I hope everyone will forgive me for interrupting their deep political cogitations on which candidate has the best smile or haircut or what-the-****-ever, but I thought it MIGHT be nice to consider some of Mr. Gingrich's plans for governance, now that he's started releasing them (I understand that the details will take time to write up completely, and so will be released as they're finished, but the basic framework of his plans is available).
Legislative Proposals
1) Repeal Obamacare. Replace it with a plan which, among other things, allows people to purchase health insurance across state lines, making it more affordable and putting the consumer power in the hands of the people who actually USE the service. His plans also call for decreasing overhead costs, thereby lowering costs, by digitizing all records, and lawsuit reform for frivolous suits.
"Instead of an individual mandate penalty for not buying government approved health insurance, the federal tax code should be reformed to provide every American the choice of a generous tax credit or the ability to deduct the value of their health insurance up to a certain amount. The federal tax code should provide the same tax relief for the individual buying his own insurance as the employer providing health insurance to its employees." - from Newt.org/contract
He also proposes making Health Savings Accounts more available, on an optional basis, including for people on Medicare and Medicaid if they so desire.
2) Tax and regulatory cuts to stimulate entrepreneurship, reformation of the Federal Reserve, and training requirements for extended unemployment.
Specifically, he proposes cutting the corporate tax rate to 12.5%. As he says, we currently have the second-highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. This is intended to encourage foreign investment here, with accompanying jobs, rather than the current situation of domestic businesses taking their money and jobs elsewhere.
He also proposes abolishing the capital gains tax and the death tax, and allowing businesses to completely write off all of their new equipment in one year.
This proposal includes tax simplification and an optional flat tax.
Tax filers would be given the choice of paying according to the current income tax provisions or under a lower single rate with limited deductions.
He further intends to repeal Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley, and replace the National Labor Relations Board.
3) Expand development of oil, natural gas, coal, biofuels, wind, and nuclear sources of energy.
This seems pretty self-explanatory, but also includes proposals like allowing coastal states to receive a share of the royalty for offshore drilling, something that apparently already happens with drilling on land, and replacing the EPA with an Environmental Solutions Agency, which puts more of the environmental problems in the hands of the states to deal with.
He also proposes authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline immediately.
4) Reform Social Security and Medicare by offering market-oriented alternatives
completely at the choice of the recipient. If they wish to continue receiving benefits under the current system, they can do so. However, no cuts in benefits to current or soon-to-be recipients will be accepted.
5) Pass a balanced budget amendment, and generate more revenue through development of government-owned lands, such as in Alaska and Nevada.
He also proposes saving billions every year by streamlining and modernizing the way the federal bureaucracy works, and eliminating waste and fraud.
"Strong America Now, an organization dedicated to bringing modern management to government at every level, estimates that we can save $500 billion a year in spending through proven waste-cutting and value-enhancing techniques from the private sector, such as Lean Six Sigma. The Defense Department has already used Lean Six Sigma to save more than $22 billion, increasing productivity 1,000 percent in some facilities.
IBMÂ’s Business of Government consultancy makes a more conservative estimate, suggesting that the federal government could save $100 billion annually by implementing commercial best practices.
Using fraud detection techniques similar to those employed by credit card companies, we could save between $70 and $120 billion a year in Medicaid and Medicare fraud, according to the Center for Health Transformation. " - from Newt.org.
6) Control the border and reform the legal visa system.
He actually suggests that, if it's necessary to acquire a sense of urgency about controlling the border, that it would be possible to move half of all the Washington-based Homeland Security bureaucrats out to Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.
7) Restructure and adequately fund our national security agencies.
8) Promote medical breakthroughs and speed their ability to get to the public.
He proposes restructuring the FDA to streamline the approval process and make it more effective.
9) Restore the proper role of the judiciary by using the checks-and-balances powers of the President and Congress to remove judges who violate the Constitution.
10) Enforce the Tenth Amendment.
He proposes identifying means-tested entitlement programs which can be block-granted to the states, to allow THEM to find their own ways of implementing them. This hails back to welfare reform during the Clinton administration, when Gingrich was Speaker of the House.
If anyone would care to comment on actual policy proposals, there they are, and more detail is and will be available at Newt.org/contract.