What problems face America today?

[P F Tinmore]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEoeLGIL3BI]YouTube - Sheriff Mack: Hypocrisy Epidemic![/ame]

 

[rdean]

Too much money is concentrated with the top 3%.

The military is too big and too expensive and we are involved in two wars.

Propaganda to hate the government has succeeded.

We are dependent on Middle Eastern Oil.

The country forgot the importance of education.

 

[FA_Q2]

List the top five, then offer a somewhat comprehensive solution. Leave the cliches, glib comments and ad hominems out. If you have nothing to offer, don't post.

P: Spending, the deficit and the Debt

S: The House of Representatives needs to share the pain and recognize zero sum games harm everyone. The Debt is a long-term result of years of deficit spending under both Democratic and Republican Administrations.

Hiring needs to be frozen and early retirement offered if we are not to exacerbate the unemployment problem. The size of government reduced by attrition, not lay-offs. This applies to all levels of government.
Taxes need to be raised across the board on a flat percentage - for example all tax payers billed 5% on their tax liability and the revenue used only to reduce the debt (not the deficit) until we have reduced our interest payments to a manageable level.
Taxes need to be raised on all non-commercial fuel used for transportation, forcing commuters to use public transportation (a tax credit on a dollar for dollar basis for those rural zip codes where public transportation is not an option).
The deficite needs to be fixed by safe and sane practices, across the board cuts put people at risk. It makes no sense to cut the jobs of first responders, continue to ignore our aged infrastructure or allow medical costs to rise because we ignore creating an environment where early detection. Early detection of disease allows for cures or manageable treatments at a lower cost than waiting for the crisis.

NEXT: Unemployment

Ill piggyback off your list to start. I can see raising taxes across the board with broad cuts but I see it more important to revamp the tax code to start with. I believe that taxes should be a simple tired system similar to what we have now with zero deductions or credits. The only deduction I would allow would be charitable donations to a nonprofit that you have absolutely zero connection with and that should be capped at 10 percent or so of your overall tax liability. Also, income needs to be redefined in the tax code to mean exactly that – income and not delineated by wages, capital gains or any other name you want to put on it. A dollar is a dollar no matter where you earn it at and there is no reason to treat Wall Street’s earnings any different than Main Street’s earnings. As a side note, I would like tax brackets and rates to be constitutionally locked as a matter of ratio to one another so that class warfare in the tax code would cease to exist. That way, increases and decreases in the tax code would be uniform for all and there would be no more attacking people that do not pay taxes or the rich paying to little. Anytime a tax hike would come everyone would already be of the impression that everyone’s taxes would be affected in the same manner.

In then end the cash flow issue is not the real problem but the expenditure rate. I understand and agree that cuts need to be done in an intelligent manner but all programs are always fought for as necessary. There is inefficiency across the board in ALL programs. I think one of the first arias that need to be approached is in the regulations area. We need to take a good hard look at our regulatory agencies and slim down on the amount of regulations that we are enforcing and come up with some more applicable standards to go by. In defense we need to rework the way we do contracts. That alone would save billions. First and foremost, I think that anyone agreeing to be part of the contract process in the officer ranks should be barred from working for any company that is contracted with the government for life. I have seen many times contracts coming down spending millions. The controlling general immediately retires and lands a job at the very same company earning an easy six figures as a consultant. Corrupt as hell. Also, we need a serious constriction in our overseas presence. There is no reason we need hundreds of bases thought Germany AND bases in England AND bases in Italy. We only need 2 or 3 bases in ALL of Europe.

Another area we could save a ton of money is subsidy. I see ZERO reason for the government to subsidize any commercial endeavor. From farm subsidies to energy subsidies (to include green gimmicks) subsidies need to be ended. This process must be part of a weaning process as cold turkey could cause one hell of a problem but slowly easing industry off subsidy over the next 5 years or so is doable and then each company would be forced to exist on its own merits. If the government has a viable interest in industry then subsidies is not where we should be focusing on. That cash would be far better off as research money to make an industry viable rather than forcing an industry that is not viable onto the market where it will never be able to compete. This is where green tech currently is. It is not viable at this point and encouraging it sale through false pricing and subsidies will not help. Instead, spending in developing it into a viable tech will.

Forcing commuters to public transit through fuel taxes is a bad idea, will not work, and just further harms the economy. More importantly, it will not address this particular problem at all. I could see applying this to an AGW issue though it still would not work but using it as a cost saving measure? It saves no cost and the taxes collected will not offset the taxes lost in other areas.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

List the top five, then offer a somewhat comprehensive solution. Leave the cliches, glib comments and ad hominems out. If you have nothing to offer, don't post.

P: Spending, the deficit and the Debt

S: The House of Representatives needs to share the pain and recognize zero sum games harm everyone. The Debt is a long-term result of years of deficit spending under both Democratic and Republican Administrations.

Hiring needs to be frozen and early retirement offered if we are not to exacerbate the unemployment problem. The size of government reduced by attrition, not lay-offs. This applies to all levels of government.
Taxes need to be raised across the board on a flat percentage - for example all tax payers billed 5% on their tax liability and the revenue used only to reduce the debt (not the deficit) until we have reduced our interest payments to a manageable level.
Taxes need to be raised on all non-commercial fuel used for transportation, forcing commuters to use public transportation (a tax credit on a dollar for dollar basis for those rural zip codes where public transportation is not an option).
The deficite needs to be fixed by safe and sane practices, across the board cuts put people at risk. It makes no sense to cut the jobs of first responders, continue to ignore our aged infrastructure or allow medical costs to rise because we ignore creating an environment where early detection. Early detection of disease allows for cures or manageable treatments at a lower cost than waiting for the crisis.

NEXT: Unemployment

end double dipping.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

P: Unemployment

S: Job creation. Yes, the government can create jobs, both within all levels of government and the private sector too. The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) of 1973 put the unemployed to work. It benefited the private sector in two ways: providing new employees whose salary was subsidized and new customers as the former unemployed now had income to spend on goods and services.
A new iteration of CETA will also help replace government employees who leave by attrition or are offered early retirement; new employees will be hired under different conditions than those who leave: Salary schedules will be lower, retirement benefits less generous and medical costs shared more equally between the government employer and the employee.

NEXT: Energy

arrest those who hire illegals knowingly or unknowingly .

 

[FA_Q2]

Communism denies the individual?

Clearly, you've never known any anarcho-communists

Communism in its ideal does not exist. In order for true communal ownership to exist in a nation of any size and economic power like our own there needs to be a government in order to distribute and manage those goods and that government ultimately ends up where the soviets ended up. Communism does not work on economies of scale and it has been shown that it does not work. If you are talking about a neighborhood it is doable though somewhat difficult. When you are talking the country then there is no getting around the fact that inefficiencies run rampant and destroy the system within. There is no way to motivate production when there is zero reward to produce and no way to stave off corruption in those that control the flow of goods. By its very nature it denies individual rights when you remove the basic right that we all have: to one’s own property.

Close all foreign military bases and bring all troops home.

All the money for infrastructure and the money our troops spend overseas will be spent in our country. All that money would be injected into our economy instead of leaving the country.

It would be a huge "stimulus package" that would cost us no extra money.

If you really believe that then you do not understand the world at all. Isolationism is not effective and we need a military presence in the world. Though it needs to be massively scaled back, it does need to be there.

The Government of the Union, though limited in its powers, is supreme within its sphere of action, and its laws, when made in pursuance of the Constitution, form the supreme law of the land. There is nothing in the Constitution which excludes incidental or implied powers. If the end be legitimate, and within the scope of the Constitution, all the means which are appropriate and plainly adapted to that end, and which are not prohibited, may be employed to carry it into effect pursuant to the Necessary and Proper clause.[/I]

If a state believes a given Federal law is un-Constitutional, it may file suit in Federal court. But it does not have the ‘state right’ to ignore, nullify, or otherwise alter the Federal statue. And should the Federal law be upheld by the Supreme Court, the state is obligated to follow that law.

Nobody is saying otherwise. States right exist because of the underlined portion: government is LIMITED. The courts are there to rule on the laws but that does not mean states do not have states right. It actually reinforces that right.

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

Well you listed 2 pretty good.
slash programs, all of the by 20 % , put them on the borders as agents, rotated every 3 weeks to another border north or south,randomly.
they dont like it they can work building refineries and steal mills.

 

[FA_Q2]

Forgot to add in my first that we also need to adapt basic tariffs on imports and adopt policies that support manufacturing here within the US and not overseas. It is idiotic of this nation to have policies that support cauterizing our entire economic system on finical and services industries instead or a robust and diversified system. Had we had more than 2 industries in this country the last financial crisis would not have been close to what it was.

 

[Foxfyre]

My top five problems facing America but reserving the right to revise and amend:

1. Too little education in American history, the intent of the Constitution, and the concepts that went into it.

Solution: Get ideology and the federal governments out of the schools and make basic American History and Constitution required subjects for graduation.

2. Too little respect for basic traditional values that were once standard such as working for whatever is obtained; personal responsibility and accountability; paying debts owed and living within one's means.

Solution: Convince the people again that a government big enough to take care of all our basic needs is a government big enough to take anything from us it wants. Government functions should be handled at the lowest and most local level possible.

3. Too much power is in the hands of our elected leaders who have learned that they can take our money and use it to buy votes and allegiance and thereby increase their own power, prestige, influence, and personal fortunes.

Solution: Remove the ability of the federal government to dispense any form of charity or benevolence or special favors and handle all that at the state level only.

4. The nation is losing its spiritual underpinnings and moral center.

Solution: Reinstate the ability of all people in all settings to display or express their religious beliefs. It is not necessary that all the people be religious, but rather that the people relearn what religious freedom actually looks like.

5. Too few people are wlling to look at or discuss issues with an honest interest to learn, teach, or reach a solution. Too much energy is diverted in blame, accusations, finding fault, and demonizing those who have a different point of view.

Solution: Push for a return to civility, intellectual honesty, and personal integrity.

 

[American Cowboy]

What problems face America today?

#1). Liberalism
#2). Obama
#3). Congressional Democrats
#4) Spending

Get rid of the first three and that takes care of #4

 

[FA_Q2]

So what happened to the debt when the republican ran the presidency plus ALL of congress? What happened when the liberals ran the presidency plus ALL of congress? I don’t thing being a partisan hack is going to solve much…

 

[Antiderivative]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tPePpMxJaA]YouTube - President Jimmy Carter - Address to the Nation on Energy[/ame]

 

[editec]

What problems face America today?

List the top five, then offer a somewhat comprehensive solution

In 2000 words or less?

Yeah, right

 

[Wry Catcher]

#5

Education:

P: An educated population is necessary for a government of, by and for the people to exist. We have forsaken our duty in this regard. A plethora of sources exists today which one might believe provides the necessary facts and information for our citizens to make a rational decision in the voting booth. The fact is, proven everyday on the pages of this message board, that emotion not rational thought is supreme.

S: A comprehensive suggested solution to this problem would take more than 2,000 words; getting people to think about what this means does not. We need to overhaul how we educate our children by first not making learning a choir. All humans born without congenital abnormalities love to learn, by the second or third grade we have extinguised this love for too many. With today's technology individual instruction withnin the social structure of a school can be achieved - but not by cutting of funding.
Eliminate the grade system in elementary school. Kids 5 to nine must learn to get along with others, follow directions, read and comprehend, write & keyboard, compute and understand cause and effect (consequences).
School for this age ought to be extended so few latchkey kids are left on their own, and included in this extended day co-ed programs in athletics, art, science, music, chess, the use of tools, etc. might be offered so the sexes can interact in a safe environment. Working playing together develops understanding and respect.
I could go on but my experience is few read beyond a paragraph or two and too many who frequent this message board actually believe they know "The Truth". Posting of cliches and opinions they provide the best evidence for ranking Education as the number one failure of our nation in the last half of the 20th Century.

 

[rdean]

My top five problems facing America but reserving the right to revise and amend:

1. Too little education in American history, the intent of the Constitution, and the concepts that went into it.

Solution: Get ideology and the federal governments out of the schools and make basic American History and Constitution required subjects for graduation.

2. Too little respect for basic traditional values that were once standard such as working for whatever is obtained; personal responsibility and accountability; paying debts owed and living within one's means.

Solution: Convince the people again that a government big enough to take care of all our basic needs is a government big enough to take anything from us it wants. Government functions should be handled at the lowest and most local level possible.

3. Too much power is in the hands of our elected leaders who have learned that they can take our money and use it to buy votes and allegiance and thereby increase their own power, prestige, influence, and personal fortunes.

Solution: Remove the ability of the federal government to dispense any form of charity or benevolence or special favors and handle all that at the state level only.

4. The nation is losing its spiritual underpinnings and moral center.

Solution: Reinstate the ability of all people in all settings to display or express their religious beliefs. It is not necessary that all the people be religious, but rather that the people relearn what religious freedom actually looks like.

5. Too few people are wlling to look at or discuss issues with an honest interest to learn, teach, or reach a solution. Too much energy is diverted in blame, accusations, finding fault, and demonizing those who have a different point of view.

Solution: Push for a return to civility, intellectual honesty, and personal integrity.

And how is "praying" and "studying mysticism" supposed to do a single positive thing for this country.

Of all the hairbrained, wine soaked, ridiculous things to say. Unfortunately, too many agree with you. That's probalbly the single largest reason America is in the mess it's in.

 

[rdean]

So what happened to the debt when the republican ran the presidency plus ALL of congress? What happened when the liberals ran the presidency plus ALL of congress? I don’t thing being a partisan hack is going to solve much…

When Republicans took control, Democrats left a surplus.

The first six years of the Bush administration was a "money orgy". The billions lost in a made up war in Iraq. The drug bill give a way. The redistribution of wealth to the top 1%.

Republicans complain about Obama's Romneycare, but that program costs nothing compared to the trillions their drug program costs.

Why is this? Because the Democratic party is a coalition party that has to discuss everything to death before they make a decision.

Republicans do what ever their leaders say because they are 90% white and mostly Christian. But there is one bright spot, many churches are beginning to rebel at the shear "meanness" of Republican Policies and their "war on the poor and unemployed" and the Ryan fiasco will hurt them in the long run.

 

[Marie888]

List the top five, then offer a somewhat comprehensive solution. Leave the cliches, glib comments and ad hominems out. If you have nothing to offer, don't post.

P: Spending, the deficit and the Debt

S: The House of Representatives needs to share the pain and recognize zero sum games harm everyone. The Debt is a long-term result of years of deficit spending under both Democratic and Republican Administrations.

Hiring needs to be frozen and early retirement offered if we are not to exacerbate the unemployment problem. The size of government reduced by attrition, not lay-offs. This applies to all levels of government.
Taxes need to be raised across the board on a flat percentage - for example all tax payers billed 5% on their tax liability and the revenue used only to reduce the debt (not the deficit) until we have reduced our interest payments to a manageable level.
Taxes need to be raised on all non-commercial fuel used for transportation, forcing commuters to use public transportation (a tax credit on a dollar for dollar basis for those rural zip codes where public transportation is not an option).
The deficite needs to be fixed by safe and sane practices, across the board cuts put people at risk. It makes no sense to cut the jobs of first responders, continue to ignore our aged infrastructure or allow medical costs to rise because we ignore creating an environment where early detection. Early detection of disease allows for cures or manageable treatments at a lower cost than waiting for the crisis.

NEXT: Unemployment

P: Godlessness

S:

Mark 1:14-16
14Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

You didn't specifiy if it was things of the world, or that of spiritual, so I thought it would be ok if I added my $.02. I'll leave it to the mods if they deem inappropriate. If so, feel free to delete, I won't take offense.



.

 

[Foxfyre]

My top five problems facing America but reserving the right to revise and amend:

1. Too little education in American history, the intent of the Constitution, and the concepts that went into it.

Solution: Get ideology and the federal governments out of the schools and make basic American History and Constitution required subjects for graduation.

2. Too little respect for basic traditional values that were once standard such as working for whatever is obtained; personal responsibility and accountability; paying debts owed and living within one's means.

Solution: Convince the people again that a government big enough to take care of all our basic needs is a government big enough to take anything from us it wants. Government functions should be handled at the lowest and most local level possible.

3. Too much power is in the hands of our elected leaders who have learned that they can take our money and use it to buy votes and allegiance and thereby increase their own power, prestige, influence, and personal fortunes.

Solution: Remove the ability of the federal government to dispense any form of charity or benevolence or special favors and handle all that at the state level only.

4. The nation is losing its spiritual underpinnings and moral center.

Solution: Reinstate the ability of all people in all settings to display or express their religious beliefs. It is not necessary that all the people be religious, but rather that the people relearn what religious freedom actually looks like.

5. Too few people are wlling to look at or discuss issues with an honest interest to learn, teach, or reach a solution. Too much energy is diverted in blame, accusations, finding fault, and demonizing those who have a different point of view.

Solution: Push for a return to civility, intellectual honesty, and personal integrity.

And how is "praying" and "studying mysticism" supposed to do a single positive thing for this country.

Of all the hairbrained, wine soaked, ridiculous things to say. Unfortunately, too many agree with you. That's probalbly the single largest reason America is in the mess it's in.

Actually, I should have put this one as Number One on my list, as I think some spiritual re-centering would have a positive effect at all levels of government and socioeconomic issues.

I recomment this book as just a starter:

Excerpted from the WSJ book report:

This book has two messages. First, religion reduces crime. Second, look what happens to scholars who say this is true.

The first argument rests on the work of Byron R. Johnson, a professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, who compiled a survey of every study between 1944 and 2010 that measured the possible effect of religion on crime. He found 273 such studies. As he reports in "More God, Less Crime," even though their authors used different methods and assessed different groups of people, 90% of these studies found that more religiosity resulted in less crime. Only 2% found that religion produced more crime. (The remaining 8% found no relationship either way.)

Does this prove that religion reduces crime? Not precisely, for these are all quasi-experimental studies. If they were truly experimental and thus carried greater intellectual weight, the researchers would direct people, none of whom had any religion, either to acquire and practice one or to remain godless and thereby stay in the control group. We would then compare the groups' crime rates. Doing this would be immoral, illegal and impractical, and so we are left with studies that compare religious and nonreligious people and try to control statistically for other factors that might explain away the religion-and-crime link.
Book review: More God, Less Crime - WSJ.com

Just as communities where traditional families and home ownership is the norm will experience less crime, better schools, more prosperity, so does the church being a center of community life and more people active in that than not.

Conversely, those who despise religion and want it removed from the social fabric tend to talk like you.

 

[peach174]

The U.S.A. was founded on Liberalism, genius. The FF loved to spew Locke.

No it was founded on Republicanism.

Constitution of the United States of America

Article IV.
Section 4

The United States shall guarantee to every State in ths Union a Republican Form of Government.
Not a Progressive Socialist form of Government.

Wow... retarded...

Online Library of Liberty - John Locke

Liberalism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Have you read the Constitution?
We are a Republic
Definition of states rights
States’ rights put greater trust and confidence in regional or state governments than in national ones. State governments, are more responsive to popular control, more sensitive to state issues and problems, and more understanding of the culture and values of the state’s population than are national governments. For these reasons, state governments are better able to address important problems and protect individual rights. In the United States, states’ rights proponents also have maintained that strong state governments are more consistent with the vision of republican government put forward.

 

[Foxfyre]

So what happened to the debt when the republican ran the presidency plus ALL of congress? What happened when the liberals ran the presidency plus ALL of congress? I don’t thing being a partisan hack is going to solve much…

Agreed. When both the President AND the Congress misuse power and the people's treasury, the results will not be good for the American people.

The Bush economic policies, up to the bursting of the housing bubble in late 2008, and even dealing with 9/11, two wars, and Katrina, were bringing down the deficits and, if the housing mess hadn't collapsed, was on its way to balancing the budget again.

So some economic policy is good for us. And some just makes bad worse.

But the fact is both Republicans and Democrats for the past 100 years have grown big government and have spent the people's money in inappropriate and often destructive ways. The only difference is that the Republicans do that somewhat more slowly than do the Democrats. You have modern liberalism (Democrats) vs liberal light (Republicans.)

We need a President backed up by a Congress that are fiscally responsible, possess moral integrity along with a firm understanding of the principles that made this the great nation it is, and who have the backbone to make the hard choices necessary to begin the process of restoring those principles.