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Guest Post: Why We Need A 3rd Party In 2012
Submitted by Jim Quinn of the Burning Platform
Why We Need A 3rd Party In 2012
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. There are no easy solutions. There are only painful, more painful, and really really painful solutions. Both mainstream corrupted political parties have had the chance to put the country back on a prudent fiscal path. They have both failed miserably. One party will spend the country into oblivion and the other country will try to democratize the world with their military machine. There are no fresh ideas from either party. There are the same old stale ideas and rhetoric.
I’ve been waiting for someone to distinguish themselves as a straightforward leader who will level with the American people and tell them the TRUTH. There is only one totally truthful politician in Washington DC. His name is Ron Paul. He is trapped in a Republican Party run by neo-con warmongers. Chris Christie, the governor of NJ, has the guts and demeanor to satisfy the requirements of a new leader, but the hacks who run the party will not allow him to become the face of the party. Paul Ryan, Congressman from Wisconsin, has the brains and ideas to help save the country. The party hacks will pretend to adopt his ideas to get elected in 2012 and then go back to the same old policies.
Both parties are captured by corporate lobbyists, the military industrial complex and Wall Street. Lobbyists spend $40 billion per year “convincing” politicians that their ideas should be implemented. Politicians DO NOT represent the people. They represent those who give them the most money. Radical earth shattering change is needed to save this country. Incremental steps won’t work. We need a leader wielding a sledgehammer.
The ONLY way to save the country from financial collapse is to take on the largest expenditures. They are:
- $895 billion for Military spending
- $730 billion for Social Security
- $491 billion for Medicare
- $297 billion for Medicaid
These 4 areas total $2.4 trillion per year out of $3.8 trillion. This is 63% of all Federal spending. A real leader would tackle these areas. A 3rd party candidate with gonads would propose the following ideas:
- When George Bush took office in 2000 the annual Defense (funny name) Budget was $380 billion. Since that date CPI has increased 25%. On an inflation adjusted basis, the Defense Budget should be $475 billion today. Essentially we are paying an additional $420 billion PER YEAR to fight the phantom WAR ON TERROR. This is nothing but a fraud perpetrated by the neo-cons and now the neo-liberals. My plan is to declare victory in the War on Terror. No one knows what victory means anyway. Withdraw ALL the troops from the Middle East, Germany, Japan and Korea. Let them blow themselves up if they want. Not our problem. Germany, Korea and Japan can pay for their own defense. Tell the Pentagon they have $475 billion to allocate and not a dime more for the next 10 years. SAVINGS = $420 billion
- John Hussman has a fantastic idea regarding Social Security. This idea would benefit the working class and stick it to the rich. ”Drop the rate substantially, but include all income – wage and non-wage. Three-quarters of Americans pay more in payroll taxes than in income taxes. By reducing the wedge between the hourly amount earned by employees and the hourly cost paid by employers, this strategy would create immediate incentives for employment. Moreover, it would raise more revenue because at present, even Warren Buffett only pays Social Security taxes on the first $106,800 of income.” This idea would be an immediate boost to the economy as the average worker would take home more pay. Revenue from Social Security would increase by $200 billion.
- On the cost side of Social Security, life expectancy, amount of wealth, and market incentives would need to be introduced. Anyone over 55 years old would get just what they were promised. Workers from 30 years old to 55 years old would see the age they were entitled to collect SS rise from 67 to 76 depending on their current age. Anyone whose net worth is in the top 5% of all Americans would not receive SS when they retire. Workers just entering the workforce would be given the option of a significantly scaled down benefit or a private account to be managed by themselves. These steps would make the system viable forever. It would not cut costs in the near term.
- Paul Ryan’s common sense approach to Medicare would be: For those under 55—as they become Medicare-eligible—it creates a Medicare payment, initially averaging $11,000, to be used to purchase a Medicare certified plan. The payment is adjusted to reflect medical inflation, and pegged to income, with low-income individuals receiving greater support. The plan also provides risk adjustment, so those with greater medical needs receive a higher payment. The proposal also fully funds Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) for low-income beneficiaries, while continuing to allow all beneficiaries, regardless of income, to set up tax-free MSAs. Enacted together, these reforms will help keep Medicare solvent for generations to come. This proposal, along with eliminating the fraud within this system would save at least $200 billion per year.
- Paul Ryan’s healthcare plan would reduce costs, keep the high quality, and keep it out of the government’s clutches: It provides a refundable tax credit—$2,300 for individuals and $5,700 for families—to purchase coverage (from another state if they so choose) and keep it with them if they move or change jobs. It establishes transparency in health-care price and quality data, so this critical information is readily available before someone needs health services. State-based high risk pools will make affordable care available to those with pre-existing conditions. In addition to the tax credit, Medicaid will provide supplemental payments to low-income recipients so they too can obtain the health coverage of their choice and no longer be consigned to the stigmatized, sclerotic care that Medicaid has come to represent. This plan would save $200 billion per year.
- There are two options to simplify the tax system. Americans spend $11 trillion per year. They pay $1.1 trillion in income taxes per year. The tax code is 17,000 pages long. By scrapping the entire income tax and replacing it with a 10% VAT, the country would get the same revenue with individuals being freed from the tax code. The other option is essentially a modified flat tax as proposed by Paul Ryan: This highly simplified code fits on a postcard. It has just two rates: 10% on income up to $100,000 for joint filers and $50,000 for single filers, and 25% on taxable income above these amounts. It also includes a generous standard deduction and personal exemption (totaling $39,000 for a family of four), and no tax loopholes, deductions, credits or exclusions (except the health-care tax credit). The proposal eliminates the alternative minimum tax. It promotes saving by eliminating taxes on interest, capital gains, and dividends. It eliminates the death tax. It replaces the corporate income tax—currently the second highest in the industrialized world—with a business consumption tax of 8.5%. This new rate is roughly half the average in the industrialized world and will put American companies and workers in a stronger position to compete in a global economy.
- The Deptartment of Education and the Department of Energy were both created by Jimmy Carter in 1979. Since this time student test scores have plummeted, the cost per student has skyrocketed, and we graduate more morons into society than ever. Since this time, our dependence on foreign oil has doubled, no nuclear power plants have been built, no refineries have been built and peak oil has been completely ignored. For this outstanding performance, we spend $78 billion per year for the Dept of Education and $36 billion per year for the Dept of Energy. If we survived from 1789 until 1979 without these departments, we can make do without them again. They are miserable failures and must be scrapped. Annual Savings = $114 billion.
- Every department and every program and every government worker would be required to take a 10% reduction across the board. Annual savings = $100 billion.
- Legalize marijuana for adults and then tax the shit out of it like tobacco and alcohol. Unknown revenue increase. Reduction in prison costs for minor drug offenses.
By my estimation we’d be pretty damn close to a balanced budget. It would entail pain and sacrifice to achieve a balanced budget. The pain and sacrifice today would ensure that our children and grandchildren have a tomorrow. Some practical issues to tackle in order to fix the culture of Washington DC would be:
- Term limits of 12 years for all Representatives and Senators. Politics is not a career. They are serving the people and then returning home to their chosen profession.
- Lobbying and lobbyists would be outlawed. No corporation, individual, or union could buy access to politicians.
- Political Campaigns would be publicly funded and last for only 6 weeks before an election.
Regarding immigration, all illegal immigration would be stopped. The fence/wall that exists in California would be extended through Texas. Troops withdrawn from Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Korea, and Japan would be available to enforce our closed border. The children of illegal immigrants would no longer be given citizenship status for being born here. We should strongly encourage legal immigration, especially of professional well educated immigrants. John Mauldin has a great idea to encourage legal immigration and help the housing market:
- Any immigrant who buys a house in the US would be given a fast track to citizenship of two years, as long as they commit no crimes. This would attract wealthy immigrants. It might also keep the best and brightest graduate students here in this country.
John Hussman had a creative solution to help the housing market. He came up with this idea in October 2008. Of course, the Bush and Obama idiots would never consider such a logical solution:
- Congress can efficiently mute the impact of the mortgage crisis on “Main Street” by allowing a small change in foreclosure law. Specifically, in foreclosure proceedings, judges should have the ability to reduce the amount of principal on a mortgage loan, provided that the original mortgage lender receives a “Property Appreciation Right” or “PAR” from the homeowner. The PAR would be an obligation to repay the mortgage lender out of future appreciation on the home (including property subsequently purchased, until the obligation was relieved). Payment would occur either when the home was sold, or through an equity-extraction refinancing at some later date. In that way, homeowners would surrender some amount of future appreciation in return for an equivalent reduction in the mortgage principal. This would result in an immediate lowering of mortgage payments, yet the original mortgage lender would still stand to be made whole. To account for time-value, the amount of the PAR obligation could be allowed to increase at a small rate of interest. The homeowner would be able to keep the house. Importantly, there would be no need to continue major write-downs on mortgage securities, since only the character of the payments, not the value of the mortgage obligation itself, would change.
The Federal Reserve must be audited. It must be a complete audit with nothing off-limits done by the GAO. When the audit reveals that the Federal Reserve has committed crimes against the citizens of the United States, it should be disbanded. The country grew tremendously from 1789 until 1913 without a Federal Reserve. The Treasury can issue the money of the U.S. The money should be backed by hard assets. It would require a basket of hard assets including gold, silver, uranium, oil, natural gas, and agricultural products.
We have reached Peak cheap oil. Ignoring it for a moment longer will ensure disaster for our suburban sprawl society. The government needs to get out of the way and let companies build nuclear reactors, oil refineries, and LNG facilities. The Pickens Plan which would utilize wind farms to free up natural gas to power our truck fleets should be given serious consideration. If geothermal, hydro, solar, and wind make sense from an ROI basis, it should be encouraged. Government needs to get out of the way of entrepreneurship. An expansion of electrified rail transportation is one area that government could actually provide leadership.
So, I’ve balanced the budget and solved the housing crisis. I wonder what I’ll do after dinner.
The ideologues in the Republican Party and Democratic Party are not worried about a 3rd Party. They say that there is no way a 3rd Party could create an infrastructure to win in 2012. What they fail to realize is that people are sick and tired of their two party games. The names change, but the game remains the same. Both parties have failed the American people. The American people have failed. It is time to make a stand, before it is too late. 2012 is our last chance.
I believe that Ron Paul and his Campaign For Liberty should break away from the Republican Party and either form a new 3rd Party or just take over the existing Constitution Party structure. The name is right. The ideas are consistent. I would vote for Ron Paul, but he is 72 years old and he may be too diplomatic. We need a bomb thrower. I think we need Chris Christie to take on Washington DC the way he has taken on the Unions and the Democrats in NJ. A Constitution Party ticket of Chris Christie for President and Paul Ryan as VP would be a winnable option. This would be revolutionary. It would require these two men to abandon the corrupt Republican Party and do what is best for the country. Party politics is dying rapidly due to incompetence and corruption. It is time to start over.
If we keep these wise words of our founding fathers in our minds at all times, we could turn this country around before it is too late.
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” – Thomas Paine
“Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations–entangling alliances with none, I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one of] those which ought to shape its administration.” –Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural Address, 1801.
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Sorry Amerika, you had your chance in 1992 and blew it. "Corporate gulag/Ponzi economy" is what you got.
Now you are stuck choosing between two meat-puppets your corporate masters have pre-approved for you.
Perot?
I recall he wanted to go door to door searching for drugs. If you had drugs you went to jail, if you didn't have drugs you got a pat on the ehad. Then again it would have been an more honest drug war I guess.
18.9% of the vote is nothing to shake a stick at.
'There are no fresh ideas from James Quinn. There are only his same old stale economic ideas and empty political rhetoric.
He has been waiting for someone to distinguish themselves as a straightforward leader, who will level with the American people and tell them the TRUTH.'
When Quinn hears SCIENTIFIC TRUTH he immediately denies it.
Quinn is a steadfast 9/11 Truth denier.
This is just more "pie in the sky...in the great by and by" bullshit !
His website www.thestinkingpile.com is a hot bed of racists and morons. Go on over and have a laugh at the juvenile distortions of reality he promotes and his sycophantic posse indulges. Just a bunch of tea-bag suckers and 'ex-CIA' agents.
Here's Pondmaster's pithy summary..."Quinns utopian drivel is myopic".
Anyone who does not understand that 9/11 was a Amerikan Coup is an idiot.
Third Party...Yeah... like that's ever going to happen.
Dream on!
1 : appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect
2 : marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made
R.E.G.
Just a few samples of the type of discussions Jim Quinn encourages on his blog ...
Jim Quinn flaunting his racial fear and class hatred ...
"I have done previous posts on the 30 blocks of squalor. You can refresh your memory here:
http://theburningplatform.com/blog/2010/03/17/30-blocks-of-squalor-pothole-update/
http://theburningplatform.com/blog/2010/04/12/spring-has-sprung-on-the-30-blocks-of-squalor/
I have done a number of posts about the section of Chestnut Street in Phila between 69th street and 39th street. It is a depressing section of squalor. Once nice row homes in disrepair, collapsing porches, boarded up tenements, and Direct TV dishes seemingly on every $15,000 piece of crap house. This stretch of concrete is inhabited by the poorest of the poor. The racial balance is 100% Black, 0% everyone else. I am forced by circumstances on the Schuykill Expressway to take this route into work quite often.
I wonder if Mayor Nutter notes the irony along the 30 blocks of squalor? I observe the poorest of the poor shuffling along talking on their cell phones or listening to their iPods. I observe 22 year old black men driving $60,000 Mercedes cars. Trash, garbage, and filth litter the streets, but every other block has a beautiful mural on the side of a building showing black people doing wonderful things. Maybe if a few more black men in this community actually married the women they impregnated and manned up and raised a family, the pictures would reflect reality. "
Smokey says:
" Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jeremiah Wright, and Al Sharpton are fucking worthless, stinking alley niggers of the lowest order. I get sick as shit of the way whites are routinely discriminated against in this country. The fucking spics are just as bad, worse actually, than the blacks. They come over here and murder and steal from this country and make fucking demands of the citizens here. All a spic knows how to do is steal and fuck. That’s it. Steal and fuck. And Tarbaby can’t fucking wait to legalize all of them so that he gets their votes to provide support for his Socialist agenda. Entitlements have pissed this society down the drain."
ragman says:
"White people in general have been indoctrinated to feel guilty about something that happened 140yrs ago. It’s time to call the hand of the race pimps and tell them to go fuck themselves. No more extortion and shake downs from Jackson, Sharpton, &tc. If the bunch of “alley niggers”, as Smokey so eloquently put it, think they will continue to intimidate White voters, they should be met with force and have their batons shoved up their asses. Our line in the sand must be drawn while we still have the means to do so. If our HNIC and his Israeli “chief of staff” think they will disarm White Americans, they must be met with deadly force."
ssgconway says:
"When Jeremiah Wright was shouting ‘God Damn America,” was he referring to black or white America? I imagine he’s an NAACP member, as are ‘Hymietown” Jackson and Jew-lyncher Sharpton. The NAACP is now a hate group, a racket, and subversive. A sad end after an honorable beginning. They may succeed in turning out minority votes, but they may also succeed in energizing whites, who are mostly fed up with being called racists.
I’m awfully tempted to find an electronic copy of ‘Mein Kampf,” substitute ‘white for ‘Jew’ and ‘American’ for ‘German’ on a few pages, and then show it to people. I would not be surprised if there are long passages that, if doctored as I suggest, would sound just like these NAACP thugs. However, I doubt that many of their supporters would be ashamed at being shown who they sound like, as most of the ones I’ve come across are invincibly ignorant."
Why don't you just pop on over to Quinn's blog a join the hatefest Real Estate Geek?
You might also want to ask him about his views on 9/11 TRUTH just for the hell of it.
Talk about a one-trick pony. You attempted to counter my post with more ad hominem attacks and . . . nothing else.
Your suggestion that I "join the hatefest" at some blog that I've never heard of is perplexing. Should I do that because you think that I would fit in there?
(Stomp your hoof once for "yes" and twice for "no.")
I might as well be the one to suggest America gets the government it deserves, not the one it wants.
Yep - the beds been made; now we're going to have to sleep in it...
You can go ahead and lie down, take what you get and like it. Not me.
<deleted, double>
We need a party that can sustain credibility.
The problem is they're going to have to say and do things that the majority won't like.
To be honest, only one extra party would not do. You need at least 2 more, new parties, in order to ensure some real competition for votes. I'm not sure I can justify this with logic (I just ate a huge lunch and am a little sleepy), but inside I know it to be right.
One step at a time... a single new party can easily change the balance of power esp. when bills come to the floor for a vote.
OK, how about the Libertarians and the Constitutionalists?
There are Libertarians in Kalifornia who are going to get a shot at it... if they can get on the ballot.
A third party? Hell, let's start by having a second party first. We can call it "the non-rapist/looter/war monger/nanny state party".
The electoral system as it stands almost dictates such results. The New Yorker recently had an excellent review of a book by a journalist and mathematician, George Szpiro, entitled "Numbers Rule: the Vexing Mathematics of Democracy," which reviews how different voting systems lead to dramatically different political results.
I've always thought that our own system -- which most polities have avoided -- rather predictably yields the "highly partisan on the outside, serves the same monied interests on the inside" two-party system we have. Our "conservative" Supreme Court's recent decision declaring a free-for-all in political donations has not helped matters.
Anyone whose net worth is in the top 5% of all Americans would not receive SS when they retire.
Sorry. You lost me there. Taxing it is one thing. Eliminating it after paying in year after year is confiscation.
Under this logic, why not just do away w SS and fold it into the general welfare system???
It should be a welfare program, for those who never saved or invested for their retirement. As a welfare program, it could provide a minimum cash payment, food stamps, housing subsidy, etc... at a poverty level, with every stigma you could attach to it (think "government cheese").
Your IRA, 401K, pension, investments, etc... should have been the alternative system for retirement savings.
Paul Ryan is on the right track, let's hope that he can get the support he needs to get his plans through.
You do realize that mutual funds as a group have underperformed inflation since 1980 when the 401(k) law went into effect, don't you? Nice "alternative." That model wasn't even able to get one generation through to retirement, even with all the extend and pretend.
The "government cheese" is convincing people that gifting 15% of your wealth to Wall Street thieves is viable and sustainable. That cheese costs about $500 a month per person in taxpayer debt. Sorry, but that's too big a price tag to make people like seem like they know what they're talking about.
Three trillion in debt in 20 months rather than "stigmatize" Wall Street? Um dude, the welfare case may be closer than you think.
Jack-holes like Paul Ryan forget to mention that these "entitlement programs" were a $2.4 Trillion dollar cash cow for congress, but now that they have to pay even a dollar of that money back - they're calling the people they owe welfare cases.
Nice to know the brainwashing is working on somebody.
not very diplomatic in tone, but spot-on in content...
well put, mr mchugh
+++
I apologize for the tone, to both Fedbuster and the community.
One of the things we need to look at is which systems are less broken and I see enourmous pressure mounting that will lead us to pick the more broken of the two.
Why apologise... you sir, "hit the nail on the head!"
Unfortunately, the typical far right spear job is working as planned (demonise everything, and contribute nothing positive... the goal is to return to power, not serve the people or address the real issues). Most obvious case in point... Fin Reg is toothless and doesn't do nearly enough to reign in Wall Street, so blame the Dems... if the GOP wanted the pre watered down elements of the bill all they had to do was vote for them for heavens sake!
My hat's off to them regarding the politics... not so much on the substance.
That's right Mr. top 5%... guess it's just the "free market" working it's miracles, that "transfers" the wealth of the low and middle class, to the top 5% (sub-prime fraud, casino derivatives, stock market crash / manipulation, credit cards, short term loan sharks... and on and on).
Keep roasting that "golden goose" and blaming the peasants... oh well, if it helps you sleep, why not? Look at the facts in this piece... TOTAL corporate taxes just cover the INTEREST on the debt... that's the debt run up to SAVE those crooks! I would suggest you stop whining, and try to remember who really sacrificed to enable your cushy lifestyle (drop by an unemployment center some time if you wanted to get a close-up look at them).
Oh yeah, and enjoy it while it lasts... this game is getting very old, very quickly.
Ohhh hell yeah !!!
I love how the wealthy think they got their money with hard work.. Actually, it was invariably the hard work of others that gave them their fortune in one way or another..
People are so fucked in the head.. The majority think it's actually necessary for 2% to control 60% of our wealth in order for this nation to be prosperous.. How absurd..
"I would rather have 1% of the efforts of 100 men than 100% of my own effort." - J.P. Getty
People like him just don't get it. They really think that CEOs and traders do all the work in the economy. Think miners mine coal? Nope, CEO. Welders put doors on cars? Nope, CEO. Programmer adds features to Windows? Nope, CEO. Salesman moves products? Nope, CEO. Don't you know, the rest of us workers are just along for the ride!
I mean, since Superman..err...Santa...err...CEOs do absolutely everything ever and always perfectly, shouldn't they get all of the money instead of handing even the scraps to us lazy worthless peasant leeches?
talk about "entitlement thinking". . .
here's your "social security" Mr. Top 5%: you get zip in payouts, and all you paid IN will be distributed to the "society" you fed off, who will be sold the idea that you've generously agreed not to suck up more monies, and hopefully they won't come at you with. . . pitchforks (euphemism: insert your favourite visual) - that's YOUR "security" - geddit?
Just wanted to take the opportunity to point out that a mid-level computer programmer makes 65K a year at McKesson. The CEO was compensated 50 million last year (salary + stock). That's right kids, the guy that worked hard and did everything right, including going to college and getting a degree in a marketable field, makes 1/770th of the highest paid guy in the company. And you're whining about that CEO not getting his social security check? Fuck...you.
++ hometruths.
Simple: use tax laws to claw it back. Also, I'd vote for the "Let's Default Today" party...This would solve the income inequality issue to start.
AMEN! A collection of squirrels couldn't do any worse that the zoo animals that we have had.
Income Exemption for 1913 income tax = $3-4K. Indexed for today using a standard CPI calculator. Should be $64-86K. Indexed more to reality (gold). $3000 in 1913 = approx 145oz of gold worth approx $175K today. Raise the exemption levels to somewhere inside this range and watch the economy explode.
Absolutley- so many little tweaks we could have done...that still could be done....
We get this! (throwing up daily at the thought of all of it!)
IFO!
Would prefer there were no parties. Right now I'd be happy to elect one running on the platform of, "I'm not an indecent a-hole." That'll never happen though. They're all indecent a-holes.
Papoon for President!
"Not insane!"
http://www.firesigntheatre.com/papoon/
"phantom WAR ON TERROR"
yes the bush crime syndicate and the obama death machine have made hay with that one....all terrorism is instigated and coordinated by the cia....the real taliban and al-qada are usa intelligence...
operations northwoods c. 1962 was executed in 2001 in new york city and decreed by the financial elite including the rockefellers as part of their masters of the universe plan to control the world....the bis, imf, fed, cia are all parts of a complex web of evil funded in part by the recent excess sales of bonds over debt requirements for the past 1-2 years....see jim willie's article on the debt fraud and how the financially prostrate uk has supposedly gobbled hundreds of billions of ust over the past 5 months....another government lie.
Hard to argue with much, if any, of this.
Which is why it won't happen until after the crash and burn.
My thinking as well. The important parts of any of this will not happen until the present system absolutely burns to the ground. Term limits? ...and who exactly determines that? The same folks who don't want them. When I talk about a level playing field I mean a field that has been stripped and burned first, all systems inop. Then one can entertain a more equitable system, which then can again be gamed by the boyz. It ain't pretty, but it's a fun fantasy.
The Common Man: 2T
The State Corporatist Vampire: .3T (barely enough to cover the govt's nut)
Step One: Check.
Step Two: Out of my control, except to participate as minimally as possible.
OK. But for the Jew carpenter's sake, not the teabaggers!
Ya know, the idiots that were on board for every single stupid vaporware military program of Reagan/Bush and now agree with Limfraud / Shit Hannity that somehow banksters are "productive" now that Obummer is in the White House.
I'll be damned if I take tips on personal responsibility from anyone with a size 48 waist or holding a "Keep Govrenmnt (sic) out of Mediocre (sic)" sign.
Remember the teabagger motto: "Don't Tread On Me" unless you in the Military Industrial complex simply don't like me and think I'm a terrorist in which case it's ok in that case to violate the Constitution and blow me up with a drone strike cuz I worship the military and / or Israel.
I have no affiliation to any political party, but you're post just oozes of hate and seems a bit overdone. You must have the teaparty movement confused with uneducated, overweight people. Everyone has them, but your blanket statement just annoys me.
+++, besodemuerte
"you dorks, it's simple: all folks from label_XXX are all adjective_YYY and therefore we can categorically action_ZZZ them.
and if you don't agree with me then you can action_XYZ yourself. idiot."
welcome to the youtube/ZH comments area...
let's see. first, call names, then, make sweepingly general insulting statements about everyone in a very large and diverse group, third, offer no constructive solution or argument, fourth, call them names again, lastly strut away feeling like you've really proven your intellect..., having no idea what *really* just happened.
it's surreal. you just can't make this crap up... and these folks vote.
(there aren't that many of them, but the junk button does help a little)
Good comment. The give-away is usually nomenclature. When "clever" titles are given to those in power, or those in news, then the writer is biased -- a clear sign. Not being a Geo. Bush lover, I was always amused at the folks who gave him a wide array of names instead of just using his name, period. Anyone can search any of my past comments and find that I never use "Obummer" or such names. That's no way to create an unbiased atmosphere conducive to a civil argument. A good friend always referred to Bush as Doofus. I pointed out that his use of that term tainted and negated whatever argument he wanted to make. Went right over his pointy little head.
spot-on, but i have to admit, i'm having a *hard* time not using the 'maobama' reference...
it just cracks me up, even if it does diminish my point. but i'm being strong. usually. mostly.
:^)
+++
This is so true. It is also not just youtube/Zero Hedge; it is all over the internet.
This is one of my pet peeves. So, assuming you do not object, I am going to use this piece of logic elsewhere in the future. Thank you.
it's all yours. good luck making a difference.
the problem i'm having is when folks do that spew, it makes me want to call them names, insult them all, call them names again, and then ...
to be sure, the content-to-troll ratio at ZH is pretty high relative to most sites. i glommed it with youtube to exagerate the point.
(can you believe someone junked my 'maobama' comment just above? jeez... some folks are just too damned thin-skinned :^)
Your ideas would first have to be won in the public arena of consensus..
I agree with the vast majority of your ideas, unfortunately the left/right paradigm is so strong it would take an information revolution to change the position of 60% of America. Because of this, we would have to somehow break the strangle hold MSM has on our country..
One thing you left out was our trade policy. We don't stand a snowballs chance in hell of being a prosperous nation until we build things.. In addition, we would need to double our manufacturing base to soak up all the accountants and military personnel you displace with your new tax code and foreign policy concerning military presence..
I'm all for it, sounds good on paper, but in reality, it would be nothing short of a revolution in consensus to make it viable.
"unfortunately the left/right paradigm is so strong it would take an information revolution to change the position of 60% of America."
That is precisely what we need. That is what must happen and the time to start is now. Become politically active and tell 10 of your friends about it. It can be done.
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Ghandi
Agreed!.. and i've been doing just that.
There is no constituency for austerity. No one wants to give up what they think they have coming to them. Someone else should be made to pay.
There will be no revolution/3rd party/change until there is some form of economic collapse. The Constitution was written in response to the desire for a different, more free government. It was a 'revolt' from an over-arching government because it was fresh in people's minds how much they hated the Monarchy. Of course, this is overly simplistic, but my point is there are more than enough people that believe more government is still the solution - including the corporations/oligarchs. Go to a left-wing, progressive website - tax the rich, give more money out, etc. There is no current consensus on the solutions, much less the problems.
Only when there is sufficient revulsion from government intrusion will a real alternative appear - that harkens back to the self-sufficient, libertarian ideals where we started.
A noble approach and position, unfortunately somewhat flawed... given free reign, the wealth quickly goes to the power (corrupt and without a social conscience)... I think we've been down that road several times throughout history... collectively, it doesn't end well.
Working to get money out of the political system seems the best "bang for your buck" IMHO.
Gerald Celente video on LewRockwell.com: Washington Is Paid Off, Only Ron Paul Has Credibility.
Will the Dodd-Frank reform bill, recently signed by President Obama, prevent another financial crises? Not according to Gerald Celente, director of the Trends Research Institute:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/celente/celente41.1.html
“The White House lies and the media swears to it,” says the trends forecaster. Celente calls the bill a “whitewash for the white shoe boys on Wall Street” and states it will do nothing to prevent the coming Crash of 2010. He points out that, unlike what the government says, the public will have to continue bailing out the too-big-to-fails when they fail.
To address the real problem, Celente argues, the crooks from Wall Street must be removed from the White House and the Glass-Steagall Act needs to be reinstalled to prevent banks from consolidating.
On politicians in Washington, Celente comments: “They’re not out of touch. They’re in bed and paid off (by Wall Street).” He mentions the only one left with any credibility is Congressman Ron Paul, who has a firm grip on what’s going on.
Reprinted from Bull Source.
Spot on INFO!
It's Bank Failure Friday!!!! Yippeee!
Friday's FDIC grab bag:
Home Valley Bank Cave Junction OR 23181
SouthwestUSA Bank Las Vegas NV 35434
Community Security Bank New Prague MN 34486
Thunder Bank Sylvan Grove KS 10506
Williamsburg First National Bank Kingstree SC 17837
Crescent Bank and Trust Company Jasper GA 27559
Sterling Bank Lantana FL 32536
Why not the Libertarian Party? They have a much larger infrastructure and are currently the most voted 3rd party in America.
I agree, the Libertarian Party seems to be in line with the ideas presented.. The Constitution party as well..
+1
I donate to the Libertarian Party. If they get elected fantastic. If not, hopefully they can propogate libertarian ideas so that when the wheels fall off our society there is an alternative ready other than a populist dictator.
Because the LP (and I'm speaking as a former vice-chair of a state party 1996-2000) is, right or wrong, tagged as the "All Pot and Prostitutes, All The Time" party.
Harry Browne (RIP, Harry) was a great spokesman and face for the party, but he wasn't able to overcome that albatros at a time when someone of his ability should have been able to break through the media din. Granted, he'd probably have an easier time today - when a Facebook or YouTube page can give you the attention that 1M books can't - but I still don't think the LP is going to gain credibility with the bulk of the population until they can manage to shed that image.
Disclaimer - currently registered (R) but member of, and contributor to, the Constitution Party.
The LP is seen as all 'Pot and Prostitutes'? Not in our district it's not!
People hardly give any thought at all about pot or prostitution in Richmond county (NYC), and I don't really think about it much either. IMO, those issues are local issues anyway, and should be decided as such (10th Amendment).
People do care about unemployment, government waste (as it sucks money away from actual services, which are being cut) and the school system. Believe it or not, there are Libertarian solutions to all of those.
On top of that, the ones I'm talking to (and I've talked to several hundred), once they find out about it, they are very much for invoking the 10th amendment and nullification. They're sick of government intrusion into their lives. They also want sound money.
If you're running for office as a Libertarian you simply need to identify the issues people care about, then present how you would deal with those while maintaining your principles. It's actually been quite inspiring.
Disclosure - Currently running as a Libertarian in Richmond County.
now who in the heck 'junked' *that* post?!?!
Tyler/Marla - it would be *really* interesting to be able to 'list' the junkers (at least as an author) to get a bead on who's throwing sand in the gears around here...
if you're gonna junk that one, junk me too!
(you go!, mr dnarby, you go!)
It's either a binary system or a pluralistic system. There's no in between. I'll get jucked for this but the more I learn about U.K and German politics the more I like it. 5-7 parties, coalitions. Harder for the corporations to play hide the weenie.
Good point... just look north of the border for proof.
Of course the RW have demonised this approach, and convinced their base they are all evil, fascist, communist, anti-American, models. Getting the money out of the two party system, would seem to be a more plausible path.
The top leaders of both the UK and Germany are Bilderbergers.
The UK is the worst of the two and is run top to bottom by Fabians and Chatham House parasites.
Right of course, but we're talking lesser of two evils here, aren't we.
+++ for pointing out this "globalist" plan goes back. . . centuries.
I agree with the basic premise that we need a third party since real change will not come from within the Democratic or Republican parties. My recommendation is to beef up the Libertarian party. It already exists, has a base in all 50 states, and it tackles all the major issues presented in this post.
I do have some qualms with this post, however. Lobbying, though universally despised, can not be banned. The Constitution guarantees the right to petition the government. Also, banning lobbying would violate the first amendment right to freedom of speech.
I'm not sure how effective additional term limits would be either. The electorate continues to replace outgoing idiots with new idiots. Why would term limits change this? To me, the solution is better education of the electorate and greater transparency to make it less likely that idiots get (re)elected.
Finally, I am opposed to illegal immigration, but also believe that immigration laws should be greatly relaxed. I don't believe that governments should be able to tell law abiding people where they have the right to live and work. If hard-working, honest people want to come to America they should be allowed to do so. As a secondary effect, this would stimulate the economy creating jobs for all. It would also fix the Social Security demographic problem since younger workers would be more likely to immigrate here. Finally, it would stimulate demand for all the empty houses we have!
To read more about the Libertarian Party check out www.LP.org
"The Constitution guarantees the right to petition the government."
I don't believe the Constitution says you need to have a check in your hand.
No, but I don't want anyone dictating to me the manner in which I petition the government. It's a slippery slope.
Again, I think attacking lobbying is a misguided effort. To me it would be much more fruitful to attack the pork and gravy train and reduce governments size and power. Once the gravy train disappears so will the corrupt lobbyists.
dussasr... it's the money... get rid of it, and all else falls into place.
+10
If there is one valid use of government funds, it would be in providing 100% campaign financing. Allowing ANYONE - private individuals, corporations, unions, foreign entities, etc. - to contribute to campaigns is, by definition, buying influence and should be a federal offense punishable by serious prison time. Even self-funding of one's own campaign should be banned other than for creating websites and printing flyers. All mass-reach media political buys should be constrained to use of government campaign funds. And here's how...
Provide a fixed amount of funding for all local, state, and federal campaigns. Out of those funds, political parties registered within 180 days of an election would be provided $$$ to finance primaries as well as final campaigns. Each valid, registered party would get an equal slice of the appropriate pie but in order to qualify, a party would have to submit petitions with signatures from a minimum of 5% of the registered voter base for its locality, state, or the country. Candidates for primaries would also have to submit petitions with a minimum number of signatures to qualify for funds. However, funding would be provided for a fixed number of primary candidates and if more petitions are received than can be funded, the petitions with the most signatures would make the cut.
Candidates could spend/waste their campaign funds however they wished but if used for negative campaigning, would have to provide clear, independent, sources for claims against opposing candidates. Any unsubstantiated or false claims would be grounds for libel and/or slander. Maybe we would finally see some advertising of how candidates truly stand on the issues.
We can only hope.
lol
"Hope"... I think they tried that in 2008... they don't get it... maybe it's just too easy, and might work (couldn't have that)!
You can petition with a petition...with signatures. I can't think of one good reason that bribery is allowed.
If the Gubermint didn't have big piles of Other People's Money to give away there would be little need for big checks to buy-off legislators, right?
Make politicians a bad investment and watch the campaign donations dry to almost zero overnight.
Lobbying, as in petitioning for redress, is fine. Bribery is another matter. Have you not learned that lobbyists bear bribes ?. How many more fucking examples do you need to be convinced that the principle of the 1st amendment has been co-opted ?.
I like most of it, but this:
"Every department and every program and every government worker would be required to take a 10% reduction across the board. Annual savings = $100 billion."
Isn't nearly enough. Government salaries, wages + benefits are too high plain and simple. For every hard working, efficient and motivated government employee, there's 100 inefficient, unmotivated, watching the clock to 55 leeches.
Too many people look at Govt salaries Vs private sector salaries and think "it's not that bad..." factor in the insane pensions that so many government employees get and the disparity is absurd.
I should add though... I'd absofuckinlutely take it all as is. There's 10,000,000 things I can't stand about either parties current 'platform', there's a few about this that I think could be improved. The problem is that if some 'revolutionary' party came out proposing all of the above, you'd have the media, the unions, the current parties, every other asshat picking out the one or two things they don't like, basically panning the entire thing. How do you overcome that?
The first presidential election I was eligible to vote in was '92, and voted Perot. What I came away with when Bubba won was that I wasted my vote. I have since reconciled the fact that I didn't waste my vote, but there just weren't enough 3rd party people to overcome the two party power structure. The current partisanship I think will make it even tougher, as we know the Repubs will put out all the stops to coopt the movement by saying it will virtually guarantee a Dem victory, while the Dems will demonize it as an anti-American, racist or otherwise fring movement.
I believe there's hope, but don't think we've reached an inflection point yet where both traditional Repubs and Dems are disgusted enough with their adopted parties. The hyper-partisanship still has a way to go I think...Frankly, it's been ratcheting up for 40+ years, with the last two running on platforms of being "uniters". Feel united?
So your proposal is to lower salaries enough that the 1 efficient hard-working government employee leaves and nobody competent wants to replace them. Why not just find and dump the 100 others that suck? And why focus on just the public sector, when private sector bureaucracies are just as bloated and incompetent? Oh, that's right, you might be one of those "valuable" paper pushers that ends up out on their ear.
No to the standing army on the border. Border security should be undertaken by local militias, resident of the county / state, with the ability to shoot to kill anyone coming towards the protected direction, without fear of reprisal. Kinda like a DMZ.
If they can incite North Korea to fire a nuke, that will kick the can far enough to give them time to finish their bunkers and walled enclaves.
Today, we hear from Ken Feinberg how we will not recover the 100s of millions looted by the Bailout Queens led by Citi and Goldman. How much outrage does it take?
But if we did all those things we would be living in a democracy rather than in an oligarchy that uses corrupted democrratic institutions to present the appearance of democracy while keeping the population under control. Power never surrenders voluntarily my friend. Change must be demanded and there are problems with that.
But if we did all those things we would be living in a democracy rather than in an oligarchy that uses corrupted democratic institutions to present the appearance of democracy while keeping the population under control. Power never surrenders voluntarily my friend. Change must be demanded and there are problems with that.
Yeah, fat chance... We're going to vote our way out of this corruption.... Sure, I'd like to hear more great ideas.... Do tell....
Ciao,
Econolicious
A great post.
Dr. Ron Paul, a good man and in his heart a Libertarian. He basically does not believe that Americans should be taxed or that business should be regulated in any way. He has tempered his core beliefs with reality in order to survive. But he continues to vote "Nay" on all spending bills. His honesty and integrity take us part way but he is not a complete solution.
We need fair and sensible government: "Of the people, by the people and for the people". Government that is free of the web of corporate sponsorship. Government comprised of people from all walks of life, not just lawyers and rich business men. It is a mistake to think that there are no good people in either of the current parties. But they have been co-opted by an election system that leaves them perpetually in debt to their benefactors, and overwhelmed by the flood of money which buys the majorities in both parties. This must change first. Only when members of Congress live by the laws they impose on the electorate and are soley dependent on the electorate for their continued existance will we see true representation.
Term limits are already Constitutionally in place. We need to find a way in which non-professional politicians can be elected and then excercise these limits wisely.
marvin
while i usually say 'voting for the lesser of evils still gives evil', voting for the likes of Ron Paul would be both a clear indication of the change we need, and would certainly be a *much* less expensive mistake to make than the one we continue to make now.
i agree with your posture, but i like Dr Paul - warts and all.
I hear you Knoknot, i can't remember the last time that I actually voted for someone instead of against someone.
According to the US Constitution, there's SUPPOSED to be a Representative for every 32,000 (or so) citizens, NOT every 735,632 citizens, which means the system finds it easier to maintain power when the number of Rep's is limited to 435. Think about it, which would be easier to do, get a majority of 32K voters to throw out an incumbent, or get a majority of 735K gerry-mandered voters to get rid of the politician that's buying their votes with tax payer-funded goodies?
What law(s) is artificially limiting the number of Representatives??
"Legalize marijuana for adults and then tax the shit out of it like tobacco and alcohol. Unknown revenue increase. Reduction in prison costs for minor drug offenses."
Hah, fat chance, hippy, the last thing Big Pharma needs is people growing their own medicine, and the last thing beer companies need is people growing their own recreational drug. Besides, Dick Cheney had those prisons built as a gift of low income housing to all of America, how ungrateful of you to want to shut them down.
Also: 40 comments and not one mention of Ralph Nader 'til now? Sad.
Regards
Do we really need another Progressive Socialist that's approaching senility involved in Govt?
Decent point.
Still, ol' Ralph's got more political energy yet than most 20 year olds I've met. As for the 'Progressive Socialist' label: meh. If he'd been President from 2000-2008, and he somehow managed to avoid assassination for that long, the US wouldn't be wasting people/money on protecting international oil companies interests worldwide (eg. no Iraq invasion). Also, I highly doubt he would have found anything TBTF about wall st., though no doubt the pissstream media would have soley blamed Ralph and his policies anyway for 911, late 2008 and everything else had it occurred on his watch.
I mean at least Mr.Nader has never been a supporter of the current, most egregious form of socialism, 'Socialism for the wealthy/military industrial complex'. How's that been working out for the US, anyway?
Regards
I logged for second time to just say nice article.
Many great ideas. I agree with them however, you might want to redo this section:
"The Pickens Plan which would utilize wind farms to free up natural gas to power our truck fleets should be given serious consideration." I believe Boone dropped wind farms yesterday. They're a no go.
Also, I resent the governement asking the question "How do we get more revenue?" Why does the government need more revenue? Why do they deserve it?
I see the Republican Party changing more than the Democratic Party. The Tea Party is having a genuine effect. The tolerance for lamers is going down. Folks like Mitch McConnell will be gone...the Paul Ryans will stay.
Since more and more people are working for and benefitting from the government tit, it is becoming less likely that reforms like this will take place without a revolution.
Who is John Galt?
Unfortunately, over time, the Galt path leads to oligarchy... for every John Galt, there are (too) many Lloyd Blankfein's (and worse).
Got a better plan then for implementing a meritocracy (as opposed to the Idiocracy we have now)?
Nice chart.
Defense is the largest spending category.
And the corporations pay only 297 billion in taxes.
If you americans want to correct something, start by those two issues.
de-junked for painting the picture in simple, primary colours.
it's not rocket science.
But if Mr. Paul is such an honest man, how can he remain a member of this party.
He should do what Oskar Lafontaine had done in Germany, get out of this Party which dont reflect his ideas and become a member of the libertarians or else.
Then they have a better chance.
Peter Thiel is one of Ron Paul’s main advisors (read handler) and Mr. Thiel is a Bulderberger
http://www.nndb.com/people/030/000124655/
+100 reality points - good to have you back in thread, ATTILA.
until people really comprehend who runs nationstates, and who benefits from the way they're run, then "voting" will be a cute option to ponder.
CA,
while this sort of detail is always good to know (if true), remember obama cites volker as a valued finacial advisor... and we've seen how much he acts upon that advice.
few of my best friends/advisors are of my general ideology, but i cherish their views for balance. Dr. Paul, Dennis Kusinich - both necessary to the conversation. if you really want the discomfort of the conversation.
while most here at ZH (yourself included) are beyond simplistic adages, i remind those who are momentarily caught up in the MSM noise, that generally, results speak louder than rhetoric.
while I appreciate your desire to maintain a sort of "balance" in your point(s) of view, and I actually like Kucinich - it's my opinion that we've moved beyond the point of coalitions of thought, and the compromises they contain.
I clicked on that link and it shows Thiel's "involvement" with such as Facebook, PayPal, & Friendster, all gatherer's of personal information on the web, which is hand-in-glove with the Bilderberger agenda, as well as his being involved with "artificial intelligence" - big red flag for me. . . and "McCain"? sorry, no integrity, in my opinion.
I'm still firmly in the "none of the above" camp. . .
i try to be optomistic, but i'm more 'none of the above' than i might appear. sigh.
save RP and DK, i don't think any of our choices are really 'ours', or ... choices at all.
my grumble with the comment above isn't that thiel is not evil , but that RP is "therefore evil"...
a bit off-topic, but close to my heart, when some of us stay out of the mainstream data-collections (fecebook, etc.) i fear we stand out even more to those that would monitor... something to think about when part of the flock of sheeple. rather than hide, i distort.
The fact that fag orientation is important enough to be listed in a person's bio is a shame.
Many good ideas here, but not feasible to implement politically.
If you need proof, just consider: Robert Byrd was reelected to the senate for more than 50 years; Charles Rangel still enjoys 88% support in his district; Barney Frank gets reelected cycle after cycle by the highly educated district of Newton, MA; Morons like Pete Stark, Maxine Waters, Henry Waxman, ... are reelected cycle after cycle.
Folks, it is too late. You are trying to stop the Titanic from sinking, and it is not going to work. Only thing you can do for your family is get a life boat.
Maybe the voting machines are a lttle bit manipulated.Only a tiny bit.
But he you can get President without enough votes anyway.
+++
maybe we *are* fighting the wrong battle.
hack the ballot boxes!
now there's some hope for change.
What’s needed, as DeweyLeon said, is a true second party, one to install “actual” representatives of the people in office.
The banks of the Potomac now house a single “government party,” a ruler mixture of prostitute Democrat and Republican politicians, willing media, extraordinarily wealthy businessmen and professionals gaming the system, and an army of welfare groups exchanging votes for handouts…all kept in place by the owners of the Federal Reserve banks.
The emerging movement against big government politicians…Ron Paul backers, et cetera…can handle the liberal press, and now it must carefully extricate itself from the neoconservatives. The Hannity types mean to corral conservatives into their pro-Israel and big-government-for-wars-and-empire agenda.
Governor Palin would be their leading light (and the Left hopes and prays that this is true). Sarah makes Huffington everyday…always in a new outfit, always attractive. But Ron Paul has the mettle to pull the sword from the stone.
That is an interesting concept: a true second party to install actual representatives of the people.
What if we got beyond the concept of tea, libertarian, green or whatever and created a "True" party; one that encompassed differing beliefs, but with one core: representation of the people, not the banks? Seriously, if the tea, libertarian and green parties got together and said "we recognize that we have very different values, but we also recognize that we all have the best interests of the people in mind," it might be possible to create one party with internal factions capable of electing people. Then, debates in congress would have meaning as they would be between people that actually care about this country.
Excellent post, Armchair: a similar philosophy to Tom Jefferson’s trust in the wisdom of the people, overriding the narrowness of faction.
<--- Libertarian. Republican with a bong.
and guns.
Pretty much agree with the post except for two things:
1) Lobbying. Despicable as another poster suggests, but there are two separate Constutional provisions that forbid limitations thereupon - the right to free speech, and the "right to petition government for redress of grievance".
2) Elimination of tax on capital gains. Understandably, since a large proportion of ZH readership consists of members of the Rentier class, it is natural that they would want to effectively exempt themselves from taxation. My rejoinder: Have we learned nothing from the events of the past three years? This will trigger an explosion of new investment vehicles of dubious validity designed to transmogrify ordinary income into "exempt" capital gains, dividends, and interest. Every CEO of a publicly traded company in the country would work for a salary of $1 and the rest in "capital gains" through "perpetually in the money" stock options. Moreover, such a move would be highly discriminatory against the privately held businesses of all sizes who generate the lion's share of the nation's employment.
A better idea: exempt anyone with a total AGI (adjusted gross income) of less than 150K from taxes on dividends, interest, and capital gains. This is more than enough to shelter most small wage-earning savers and investors, or retirees living on SS and the proceeds of privately accumulated IRA's and 401(K) plans. For the rest, institute a sliding scale of "passive income" taxes, up to a maximum of 2/3 of whatever the top wage-earning rate for that income level is. For example, if the top wage earning rate for income above 250K is, say, 20%, and all your income above 250K came from passive income (D,I,CG), you'd pay 13.34%.
Given the already overheated level of class envy that exists in this country, there is no good reason, regardless of economics, for exempting entire classes of people from paying something - and that goes for the poor as well as the rich.
Besides, given the events of the past three years, I am entirely unconvinced that "unleashing locked-up capital gains" from taxation would lead to an explosion of job-creating private investment in the US. Most of that unlocked capital would continue to flow either overseas or into other ponzi-type "investments" touted by Wall Street.
Regardless of the tax implications, most "investors" today have neither patience nor discipline, nor the time horizon necessary for the type of truly productive investment that creates meaningful permanent employment.
And it will take something other than the tax code to change that.
KrvtKpt. laughing swordfish
DKM Trading Division
That's sillyness on two fronts. If one repealed the court decisions that give corporations the rights of "persons' then one could easily squelch lobbyists as they are PAID to do what they do and therefore the speech isn't free. Second there is no evidence whatsoever that cutting taxes on the rich or eliminating capital gains increases employment or leads to capital formation. Indeed all the evidence suggests that those actions merely result in increased hoarding by the rich and a further exacerbation of the income gap. Not useful policies at this point. The rich did NOT live up to their end of the bargain lat time. they never hired anyone nor did they form or fund new businesses. All they did was to consolidate power and eliminate competition.
"there is no evidence whatsoever that cutting taxes on the rich or eliminating capital gains increases employment or leads to capital formation."
Yes, comrade. Indeed, the opposite is true. Confiscation of every rich person's wealth by the government will lead to a magical communist paradise of full employment while the structure of production won't be affected one whit. Look how beautifully USSR worked out.
"Indeed all the evidence suggests that those actions merely result in increased hoarding by the rich and a further exacerbation of the income gap."
Yes, hoarding is a terrible thing. Especially when it's rich people evilly hoarding the fiduciary media they've earned - reducing the demand for economic goods and causing prices to drop. I simply hate paying low prices for things.
Also, I agree; the income gap drives me crazy. I don't like living in the capitalist system awash in cheap food, entertainment, and electronic goods. My life is simply not worth living while my neighbor makes $1 more than I.
"All they did was to consolidate power and eliminate competition."
Yeah, like how that evil, consolidated monopoly Microsoft eliminated Apple, which actually has a larger market cap now by virtue of successfully competing on the free market to satisfy urgent consumer demands. Rich people forming cartels is a big problem, that's why government intervention is needed to do things like legally back up unions of employees to drive GM into bankruptcy.
The problem with socialism is socialism, because there are no socialists.
Socialism is a system based upon an assumption about human nature that
simply isn't true. I can design a perfect canine community in which dogs
never chase squirrels or groom their nether regions in an indelicate manner.
But the moment I take that idea from the drawing board to the real world,
I will discover that I cannot get dogs to behave against their nature--at
least not without inflicting a terrible amount of punishment. Likewise,
it's easy to design a society that rewards each according to his need
instead of his ability. The hard part is getting the crooked timber of
humanity to yield to your vision.
And it's also why the problem with capitalism is capitalists. Some people
will always abuse the system and take things too far. Some will do it out of
the hubris of intellect. Some will do it out of the venality of greed.
I bring all of this up because many in Washington seem convinced that the
solution to the problem with capitalists is always less capitalism. To be
sure, a free-market society is in some sense a government program. The
government must prosecute criminality, enforce contracts, and demand that
the rules be observed. Few lovers of free markets are so laissez-faire as
to want to strip the government of its role as REFEREE.
But few should want the REFEREE to suit up and play the game.
"Every CEO of a publicly traded company in the country would work for a salary of $1 and the rest in "capital gains" through "perpetually in the money" stock options. Moreover, such a move would be highly discriminatory against the privately held businesses"
Yes, that would be a travesty: someone earning wealth and then not having it be stolen. I'm so jealous that, if I'm a victim of theft, then I want thefts committed against everyone else too! If I am to be murdered, then no one else should be allowed to live either!!!
"I am entirely unconvinced that "unleashing locked-up capital gains" from taxation would lead to an explosion of job-creating private investment in the US"
Yes, the most successful entrepeneurs - i.e. those who best foresee future market conditions and who best satisy consumer demands - are a bunch of lazy idiots. They should have their wealth seized. Politicians and bureaucrats know how to spend other people's money more wisely, e.g. on economy-growing investments like census jobs, AIG, Freddie Mac, and devices that blow up pregnant Iraqi women.
"Regardless of the tax implications, most "investors" today have neither patience nor discipline, nor the time horizon necessary for the type of truly productive investment that creates meaningful permanent employment."
Like I said, comrade, entrepeneurs are a bunch of lazy idiots. They do not create employment: it's always a poor person who gives me a job, never a rich entrepeneur who hires me. The entrepeneurs just want to steal my money by providing me with high-quality products at low prices.
Just love that kind of sarcasm - thanks - and yes I mean that!
I do not believe that swordfish is referring to entrepreneurs; he is referring to the rentier class. Yes there are some entrepreneurs that become rentiers; but most work hard and earn a good living, not a rentier living.
The rentier class gains wealth while do nothing productive. That is the behavior that is curbed by having capital gains and estate taxes. At the right level it will force productivity to gain wealth; which is the way it should be.
You're wrong about 1) Lobbying. The Constitution provides for approaching Congress for personal grievance. The Constitution does not grant a provision for approaching Congress on behalf of a third party grievance.
In other words, insurance industry lobbyists can gripe all they want about their own personal health insurance. They should not be approaching Congress on behalf of the Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO and Board of Directors, corporate profits, competition..
Uh, what if I don't want to save the country?
What if I want the country to split up and collapse?
Then your a..............Neo lib Democrat or a Neocon Republican
agreed Apostate.
if you folks are gonna daydream while the shit goes down, favouring scenarios that support YOUR chosen lifestyle, fine.
my favourite daydream would include devolution into states that have different flavours, and attract "citizens" to move and support their flavour because that's how they want to live. . . no central government sucking up all the revenues, feeding off the livelihoods of individuals - you want a HUGE ASS military? move to the state that has most people like you and pool your earnings. . . want "benefits" without effort? move to the state that promises you that, based on whatever rubric makes it possible. . .
let actual people gather together and form their own "community" however large, and let them forge their way, learning as they go. . .
and yes, it will never happen. . . "legally".
+++
it's too bad that 'collapse' seems to be the only viable 'reset' mechanism in the list of options.
i'll keep pushing for 'rational' and/or 'measured' reform (vs chaos), but the bet from my gut is 'extend and pretend' will prevail, leading to many more folks converging toward your prescient comment.
how long will that take? it has certainly been going on for quite a while longer than i was ever aware... rome anyone?
I've reached the same conclusion.
Great ideas & a strong roadmap.
Kudos to Jim Quinn for stepping outside the two-party paradigm and carving out a place for common sense and pragmatism.
I, for one, cannot and will not support Rs or Ds. I am voting third-party/independent acroos the board, on principle.
Much more positive move than the knee-jerk one to the other in the "big two," which is what will surely happen over the next few years... solving absolutely nothing.
yeah..........well..............
I voted for Perot back when
and you AAAALLLLLL laughed
who's laughing now?
BITCHEZ
so print print print Obama
let's have QE2 for $50trill
I'm 19 and a passionate libertarian in Brooklyn,NY. I was thinking of starting an awake club next fall in my college to awake the people in my school. It is very hard to awake the average person. i will not forget whn I watched Crash Course by Chris Martenson, I could not sleep for days and I was shakened.But I realised that we need to wake up folks. So I tried to wake up my family members that Barack is the same as Bush and that our ecomny will collapse in a deflationary debt collapse in which our nation will never to recover. No one listend to me. So then i gave up waking people up. But this post and some of the comments has made me realized that we should try to wake up the sheeple.
It will take us young people or (80s and 90s babies) to start a new information revolutuion. If every college and university has at least an awakened club or libertarian club,it would be a start. Being a young black male libertarian in brooklyn criticising Obama will not make me too popular with my friends. However we need to stop empathetic and say "well the american sheepel are to stupid,deaf,blind to open their eyes or hear the truth. The nation will collapse into ruin. Oh well woe is us." No we need to at least try. We need to break the two party paradigm in the mind of the american people. We need to do it to save our republic.
We keeps admiring the founding fathers but we do not do anything. We made a terrible mistake to alllow the tea party movement be hijacked by the Sarah Palin,Rapturing away in the clouds,bomb iran neocons. We need to be the change for our nation. At least try. My hatian parents always say to me "How do you know you will fail if you do not try?" So I will try to wake up my friends,meet like minded people,and try to start something. We need to reach people,there is alot of confused americans who voted for Obama or McCain who see what is going on and be confused. Donate to ZeroHedge,spread the word around about this website to other people,talk to a liberal or conservative and find agreements on what must be changed. Act now my beloved ZeroHedge brothers and sisters.
Good post, but you are wrong one one count:
"our ecomny will collapse in a deflationary debt collapse"
I do not see any sign of deflation, i.e. a decrease in the supply of money. We have, in fact, massive inflation: http://mises.org/content/nofed/chart.aspx?series=TMS
It is not credible that politicians in control of a printing press will allow even a $100 trillion debt to threaten the government. They will continue to churn out fiduciary media, bailouts, and stimuli. As John Williams says, we have on our hands a hyperinflationary great depression.
Blast! Those "Red" pills do taste nasty, Morpheus!
A lot of people will only be awakened once the World economy collapses, but just talk to people one-on-one and find out what their opinions are on Govt spending -- I'll think you'll be surprised at just how many are already semi-awake!
You have a lot of good ideas there. Even if we only implemented a few of them, we'd probably be ahead of where we are now. I was surprised at how little of the country's revenue is from corporate taxes compared with individuals. But maybe I shouldn't be.
You will have to amend the Constitution to implement a number of them, including real term limits, citizenship requirements and restrictions on lobbying.
But just reading the comments shows how far we are from any consensus, or even agreement on what our problems are.
sorry, mate, but the ruling/wealthy class would never let your tax plan (which i'd vote for too) happen. why? most people pay 15.3 of their ENTIRE earned income (which is the majority of their income) in payroll taxes. On top of that, tehy pay Federal tax from their total income minus deductions/exemptions. if you make average salary of ~45k, and your taxable income is half of that, your total taxes already are well over 20%.
The studies show that average tax rate of billionaires in the USA is just over 17%, meaning that the richest people in this country pay lower percentage than the majority. Implementing any "flat" tax, and especially 10%-25% 2-bracket tax would cause the people who control and effectively "own" this country now to pay the same or higher percentage of income in taxes relative to the rest of us, therefore it would shift tax burden from the (dwindling) middle class to the mega-wealthy. I have no doubts they will fight it tooth-and-nail, and will prevail.
1. Cut the Pentagon to a Triangle.
2. Make both halves of the Fortune 500 pay US income taxes.
3. For individuals: Tax net assets... not income.
4. Stop watching political commercials...
5. Except Ron Paul... vote out EVERY incumbent in sight...
>Make both halves of the Fortune 500 pay US income taxes.
I believe Ron Paul is against taxation, which he considers stealing (which it is). Famously, he has a sign on his desk saying something like "Don't steal, the government hates competition".
>For individuals: Tax net assets... not income.
i.e. if you make a lot of money, instead of saving or investing it, you will want to spend it on hookers and blow. Savings is the basis of economic growth; I don't understand why you want to tax and discourage it.
First... I was responding to different points brought up in the post...
1. Paul and I agree on two things: End the Fed and close all foreign US military bases. Defense of America is not enhanced by 700+ military bases abroad.
2. "if you make a lot of money, instead of saving or investing it, you will want to spend it on hookers and blow..."
If Your Earned Income is Not Taxed... You Make More Money
Look Doc... Jamie, Lloyd and Rockefeller have more wealth than they could ever spend on hookers and blow. That statement is a fallacy.
"I don't understand why you want to tax and discourage it."
Now we have discredited Alzheimer's Puppet Reagan/Laffer trickle down BS... Why would you want to tax some one's work and labor income?
You Tax Net Assets at a Low Rate
You tax assets at the marginally optimum rate. Not at amounts high enough to alter positive investment.
Rent seeking behavior is a drag on the economy. It does not deploy capital.
Problem Is, the problem is that Acula is one of these mathematically challenged individuals who will never be able to comprehend your arguments.
I think this is the real reason that we have so many problems in this country. Any person with a basic understanding of mathematics will quickly dismiss Acula's talking points. The problem is that most people in this country are indeed mathematically challenged, which makes it easy to spread these arguments. In other words, it is easy to fool most people in this country. As long as that is the case, how do you get people to recognize their own foolishness so that as a group they can stand up and make the changes necessary to solve problems?
Put an expiration date on currency and call them trading coupons.
[quote]
RICH Economy step 1:
Offer a prize of $50,000/year to any worker that designs a
machine/software/process that will replace him/her.
Offer an additional prize of $30,000/year to ALL OTHER WORKERS
that get replaced.
Answering conservative objections:
1. A machine works 24/7, thereby tripling output immediately.
2. Machines do not take sick leave.
3. Machines are never late for work.
4. Machines do not form unions and constantly ask for higher wages
and more fringe benefits.
5. Machines do not take vacations.
6. Machines do not harbor grudges and foul up production in sneaky,
undetectable ways.
7. Cybernation was advancing every decade anyway, despite the
opposition of Unions, government, and other Alpha males; it was
better to have huge populations celebrating the reward of $30K
to $50K/year for group cleverness than huge populations suffering
the humiliation of welfare.
8. With production rising due to Cybernation, consumers were needed
and a society on welfare was a society of very meager consumers.
The majority of the unemployed, living comfortably on $30k/year, spent
most of their time drinking, smoking, engaging in primate sexual
acrobatics and watching TV.
When Moralists complained that this was a subhuman existence, Hubbard
answered, "And what kind of existence did they have doing idiot jobs
that machines do better?"[/quote] -- R.A. Wilson
Slogan that resonates:
We don't need a Tea Party. We need a Reali-Tea party. This platform you outlined would make a good start.
many in the first are probably looking/ready for the second.
it seems to be a raw reaction at first, now its groupings are taking form.
interesting to see what comes of it. clearly more 'intentional' than the dem/rep religions.
but how co-optable are they? a bit unnerving, not knowing that.
Maybe so, but reality sucks, especially if Uncle Sam is paying your way right now.
We need a two party system, we now only have one, the DemRepub party that gives us the illusion of two parties. So, let the DemRepubs combine to the one party they are and have Dr. Paul head up party number 2.
If this theoretical 3rd party adopts Jim Quinn's ideas, then it's not really a new choice at all. Each one of these programs has been touted by the left or the right. The only big difference is that he proposes some strong austerity measures - at the cost of defaulting on the obligations to the retired and those about to retire. Austerity will only arrive when the bond market collapses.
His other idea about publically funded elections would in fact create one party rule (i.e. those that dole out the campaign money). All of the money poured into lobbying and elections is a result of the amount of control the government has over economic life. Remove that and you get rid of the incentive to bribe legislators and enforcement officials.
good point, but i would argue that none of these choices have been 'new' since before the Roman Empire.
so the question is more of "when are we going to make the *right* choice" out of all of these 'old' choices.
sadly, the trend is not very promising.
Mark Twain said something like "man is the only creature who can learn from history, but seems intent on choosing not to do so..." - i'll see if i can find the original.
Money is power. Vote with your wallet. That means directing your spending and investments appropriately.
1. Do your homework and think about what entities you're supporting financially.
2. Commit to investing cash and personal time into alternative parties.
We can talk until we're blue in the face about ideas, but ideas don't become realities unless there's a hell of a lot of cash behind it. Work within the system to change the system. I promise you that nothing else is really viable. They want you to sit here and talk about revolution and hide in the bunker, what they're scared shitless of is things like this:
http://paulcash.slact.net/December-16th/
However, that kind of activity needs to be expanded greatly.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.php?cycle=2008&type=SF
We're going to need somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-350 million dollars in 2012 to get a viable third party candidate elected. There is no other way to get this done, it all comes down to money.
When talk of the tea party forming a third party came about, the shills like gingrich and vannity were quick to say, "that will only strenthen the democrats." They act like no democrats will vote third party. Democrats and Republicans are disillusioned. The third party could get a lot of votes from both democrats and republicans. In the partisan world of hannity and gingrich, where the neocons are always right and the d's are always wrong they just can't fathom the two sides coming together on anything.
A third party hands the election to the Obama Marxists. The Tea Party is going to fundamentally transform the Republicans. The Beltway GOP is in denial. Watch the money dry up for the ruling class politicians of both factions. It may take a few elections, but everything is conspiring to discredit the old guard money boys and the totalitarian left. All this while the world economy collapses.