (Grammar police)
ConCon in their wildest wet dreams.
- Ned
Agreed, Shameful, that if they called a CC it would be the worst possible thing. However, there is a never-used provision in the constitution for the States to ammend it. I would make a small wager that there are enough of us spread across 2/3 of the states to start the process of generating state ammendment proposals consisting of the provisions outlined above if any of the legal types here can furnish a description of exactly what type of petitions are required to get this moving on a state by state basis. Of course, when this gains traction, expect the feds to eliminate the whiskey tax.
+1
Nah, term limits is a good idea.
SanDayglo, the City that built a new baseball stadium after the team rented players for a year and made it to the World Series. The City has 100-year old infrastructure and the idiot voters passed a stadium initiative. San Dayglo, the city of busted water mains, sewer lines and sink holes. Great weather though.
Shouldn't DavidC be here frothing at the mouth?
If any of this sounds good to you I'd get involved in policitcs locally no matter your political affiliation.
Hey Tyler did u wave at the Fonz as you jumped the shark? WTF is this crap? - so not ZH material....
I'm viewing this as oppo research, yin vs. yang; spy vs. spy--if you understand ...
- Ned
I don't think it was the author's intention but since no one has noted it: Jonthan Swift's essay called "A Modest Proposal" was a biting satire written in serious language...
Maybe?
It's here, and that, by definition, makes it ZH material.
Contribute your own article to rebut if you feel so shat upon.
Until the property tax and income tax is abolished, theres no hope.
I think we should eat welfare babies.
It would be about as likely as getting that kind of thing passed.
My county Republican party put a bunch of stuff like that into the Republican Party Platform. The state party didn't adopt a damn part of it, and even if they did, the politicians ignore it.
The only way you are going to get that thing passed is at a ConCon. A simpler set of measures might be to simply mandate that total Federal spending is not to exceed 2% of GDP as reported by PRIVATE research groups, or to start at 40% (what we have today), and subtract 2% per year until we hit 2%.
"I think we should eat welfare babies"
Well it sure makes a hell of a fondue!
G. Carlin
Fussy Eater by GC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk-BR-EBMU4
Not exactly my personal vision of utopia, but good on ya.
But you know what? Utopias don't exist, especially at the scales involved, your utopia included. Things should become much, much smaller.
++1.
Imagine trying to get 300 million people (or even 3 Tea Party candidates!) to agree on ANY of those very good points, let alone ALL of them!
Be sure to calmly share this insight with anyone who is sold on the idea that global governance is the solution to -- well, everything...
I like it.
I'd like it better if you had public executions for corrupt politicos, but it's a good start.
Amen Tyler - Great Job!
So I'm guessing that you understood the author's words, but somehow the very first two words of the headline were over your head?
About 15% good ideas and 85% the sort of raving lunacy that's backed virtually every violent revolution of the past hundred years.
Public funding for elections is a great idea.
Consumption based taxation raises effective rate on everyone but the highest earners. Is that really beneficial at this stage of the game?
Cut off support for most of the poor, but promise to pay retirement to everyone over 50...that's interesting. (How old is the author?)
What's the point in spending big bucks on keeping out the illegals when they can't receive any benefits and would be paying taxes through consumption, anyway?
Why "replace" Medicare with anything when you could just as easily put an end to health insurance, which serves no productive purpose to anyone but the owner?
I like this fantasy a lot: end corporate subsidies and NUKE PLANTS are going to spring up like toadstools. Perhaps...just as soon as electricity is $7/kwh. Although given the rest of the agenda, that might only take a year or two.
Batshit, yo. Just batshit.
/Sigh. ALL taxes are regressive!!!
Hey, Nanny.
I don't have a problem with the concept of elimination of ALL taxes. I personally don't care very much what tax-structure is put in place because if it has something to do with money, it's not going to have much impact on my life. I got none.
But I present a question, and this is sincere and I'd be interested to hear what you think:
If ANYONE is going to administer an infrastructure which claims to protect your ownership of personal property, do you think they'd ever do it for FREE?
As I see it, one of the most important functions of government is help protect people from thievery--and I think that's most often a neighborly threat. That guy next door might very well steal something from you if there isn't any kind of effective deterrent, right? If a group of people want to prevent that, and some specific subgroup is going to take active steps to prevention and/or restitution after a property crime occurs, do you think they wouldn't (rightfully) require some kind of compensation for that work?
To be clear: this has nothing to do with the structures we currently have in place, where yes, obviously things are terribly corrupt and administered horribly by people I'm guessing neither of us would sit down to dinner with.
There is a real heart to the dilemma.
I know one very strong logical argument which is very difficult to refute if you want to oppose any/all forms of taxation. You simply state that you are the only individual with either responsibility OR POWER to assert your ownership of something. That means you can only meaningfully "own" very modest resources. If you can't watch it 24/7, carry it on your back, and kill all potential marauders, you don't own it.
It seems to me that that's really pushing it a bit. But hey, it's just another trade-off. No taxation.
Blunder,
I certainly would am not advocate, nor expect 0 taxation. My comment doesn't even indicate such a notion.
My point is...who pays all the taxes? Individuals. More precisely, poor and middle class. They are not likely to jetset off to some tax haven, vote themselves a pay raise, offshore companies. We can tax the corps, and the rich all we want, but they don't pay...they collect.
Now the common argument against a consumption tax, which you seem to be proffering, is that it is regressive. A completely valid, yet largely emply argument since all taxation is regressive. After all could we not modify the consumption tax to exclude staple items such a food? Wouldn't those of humble mean be largely better off with a system that encourages them, and everybody around them to save, rather than spend to the point of taking on unsustainable debt (with interest)? At the very least a consumption tax gives everybody, including the poor and middle class, a choice, and a more direct voice in governance by withholding their dollars as best possible
In the end, this is a stab at a plan. Is it perfect? No. But it is better than anything we are seeing out of DC, and we need to do something to resolve our present scalability of centralized governance issues.
THAT has been the election platform (express or implied) of every party and independent candidate in every election since the very first one 230 years ago!!!!!!
That's how the oligarchs control you ... with the "hope" of incremental improvement through the ballot box (ie. the suggestion box for slaves).
indeed.
as it stands now, voting cycles just maintain the status quo, and delay meaningful change - it's a big pacifier for the populace to suck on, waiting years for their next turn at fake "change."
I don't believe in the term "regressive," and did not say a consumption-based tax is such, no.
What I said was: it increases the effective tax rate on everyone but the highest income earners.
This is not a value judgment. This is a statement of simple cause and effect.
I ask whether further increasing the tax burden on the lower income earners is a good idea. We've been shifting tax burden downward for 50 years.
Is that process improving anything?
Incidentally, if you "modify" consumption based taxation to exclude stuff, it's not what the author proposed. I was responding to that.
If there's a proposal out there that's worth a damn, the author didn't provide it.
I'm open to any suggestion because I really don't care much for the existing system.
Without any detail, it's just trash. A high-schooler could have written the above article.
" keeping out the illegals when they can't receive any benefits "
we're the only country on the planet that allows anchor babies - any woman spits out a brat inside the US boundaries has just created an American regardless of which country she snuck in from
Retirement? Soc Sec is hardly a luxurious living, more like a sorry subsistence for seniors.
Tort reform is... an antiquated debate to say the least... virtually every state has implemented tort reform ages ago.
My firm has represented quite a few doctors in malpractice actions (all successfully because it's a ridiculously difficult standard)... you want to know why doctors get sued for malpractice? Because they fuck up. If they really do botch a surgery, they never get sued for malpractice because their insurance carrier just pays the victim... if they don't botch a surgery, then they get sued for malpractice... and this, in general, is because they are not remotely personable to their clients... do not explain everything to them and do not communicate with them pre and post work...
Most people don't understand the dual role of attorneys... yes, there are plenty of scumballs out there who file shit without a prayer of success in the hopes of hitting an unwitting insurance carrier with its pants down... but, who do you think helps ensure doctors actually perform their work correctly?
Tort reform has already swept the nation... you're probably at least a decade late to the party. Doctors complain about insurance, but it's high for everyone...
When you see doctors driving pintos and selling oranges on the side/becoming real estate agents for extra money, then come to me about worrisome insurance premiums or the necessity of reform. If you want to reform the health care field, you have but one option, look doctors and pharmaceutical companies straight in the face and tell them they will not make as much money. period. end of story. Let me know how this turns out.
Home run Randy.
"....yes, there are plenty of scumballs out there who file shit without a prayer of success in the hopes of hitting an unwitting insurance carrier with its pants down... "
^^Reason why we need tort reform.
Unfortunately nearly all med-mal plaintiff's attorneys are shake-down artists.
~Misstrial
WE ALREADY HAVE TORT REFORM. Plaintiffs' potential damages are generally range bound... the only thing that generally lifts the ceiling is willful/wanton behavior... not just common negligence, but actions with malice...
Ask yourself this one, if plaintiffs' attorneys can do the same thing with car accidents, why is automobile insurance not any higher than it is (cost prohibitive and in need of reform)? Literally, plaintiffs' attorneys can do this with virtually every field... fire away with a lawsuit and hope to collect insurance... why is it that solely with doctors, it's a big issue? (hint, because telling you your costs are going to increase so they can buy their ER mistress a diamond ring just doesn't sound that great).
You want to put healthcare into cheapsville? Fine, have people pay for it out of their own pockets... see how long it takes for costs to come down.
We should encourage the immigration of smart people to this country.
brains are overrated. we already have too many m.i.t. crazies running wall street.
everything else is aaa-okay with me.
Something tells me Mr. Krugman wouldn't like this proposal...
not many from his nation wrecking tribe would.
You really are a one-trick pony.
As a member of the military, small business owner and conservative libertarian I fully support your post!
My only concern is that if you really believe that the old arabian moon god worshippers don't really wan't to take over the world then you are ignorant to say the least.
I agree we should get out of the mideast as it is a lost cause trying to erect supposed democracy on tribalists however, if you think the mooooslums will leave us alone after that you are in for an enlightenment.
BTW, first post, no longer a lurker and love the knowledge I have gained from this great realist site!
If Muslims are some sort of hivemind that wants to take over the world, then why didn't they start before we got involved in the Mideast? The Arab expansion burned itself out 800 years ago. It's not about to start up again for no reason.
Further, in order to prove the superiority of your model, you must ADHERE TO IT. Capitalism only works when you employ it, not when you slap it's name on your forehead even as you behave like a depraved Maoist, as we have since 1913. The Muslim model is prone to failure because it imposes too many restrictions on their people. If they get to the point where they are capable of "taking over the world" it will be because they stopped demanding homage to their "Moon God" and started respecting natural rights. There is no other way to gain real, lasting power.
I might also note that they worship the God of Abraham, and if you just called him a "Moon God", then you are a blasphemer against both the Christian and Jewish God. I don't beleive in any of them, but I just wanted to point out that you are a hypocrite.
Watch this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9atIjykihkc
So what? We got nukes.
How many Muslims did you say are on Earth again?
tmosley - Thanks for your reply to the rascist ranter - melachiro. What really ails melachiro and his fellow tools about the Muslim world is that they - the Muslims, don't do usury. This issue restricts the opportunities for exploitation. Hey did you see that now Iraq and Afghanistan have Central Banks.
spreadin' the free-dumb like a cancer, yeah. . . they've also got poisoned land and air, and women are told not to give birth, the results are so horrific.
on the treadmill right now so can't take a little moment to look.... but look up the demographic patterns of muslims in europe and u.s. and you will see that the WILL overtake us in another generation anyway.... simply by adhering to the present birth rates..... so it makes no difference what their real "agenda" may be... demographics will take care of their conquest all by itself.
Hearts and minds are not changed at the tip of the sword. They are changed by better ideas.
When they are not changed, we have the second amendment, provisions of the common DEFENSE, and laws to prosecute illegal initiation of force.
When government attempts to be proacttive, liberty suffers. The old liberty v. security argument.
Stupid fuck. All people are the same everywhere: DON'T TREAD ON ME. What the banksters are after over there is not democracy you fool, it's OIL. You been drinking that kool-aid.
Besides, these fascist scum killed Nikola Tesla and have all his research (free, unlimited energy).
well they didn't exactly kill him, they just made his life completely miserable, exploited his genius and twisted his eccentricities to send him over the edge of sanity.
but yes, his research is somewhere hidden in the bowels of the federal government complex, buried like the ark of the covenant at the end of the first indiana jones flick.
paid for with your tax dollars of course.
Lets see - The Crusades, The Inquisition, the slavery, the genocide of the natives, two world wars, the holocaust (including the nuclear one).
Yea, sure. The muslims are the problem.
As a member of the military......
It's hard to get a man to understand something when his job depends on him not understanding.
Upton Sinclair
You didn't learn that here. That you brought with you. Take it back to wherever you came from.
Sounds great!
But the reality is that the populace is to well fed, has two many HD channel options, can still have a drink or toke and get laid occasionally. Until that changes status quo it is.
Bored on a Sunday in Sunny SD
There are 300+ milion people in the USA .. all with an opinion.. the author is but ...one!
Next!!
Instead of making non-specific critiques of this excellent frame work for reform, why don't you throw out your own list. I'm sure we'd all love to see what's in your head.
Why aren't all you people watching football tonight? Be a real American and turn on your tv with some Bud Light and Doritos. Don't concern yourselves with this silly proposal. Did I miss Dancing with the Stars tonight? Damn. I sure hope I DVR'd it. If not, I'll just order it for 99 cents on my iPhone tomorrow.
Games on, mutes on, zeron