Posted by
Rich from Paso on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 12:06:50 AM
With the ever downwardly spiraling economy, isn't there a point where a $3 trillion government becomes just plain immoral?
That is the question I wrestle with as I listen to all these pundits and talking heads jibber jabber on and on about what the government needs to do to halt the economic slide.
I believe that the government has too much to create this world of artificiality that has brought about this crisis. Every time Congress passes another law for a new program, a new set of regulations, a new tax credit, a new deduction, a new withholding, a new tax, a new incentive, it puts more artificiality into the market. How can anyone claim to know what the markets are or are not going to do with all of the meddling that Congress and the Executive branch have done? What the United States needs to do to get out of this mess is the following six pretty damn good ideas:
1. Freeze the US budge at $2 trillion. Shouldn't that be enough money to run any government?
2. Shrink government.
a. Time has come to actually end two departments of the Federal government. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has been an abysmal failure. HUD failed to do anything to prevent the housing crisis and actually they more than likely exacerbated the problem by encouraging those who couldn't afford to buy houses to get mortgage and encouraged banks to give the bad loans. On the "urban development" front, urban blight is just as bad as it has ever been. Only through the efforts of private commercial developers has urban blight been blunted. There is nothing that HUD does that couldn't be handled by an agency or by another department. The other department that is needless is the Department of Labor. What do they do really? Do people really need to the Department of Labor to encourage them to get a job or for businesses to hire them? Of course not. The only functionality that I see from the Department of Labor is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The functionality of the Department of Labor should be reduced and merged with the Department of Commerce into a new Department of Labor and Commerce. The new DLC would have a mission of act as the "honest broker" between Labor and Commerce to encourage equity between the two historic rivals. Were I president instead of Mr. Obama, I would sign an executive order forbidding strikes and lockouts until this crisis passes. Instead of strikes and lockouts, which would cause further damage to our already ravaged economy, I would mandate binding arbiration between the disputed parties. This would provide a starting point for new negotiations to begin while having both sides go back to work.
b. With the budget freeze I propose above, each remaining department would have to conduct a Six Sigma review of their functions. Six Sigma is a process redesign and review methodology that builds efficiencies into systems by either redesigning, reallocating or eliminating steps and processes. Each department would have to look from within to live within the budget. Cuts may be necessary and inevitable and programs may have to end, but ideally this would be an optimal opportunity to eliminate wasteful and duplicative programs.
We need a series of Constitutional amendments to limit the power of government to spend money they never had. That's our money. Congress and the President will do absolutely nothing to stem their power. We will need 3/4th of the states to demand the following Constitutional amendments.
4. Balanced Budget Amendment. We have to live within our means with our money. They should have to live within their means with our money as well.
5. Line-item Veto Amendment. The president should have the authority to strike out lin-items of spending in every bill. Those items struck from a bill would be rolled into a single package to be considered for Congressional override of a supermajority. The rest of the bill will become law upon the president signing it.
6. Every person has an oar in the water and everyone rows as hard as they are able. What I mean by this is that we need a tax code that ensures that all able-bodied Americans contribute to the common good by paying taxes thus taxing all Americans equally. However, it is true that not all Americans make the same amount of money. Those that can pay more ought to pay more. That is equitable.
That is what I love so much about my "10 and 10" tax code.
Every American that receives a paycheck pays only 10% of that income in a flat income tax. There are no deductions, no tax credits, and should be no refunds. Your W-2 says you made $100,000 last year? You move the decimal point to the left and if your W-2 doesn't say that $10,000, you get a refund or you pay to make up the difference.
You think you can avoid paying taxes by not getting a paycheck? That's okay too. Anytime you buy anything, you will pay a 10% sales tax at the cash register. This is a tax on under-the-table payments, the drug trade, black and gray markets and foreigners who travel to America and take part in the largess of the American taxpayer. The nice thing about the "10 and 10" tax is that this is the only taxes you pay. All other taxes, like capital gains, inheritence, excise, cigarette, alcohol and gasoline taxes (just to name a few) are recinded. Additionally, because of the absolute necessity of eating, all food purchases, whether they are in the store or in the restaurant, are tax exempt. I consider it immoral to tax the sustainance that ensures life.
If you spent every dollar of your $100,000 (and many Americans do) your effective tax rate is 19% (minus food costs). You paid in real dollars $19,000 in taxes. However, if your income was just $60,000, you paid $11,400, or 19%. If you earned $20,000, you would pay $3,800 in taxes. The best thing about this tax code is that anyone with a third grade education can figure their own taxes without the aide of an accountant.
For corporations that make more than $250,000 in profits, your tax rate is only 10% with no deduction. This will encourage corporations from around the world to come to America to employ our workers and build their machines and make their products here because they will know without a doubt that America is the most friendly nation on the planet for business. Businesses will feel that America will give them the highest return on investment of any developed nation in the world. America will be return to being the safest bet for business. American and international business will be begging foreigners from around the world to come to our shores to work and live due to the lack of employees. And that would be just fine because each and every employee is another man or woman with an oar in the water helping the rest of America row the boat as hard as they are able... and that is a very good thing.
America can be saved from all the doom and gloom that the smartest people in the room see coming down the pike. Ironically, these are the same group of people that go us in to this mess in the first place. You want "change"? You want "hope"? This is change you can believe in.