What issue is most important to you in the election?

[Fang]

I don't start many threads, but i was hoping to get a better feel for what issue USMB members personally find to be most important in the election cycle and why.

I have three. But I'll stick to the main one, which is the economy. Not just job creation (as govt. creates no jobs, they can merely get out of the way to allow creation) but the entirety of our economy. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation and private sector health. Why? because it affects everyones lives. From top to bottom. To me it's extremely important.

So which is the most important to you an why?

1. The Economy/Jobs
2. National Security
3. Social Security (I'm roughly 20 years away. But recently it's been on my mind)

This is why Mitt Romney will have my vote. He has by far the most experience with my top concern and has the best chance of making a positive impact. I think he has the best chance to fix social security as well.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

OK.

Spending

Reduce the military budget only to the amount spent by the combination of Russia and China.

Cut all subsidies to profitable enterprises

Demand efficiency equal to that in other nations from those organizations that recieve government money for Medicare, Mediaid, or other government health programs.

Income

Instead of rewarding enterprises that take vast sums out of the economy without creating a single thing, tax them at a greater rate than you do the people that are creating the items that we use every day.

People that earn in the seven figure bracket should pay as great of a percentage of their income in taxes as those the earn in the mid-five figure range.

Charge importation fees on all products produced in nations that have low environmental and worker safety standards.

So, essentially just shift around the way the central planners are currently planning to a plan that better suits what you feel is important? I mean, we're already doing this whole tax and spend, regulate, subsidize, etc...it isn't working. The politicians still over spend, borrow adn then say we need to raise taxes to make more revenue. What's to stop them from spending all the taxed money on more shit, bloat and wasteful programs.

I completely agree about the military. We are WAY overboard on how much military might we pay for and how it is used.

If anything, i think we need a lot less of the central planning and the spending that goes with it.

Central planning just never works, especially in economics.

 

[Dr.Drock]

OK.

Spending

Reduce the military budget only to the amount spent by the combination of Russia and China.

Cut all subsidies to profitable enterprises

Demand efficiency equal to that in other nations from those organizations that recieve government money for Medicare, Mediaid, or other government health programs.

Income

Instead of rewarding enterprises that take vast sums out of the economy without creating a single thing, tax them at a greater rate than you do the people that are creating the items that we use every day.

People that earn in the seven figure bracket should pay as great of a percentage of their income in taxes as those the earn in the mid-five figure range.

Charge importation fees on all products produced in nations that have low environmental and worker safety standards.

Disagree with all the economy stuff and I disagree that we should be the world's police.

 

[WillowTree]

I don't start many threads, but i was hoping to get a better feel for what issue USMB members personally find to be most important in the election cycle and why.

I have three. But I'll stick to the main one, which is the economy. Not just job creation (as govt. creates no jobs, they can merely get out of the way to allow creation) but the entirety of our economy. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation and private sector health. Why? because it affects everyones lives. From top to bottom. To me it's extremely important.

So which is the most important to you an why?

1. The Economy/Jobs
2. National Security
3. Social Security (I'm roughly 20 years away. But recently it's been on my mind)

This is why Mitt Romney will have my vote. He has by far the most experience with my top concern and has the best chance of making a positive impact. I think he has the best chance to fix social security as well.

I'm sorry for you Fang. The democrats have plundered social security and medicare.. I doubt that it will be there for you.. make a contingency plan.

 

[Fang]

I don't start many threads, but i was hoping to get a better feel for what issue USMB members personally find to be most important in the election cycle and why.

I have three. But I'll stick to the main one, which is the economy. Not just job creation (as govt. creates no jobs, they can merely get out of the way to allow creation) but the entirety of our economy. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation and private sector health. Why? because it affects everyones lives. From top to bottom. To me it's extremely important.

So which is the most important to you an why?

1. The Economy/Jobs
2. National Security
3. Social Security (I'm roughly 20 years away. But recently it's been on my mind)

This is why Mitt Romney will have my vote. He has by far the most experience with my top concern and has the best chance of making a positive impact. I think he has the best chance to fix social security as well.

I'm sorry for you Fang. The democrats have plundered social security and medicare.. I doubt that it will be there for you.. make a contingency plan.

I hope you're wrong. But there's a good chance you could be right. I have a 401K and other savings/investments. But if SS isn' there you're going to see a lot of REALLY pissed of Americans. Greece comes to mind.

 

[sfcalifornia]

I don't start many threads, but i was hoping to get a better feel for what issue USMB members personally find to be most important in the election cycle and why.

I have three. But I'll stick to the main one, which is the economy. Not just job creation (as govt. creates no jobs, they can merely get out of the way to allow creation) but the entirety of our economy. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation and private sector health. Why? because it affects everyones lives. From top to bottom. To me it's extremely important.

So which is the most important to you an why?

The most important issue to me, which no one seems to be talking about, is infrastructure.

We've spent the last 10 years spending money fighting a war on terror while the rest of the world spent money investing in themselves.

We have a lot of catching up to do.

 

[Foxfyre]

For me, it is economic freedom which, if we have that, will most likely be infused into all other aspects of government and will begin healing most of the problems we face.

 

[DiamondDave]

I would say, at present, the economy. Which involves far more than just jobs, or debt. There is the distribution of income, way out of balance towards the already wealthy. There is the rapidly deteriorating infrastructure, without which we cannot build a growing economy. There is the continued importation of energy, transfering wealth to nations that have antipathy toward us. And there is the failure to move on from fossil fuel energy to something that is sustainable.

Show where the government is responsible for equalized (or more equalized outcome) or the distribution of private property and earnings from one person to another.. whether directly or indirectly

 

[DiamondDave]

I would say, at present, the economy. Which involves far more than just jobs, or debt. There is the distribution of income, way out of balance towards the already wealthy. There is the rapidly deteriorating infrastructure, without which we cannot build a growing economy. There is the continued importation of energy, transfering wealth to nations that have antipathy toward us. And there is the failure to move on from fossil fuel energy to something that is sustainable.

Continued tax cuts on the wealthi, err job creators erode our ability to maintain our infrastructure, which in turn inhibit the abilities of corporations to do well in the US. Vicious cycle.

Allowing ~1/2 the citizenry to not pay federal income taxes erodes that ability too... all while going against that whole equal treatment by government under law thingy

 

[Dr.Drock]

1. The Economy/Jobs
2. National Security
3. Social Security (I'm roughly 20 years away. But recently it's been on my mind)

This is why Mitt Romney will have my vote. He has by far the most experience with my top concern and has the best chance of making a positive impact. I think he has the best chance to fix social security as well.

I'm sorry for you Fang. The democrats have plundered social security and medicare.. I doubt that it will be there for you.. make a contingency plan.

I hope you're wrong. But there's a good chance you could be right. I have a 401K and other savings/investments. But if SS isn' there you're going to see a lot of REALLY pissed of Americans. Greece comes to mind.

You'll get your SS, it'll just be worth way less than had you just got your money right away. (thanks to inflation of course)

 

[DiamondDave]

Continued tax cuts on the wealthi, err job creators erode our ability to maintain our infrastructure, which in turn inhibit the abilities of corporations to do well in the US. Vicious cycle.

is it really the tax cuts, or is it the trillions in over seas imperial adventures that are the problem? i think you had it right in the first post. Tax cuts on wealthier folks can be argued to create more jobs, increasing federal revenue.

I think the problem is more about mismanagement of the revenue instead of the need to have more of it.

I did not see these jobs being created when Bush did the tax cut. And I did see jobs created during Clinton's terms when the taxes were increased. Within reason, little corelation there from recent experiance.

Please show causation (not coincidence correlation) where raising taxes creates jobs...

You see.. as told to you many times... a company will gain back profit it lost and stabilize before hiring more workers.. .they will not just hire for the sake of hiring or because they just got a break after 7 quarters of loss/low earnings...

 

[TakeAStepBack]

I don't start many threads, but i was hoping to get a better feel for what issue USMB members personally find to be most important in the election cycle and why.

I have three. But I'll stick to the main one, which is the economy. Not just job creation (as govt. creates no jobs, they can merely get out of the way to allow creation) but the entirety of our economy. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation and private sector health. Why? because it affects everyones lives. From top to bottom. To me it's extremely important.

So which is the most important to you an why?

The most important issue to me, which no one seems to be talking about, is infrastructure.

We've spent the last 10 years spending money fighting a war on terror while the rest of the world spent money investing in themselves.

We have a lot of catching up to do.

I don't think that people aren't talking about it because it isn't an important issue. I think we have a serious fiscal crisis on our hands that needs to be managed before any more money can be spent on large projects. Obama passed a 800 billion dollar stimulus bill to dole out to states for thsi purpose and it flunked. Not because infrastructure upgrades and maintenance aren't needed, but because state budgets are all running deficits. So they just jammed the money allocations into gaps.

 

[Foxfyre]

I don't start many threads, but i was hoping to get a better feel for what issue USMB members personally find to be most important in the election cycle and why.

I have three. But I'll stick to the main one, which is the economy. Not just job creation (as govt. creates no jobs, they can merely get out of the way to allow creation) but the entirety of our economy. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation and private sector health. Why? because it affects everyones lives. From top to bottom. To me it's extremely important.

So which is the most important to you an why?

The most important issue to me, which no one seems to be talking about, is infrastructure.

We've spent the last 10 years spending money fighting a war on terror while the rest of the world spent money investing in themselves.

We have a lot of catching up to do.

I don't think that people aren't talking about it because it isn't an important issue. I think we have a serious fiscal crisis on our hands that needs to be managed before any more money can be spent on large projects. Obama passed a 800 billion dollar stimulus bill to dole out to states for thsi purpose and it flunked. Not because infrastructure upgrades and maintenance aren't needed, but because state budgets are all running deficits. So they just jammed the money allocations into gaps.

Yep. The huge lion's share of any jobs 'saved' or 'created' were government jobs that should have been cut if we're ever going to get a handle on the explosiion of ever bigger, more intrusive, more authoritarian government as we begin to roll back government to its necessary purposes that we can afford.

Remember all that infrastructure that all those billions was supposed to be rebuilding while they created great new jobs? Well, seems like mostly none of the work was as shovel ready as Obama promised at the time--something even he is now forced to admit--but they allocated the money just the same, most of which was swallowed up in non-essential government bureaucracy or wasted on non-essential and often useless projects that hired few, if any, people. Some of it even went to foreign governments.

And yet there is a large segment of our society who so desperately seems to need to worship Obama and his ilk that they refuse to see any of that as a problem or issue and desperately need to believe that it was a success.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Continued tax cuts on the wealthi, err job creators erode our ability to maintain our infrastructure, which in turn inhibit the abilities of corporations to do well in the US. Vicious cycle.

is it really the tax cuts, or is it the trillions in over seas imperial adventures that are the problem? i think you had it right in the first post. Tax cuts on wealthier folks can be argued to create more jobs, increasing federal revenue.

I think the problem is more about mismanagement of the revenue instead of the need to have more of it.

I agree 100% that spending on ALL things is out of control. However, if we are all honest with each other, we will admit that reigning in this out of control spending simply cannot happen overnight, or even within my lifetime, probably. If this is fact, then cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans is only worsening our problems, yes?

Only if you believe "tax rates" and "tax revenues" are synonyms, the way Obama wants you to.

(They're not, by the way.)

 

[sfcalifornia]

I don't start many threads, but i was hoping to get a better feel for what issue USMB members personally find to be most important in the election cycle and why.

I have three. But I'll stick to the main one, which is the economy. Not just job creation (as govt. creates no jobs, they can merely get out of the way to allow creation) but the entirety of our economy. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation and private sector health. Why? because it affects everyones lives. From top to bottom. To me it's extremely important.

So which is the most important to you an why?

The most important issue to me, which no one seems to be talking about, is infrastructure.

We've spent the last 10 years spending money fighting a war on terror while the rest of the world spent money investing in themselves.

We have a lot of catching up to do.

I don't think that people aren't talking about it because it isn't an important issue. I think we have a serious fiscal crisis on our hands that needs to be managed before any more money can be spent on large projects. Obama passed a 800 billion dollar stimulus bill to dole out to states for thsi purpose and it flunked. Not because infrastructure upgrades and maintenance aren't needed, but because state budgets are all running deficits. So they just jammed the money allocations into gaps.

If the money was doled out poorly or not specifically earmarked then that is one thing but it still doesn't mean that without infrastructure upgrades and maintenance we can have solid economic growth.

We've been funding two wars without paying attention to our infrastructure and now we're faced with a crumbling infrastructure AND an economic crisis.

Infrastructure first, then economy.

</title> <meta name="Keywords" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://yui.yahooapis.com/combo?3.0.0/build/cssreset/reset-min.css&3.0.0/build/cssfonts/fonts-min.css&3.0.0/build/cssgrids/grids-min.css" /><link id="ctl00_layoutlink" rel="
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The nation’s deteriorating surface transportation infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 876,000 jobs, and suppress the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product by $897 Billion by 2020, according to a new report released today by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Bang, meet buck: The 3 best infrastructure investments to restart our economy
At one time considered the best in the world, America’s infrastructure is now crumbling – and it’s holding back our economic recovery. There’s never been a better time to start rebuilding – and to get the best economic bang for our public bucks, we should begin with our nation’s water, waste management and energy systems.

https://www.gmanet.com/FactFile.aspx?CNID=63770
The report explains how international economic competitors are sprinting ahead of the U.S. and outlines the case for creating a blueprint to transition to a high-tech transportation network for the 21st century. The report also contains many sobering statistics detailing how the U.S. is falling behind including:
•U.S. infrastructure has fallen from first place in the World Economic Forum’s 2005 economic competitiveness ranking to number 15 today.

 

[hortysir]

The tissues dem-bulbs will be using when Obama loses.




Invest in Kleenex

 

[Foxfyre]

The most important issue to me, which no one seems to be talking about, is infrastructure.

We've spent the last 10 years spending money fighting a war on terror while the rest of the world spent money investing in themselves.

We have a lot of catching up to do.

I don't think that people aren't talking about it because it isn't an important issue. I think we have a serious fiscal crisis on our hands that needs to be managed before any more money can be spent on large projects. Obama passed a 800 billion dollar stimulus bill to dole out to states for thsi purpose and it flunked. Not because infrastructure upgrades and maintenance aren't needed, but because state budgets are all running deficits. So they just jammed the money allocations into gaps.

If the money was doled out poorly or not specifically earmarked then that is one thing but it still doesn't mean that without infrastructure upgrades and maintenance we can have solid economic growth.

We've been funding two wars without paying attention to our infrastructure and now we're faced with a crumbling infrastructure AND an economic crisis.

Infrastructure first, then economy.

</title> <meta name="Keywords" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://yui.yahooapis.com/combo?3.0.0/build/cssreset/reset-min.css&3.0.0/build/cssfonts/fonts-min.css&3.0.0/build/cssgrids/grids-min.css" /><link id="ctl00_layoutlink" rel="
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The nation&#8217;s deteriorating surface transportation infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 876,000 jobs, and suppress the growth of the country&#8217;s Gross Domestic Product by $897 Billion by 2020, according to a new report released today by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Bang, meet buck: The 3 best infrastructure investments to restart our economy
At one time considered the best in the world, America&#8217;s infrastructure is now crumbling &#8211; and it&#8217;s holding back our economic recovery. There&#8217;s never been a better time to start rebuilding &#8211; and to get the best economic bang for our public bucks, we should begin with our nation&#8217;s water, waste management and energy systems.

https://www.gmanet.com/FactFile.aspx?CNID=63770
The report explains how international economic competitors are sprinting ahead of the U.S. and outlines the case for creating a blueprint to transition to a high-tech transportation network for the 21st century. The report also contains many sobering statistics detailing how the U.S. is falling behind including:
&#8226;U.S. infrastructure has fallen from first place in the World Economic Forum&#8217;s 2005 economic competitiveness ranking to number 15 today.

But where is it written that building essential infrastructure can't happen unless the federal government borrows mega billions or trillions of dollars from countries that don't have our best interests at heart and then wastes most of it while claiming to be investing in infrastructure?

Where is it written that infrastructure can no longer be built where it is needed by the states, countries, cities, and private companies like it used to be built?

By what logic is it better for an ever increasingly bloated federal government to collect the people's money, swallow up most of it to support that ever increasing, bloated, bureaucracy and then dole the rest back to the states to support their own bureaucracies and dribble out whatever might be left in some sort of infrastructure project?

Does anybody besides me see a much more practical way to acquire essential infrastructure?

 

[TakeAStepBack]

I see it. yes. Private sector enterprise. No govt. involvement.

 

[blackhawk]

I don't start many threads, but i was hoping to get a better feel for what issue USMB members personally find to be most important in the election cycle and why.

I have three. But I'll stick to the main one, which is the economy. Not just job creation (as govt. creates no jobs, they can merely get out of the way to allow creation) but the entirety of our economy. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, taxation and private sector health. Why? because it affects everyones lives. From top to bottom. To me it's extremely important.

So which is the most important to you an why?

15 trillion dollar and rising debt that thing is hanging over the nation like the sword of Damocles.

 

[LeftofLeft]

looking for the candidate that will put Small Business and the Entreprenuer first and stand against Big Business, Big Pharma, Big Education, Big Government, Big Journalism, Big Environment, Big Lobby, Big Legal, and Big Union. At the and of the day, since America is about equal opportunity, I am really not looking for one who will FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORM AMERICA.