I have a few things to say

Actually I have a lot to say but this is not the right time to go spouting out everything I think. So let me just try and sum it up and hit some of the key points occurring right now.

Currently the government has yet to pass a budget and the clock is ticking, a few extensions will not last forever as we need a real budget, so Congress needs to get their act together. As of 2011 our budget deficit is $1.5 trillion which is astounding, every day the debt climbs higher and higher, the chances of seeing a balanced budget are slipping further away and now non-discretionary spending has reached above the federal revenues raised. We are facing a budget crisis which threatens to further destabilize our currency, our economy, our businesses, our investments, and our future.

What is government doing about this? You have Republicans who ran on a platform of balancing the budget above all else, we never expected all of the Democrats to follow along with budget proposals and none of us should expect that the budget will be balanced in one single year. We are not asking for the moon here, what we are asking for however is sound and rational cuts to the budget which will put us on a path to balancing the budget in a few years time. As of now all the proposals I have seen have either cut the budget too far or are just a joke.

First off our biggest mistake was not raising taxes back in December, it was the most rational decision to make, yet I doubt any Republicans would be courageous enough to step forward and offer up a budget which includes tax hikes on the wealthy as well as cuts to entitlements, military, and discretionary spending. We do not have leadership right now, the number one goal of every Republican and every Democrat should be to sit down like adults and find a rational and sound path to financial stability and sound economic policy.

A $1.5 trillion deficit is absolutely unsustainable and at this rate in a period of 5 years we will add $7.5 trillion more to the deficit bringing our deficit above $21 trillion, that my friends is a disaster waiting to happen. So what can we do about this? Well we want a bipartisan agreement with a large number of both Republicans and Democrats voting ‘Yea’. Which means both sides must come to the table. A budget cut of approximately $300 billion for this upcoming budget would be just a drop in the bucket but still better than nothing. It would cut the deficit spending by 20%.

Are there any other things we can change? Yes! Raise the retirement age to 70 for all persons under the age of 50. Raise the income tax from 35% to 60% on all unmarried individuals with an income above $1 million, raise it from 35% to 50% for all unmarried individuals with an income above $350,000, and cut taxes for all those individuals who make less than $50,000 a year. Drop the corporate tax from 35% to 30% and close all tax loopholes, every company making above a certain rate should have to pay that 30%, end of story.

Perform immediate screenings over a 12 month period of every SSI Disability claimant. Cut 10% of the military budget immediately and set a timeframe of removing all troops from Afghanistan by August 2012. Negotiate contracts with other governments for US military bases asking they pay 33% of all costs to fund the base if they want it to remain in their nation. Raise the transfer taxes by 50% of their current rate. Keep all excise tax rates at their current rate.

Cut all food stamp payments by 10%, begin immediate requests for information on all overseas bank accounts, and raise the full Medicare coverage age to 70 for all people under the age of 50. Begin handing out contracts for oil and natural gas drilling and exploration for American companies, lower taxes and regulations by the EPA on all electricity producing facilities, and there are many other things we can do in regards to cuts and reforms.

Those are just a few suggestions that I have thought of, there are many more I did not mention and others I am sure I have not thought of.

In regards to our project in Libya, Sec. Gates advised the President not to get involved in a third military operation in a Muslim nation, he obviously did not listen to the wise words of his Secretary and unfortunately now we must pay for it with our money (which we already do not have). However it is too late to argue the issue of should we or should we not be there, we are there and that is the end of the story, the discussion now must be how we can get out of Libya as fast and responsibly as possible. I would hope Obama listens to the advice and timeline given by Sec. Gates rather than Sec. Clinton.

Now for ObamaCare, it was a horrible idea and grew the government even more beyond what it already was at, which was an unsustainable level and made it even more unsustainable. While the chances of us repealing ObamaCare is low we can hope to seek dramatic reforms with the legislation such as removing the mandatory health insurance purchase part and instead implement more fiscally sound alternatives such as allowing out-of-state purchase of health insurance, deregulating the industry, allowing imports of foreign prescription drugs, and cutting back on lawsuits.

We need our jobs back and immediately, our manufacturing base has disintegrated and we are now relying on China for most of our goods. We should place an immediate 10% import tariff on all Chinese goods, set a timetable to exit NAFTA, limit our role in GATT and WTO, do not sign in any more free-trade deals, begin negotiations with countries we do have free trade deals with, and allow for the freedom of choice when it comes to our foods we eat which means we should be able to buy locally produced foods easier.

The banks have grown far too large and have become in other words ‘too big to fail’ which is completely unacceptable in a nation which prides itself upon the ideals of a free-market economy. We must implement a 10% cap on any bank-holding-company’s share of US total insured deposits. Raise maximum amount of non-deposit liabilities to 2% of US GDP. Implement a 6% leverage limit for bank-holding-companies and selected non-bank financial institutions. 1

Pass a law which clearly states corporations are not persons and reform campaign finance so that a maximum donation amount for individuals is set at $100,000 and for unions, special interests, and corporations it is set at $500,000. Require complete transparency under the law with all funding being made open to the public for review within a period of 30 days from receiving the donation. All private individuals will remain anonymous.

Eliminate the Sunset Clause of the USA Patriot Act immediately and phase out the USA Patriot Act of a 24 month time period. End the US trade embargo with Cuba and Iran. Immediately halt all funding going to the state of Israel. Most importantly pass an immediate audit of the Federal Reserve, rein in the powers of the FR and remove most of its autonomy by placing it under direct Congressional oversight and control, and finally tie the US Dollar back to gold at a fixed rate of 33% to combat devaluation of the Dollar.

These are just some of my ideas I was thinking about. In my opinion the most pressing problems facing the United States today is our deficit problem, if we cannot get this under control our credit rating will drop, our dollar will lose its value, inflation will ensue, and another even worse recession will occur. While I do not expect the deficit spending to end overnight I do want to see the Congress set in a responsible plan which will set us on a path towards ending the deficit spending within 5-7 years.

Anything you would like to add?

No one has anything to add or criticize? I find that shocking.

Awesome Mis! Very good work!

The one thing I would change is the food stamp deal... I would not reduce them by 10%. In fact I might even think about raising benefits for those families that qualify.

The caveat being that I would change the rules about qualifying. The days of getting food stamps because your $700.00 Lexus payment keeps you from feeding your kids would be over.

Food stamps? Sure... but not for those with money to blow on luxuries. Dump the luxury ride, and the high end house... then apply. By getting rid of the fraudulent folks we'd be able to up the benefit for the truly needy and save money all at the same time.

~Heff

reply to post by Misoir


Hey, if it means anything I'd vote for you.

One thing I've learned, Congress does anything but decisive decision making unless it's packed full of special interest like Obamacare. I expect a stalemate with the budget and then the two parties will get together, decide what screws the common person the most and cut that.

Ultimately the problem is this -

Demanding that Congress cut spending is fine in theory, the only issue being that they will still vote for billions of dollars in tax breaks to corporations and banks, they will still spend billions of dollars for the defense budget (not to mention to invade every country who looks at us sideways), they will continue to vote themselves pay raises and still continue to throw money at every pork barrell bill that will help get them re-elected.

They will cut spending alright.....they will cut medicare that is keeping the elderly alive. They will cut police, fire and rescue, they will gut the funding for education, they will take sorely needed tax dollars away from maintaining the infrastructure of the country.....basically they will trim billions off of the federal budget, but they will only cut programs that actually help American citizens...basically anything that we actually benefit from.

So be careful what you ask for.

I think we've been misled by the MSM.
I don't think we're in a budget crisis at all.
I think it's a ruse to hide the transition
to the NWO which will crash the Fed
and the Stock Market.

When we can afford $1B for bombs in Libya

and we can spend $1B for the FBI's new
Biometric ID package,

www.rawstory.com...

then there is no budget crisis.
It is the NWO tightening the noose
around our necks is all it is.

There are 2 budgets:
one they publicize
and one they don't.

Get rid of everything "socially-funded" by the government, which is money paid by taxes of "American" citizens, of course. Then hopefully the racketeers, err, I meant, the entrepreneurial spirit would rise up and create a new world of motivated people with pride.

reply to post by BlackOps719


We have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the World, and among the lowest individual taxes. Cutting corporate taxes brings business -- economic fact.

Taxation is only a piece of the puzzle as to why so many corporation fled our country from the 80's-today .. but having some of the highest taxes, stringent regulation, high labor and no tariff was a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately lowering corporate taxes (which mind you affects more small businesses than it does mega corporations) is not going to bring back business, but it may stop some from leaving, and it may save some from insolvency.

Want to cut a big chunk out of the budget? Let's pull our military bases out of the 20 or so countries we're not at war with. Most of the countries in the below list we've never been hostile to, and a good portion don't share a border with ones we have. We waste hundreds of billions of dollars a year supporting the political infrastructure of other countries with the use of our military defending borders that aren't under duress. Let them spend their own money for a military.

List of U.S. Military Bases

reply to post by Rockpuck


Yet even though the corporate tax rates are so high, somehow, companies like GE can get away with paying nothing in taxes, and you want to LOWER their tax rates?

How about we seal up the swiss cheese holes in the tax code before we lower 0 to -0?

reply to post by whatukno


Take an economics course and you will understand the difference between Revenue and Profit. You can only tax Profit. Companies like GE and many banks had negative Profit, thus they owe no taxes. Some corporations like oil companies pay taxes on revenue and not profit so that come tax day their actual tax rate appears much lower than it should be, but in reality looking at their books their tax rates are the highest out of any one. In fact taxation of oil companies is our second highest source of income after the income tax.

Now I'm not saying the tax code is perfect, far from it.. there are many, many loopholes. One such loophole we see with banks is that for some corporations losses are written off for 3 years, which is why some banks are still not paying taxes.

Also some companies, almost always mega corporations, are treated specifically by congress. Companies like GE, Boeing, Banks, Microsoft. GE's actual tax rate before the 2008 crisis was around 20% -- which is still pretty high for corporate tax, yet still low for US tax code.

Here is a good article about what top us companies pay in taxes.

www.forbes.com...

Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. Exxon has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas. Likewise, GE has $84 billion in overseas income parked indefinitely outside the U.S.

As you see, loopholes. Close the loopholes, don't raise taxes. When you raise taxes it affects small businesses and medium sized businesses, which in turn almost always means layoffs. Close the loopholes that small and medium sized businesses don't or can't use.