I spent some time today reading the US Constitution. I am no lawyer, but I could not find any provision for any branch of the federal government, even the executive branch, to call for the dismissal of a private company CEO. I bet Jefferson is in Heaven (or Hell) wondering what happened to the country he worked so hard to help found and to steer clear of government tyranny.
As I walked with my dog last night, I thought about what it will take to re-capture the path of greatness from which our country has strayed. I thought about the current political leadership and as I did a mental role call, I could not think of one man (or woman) that have what I consider the leadership ability to be great. The Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, all follow the same mentality of compromise and going along to get along. Who will be the Thomas Payne or John Hancock of our generation?
We have become a nation so soft from our own success that we fail to raise leaders willing to pay the price of leadership. Sure, we probably have more great business leaders (financial and automotive company not withstanding) than any nation in the history of the world. We have great military leaders that when allowed to use their expertise and execute their plans without micromanagement have built nations that spread freedom to a part of the world that has never known such. But, we don't have leaders willing to be crucified in the press, to have their wives and children exposed to ridicule that inevitably comes with change. We don't have wealthy men willing to give up their homes, their fortunes, their lives and the lives of their children so that their descendants can live free in a better world than we have today. Where are those men?
Desperate times do not create those men. Those men are created by God and are gifted to step forward in times of great angst. They may not be the smartest or the most brave or even the most faithful, but in every successful society, they are called by God to do the extraordinary. History teaches us nothing if not that Godly societies succeed and those that turn from Him will fail and fall hard when they do.
God guided the men that created our government. He did not guide them to create a theocracy because He gives us the choice to follow Him or not. He guided them to create a government that is run by people of His choosing. Where are those men today? Are they hearing the call and remaining silent? Or is God punishing us by giving us a leader that does not believe Him? He would certainly be justified in doing so...
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Economy
The economy is in recession and headed for depression. We all know that while the unemployment rate is at 8%, with furloughs and pay cuts, the effective rate is more like 15%. Our brilliant politicians and economists believe that people need to borrow more money to spend and the government needs to spend more of our money to solve the problems. All that does is put the burden on our grandchildren and sacrifices the needs of our children for the desires of us. How would "The Greatest Generation" feel about that?
Here are my steps to fixing the economy right now:
1. End withholding for the lowest two tax brackets. That puts money in the pockets of those that need it now. Yes, they will have to pay taxes later, but it is not nearly as deep as the amount taken in taxes.
2. Declare a tax free summer for earners under $75,000. Include the amount paid by their employers for SS and FICA if the company will pay it to the wage earner.
3. Companies that hire individuals that have been unemployed for 6 months or more will be able to deduct the full amount of cost (salary, benefits, taxes, training) from the tax amount owed for 1 year. Yes, this is a double dip on the cost, but gets them off the public assistance.
4. All union wage contracts are to be renegotiated through binding arbitration with the goal of making US companies competitive with the rest of the world. Don't tell me the US automakers can't compete because of US labor rates. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, BMW, Mercedes are doing great with US workers... they aren't paying huge payoffs to UAW.
5. Let some banks, investment firms, insurance companies, big corporations, fail. Stockholders will pay more attention to the value of the company if their money is at risk. Also, do not allow publicly traded stock to be valued as an asset on the books. Only hard assets like real property.
6. Promote debt reduction by people. I am not a fan of using the tax code as motivation, but let the president use his bully pulpit to promote debt reduction. When people reduce their debt and government reduces its debt, the greatest nation will be in a better position to help other nations.
Given the implementation of these 6 simple actions, the economy will grow immediately at a reasonable rate and consumer confidence will spread.
Here are my steps to fixing the economy right now:
1. End withholding for the lowest two tax brackets. That puts money in the pockets of those that need it now. Yes, they will have to pay taxes later, but it is not nearly as deep as the amount taken in taxes.
2. Declare a tax free summer for earners under $75,000. Include the amount paid by their employers for SS and FICA if the company will pay it to the wage earner.
3. Companies that hire individuals that have been unemployed for 6 months or more will be able to deduct the full amount of cost (salary, benefits, taxes, training) from the tax amount owed for 1 year. Yes, this is a double dip on the cost, but gets them off the public assistance.
4. All union wage contracts are to be renegotiated through binding arbitration with the goal of making US companies competitive with the rest of the world. Don't tell me the US automakers can't compete because of US labor rates. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, BMW, Mercedes are doing great with US workers... they aren't paying huge payoffs to UAW.
5. Let some banks, investment firms, insurance companies, big corporations, fail. Stockholders will pay more attention to the value of the company if their money is at risk. Also, do not allow publicly traded stock to be valued as an asset on the books. Only hard assets like real property.
6. Promote debt reduction by people. I am not a fan of using the tax code as motivation, but let the president use his bully pulpit to promote debt reduction. When people reduce their debt and government reduces its debt, the greatest nation will be in a better position to help other nations.
Given the implementation of these 6 simple actions, the economy will grow immediately at a reasonable rate and consumer confidence will spread.
House and Senate
The federal government has become a behemoth that feeds on tax payers and generates very little in the way of positive governance for society. Let me say for the record that there are some good, hard working, men and women employed by our federal government that do their jobs with effort and excellence. And, as with any large entity, there are those that do little to further the cause.
The most egregious of the latter group is the US Congress. Our elected officials have betrayed our trust, repeatedly lied, taken bribes in the form of reelection campaign contributions, voted against the will of their own constituents, been found guilty of felonies, and many other failures. There is not a leader among them willing or able to lead our country on a new path. Our recent election was about change, but the people failed to enact change in the house or senate.
As dictator, I would make a few changes to the house and senate immediately. First, I would make their compensation come from the states. Governors can meet and decided on a cost of living multiplier for each year to keep compensation consistent, but house and senate members can no longer vote for raises and benefits for themselves. No more government pensions and retirement plans outside of social security. They follow the same rules as the rest of us.
Secondly, I would implement term limits at 5 terms or 10 years for the House and 2 terms or 12 years for the Senate. Lifelong appointments, even if they have to be reelected leads to corruption and power for longevity. Go get another job. This would also change the committee appointment rules to take the “senior” members out of control. The American Taxpayer cannot vote for change if the same guys control all of the committees for 30 years.
Real campaign finance reform is next on the list, but not that crap McCain tried to pass off as reform. How about this solution? You can donate up to 50% of the amount you paid in taxes last year, but only to candidates that will be on your ballot. That stops out of state money influencing elections. Accepting money from outside of your district will be a federal offense punishable by a confiscation of your personal funds up to and including the amount of the tainted money and an immediate removal from office. All confiscated funds will be donated to a charity chosen by the governor of your state.
The most egregious of the latter group is the US Congress. Our elected officials have betrayed our trust, repeatedly lied, taken bribes in the form of reelection campaign contributions, voted against the will of their own constituents, been found guilty of felonies, and many other failures. There is not a leader among them willing or able to lead our country on a new path. Our recent election was about change, but the people failed to enact change in the house or senate.
As dictator, I would make a few changes to the house and senate immediately. First, I would make their compensation come from the states. Governors can meet and decided on a cost of living multiplier for each year to keep compensation consistent, but house and senate members can no longer vote for raises and benefits for themselves. No more government pensions and retirement plans outside of social security. They follow the same rules as the rest of us.
Secondly, I would implement term limits at 5 terms or 10 years for the House and 2 terms or 12 years for the Senate. Lifelong appointments, even if they have to be reelected leads to corruption and power for longevity. Go get another job. This would also change the committee appointment rules to take the “senior” members out of control. The American Taxpayer cannot vote for change if the same guys control all of the committees for 30 years.
Real campaign finance reform is next on the list, but not that crap McCain tried to pass off as reform. How about this solution? You can donate up to 50% of the amount you paid in taxes last year, but only to candidates that will be on your ballot. That stops out of state money influencing elections. Accepting money from outside of your district will be a federal offense punishable by a confiscation of your personal funds up to and including the amount of the tainted money and an immediate removal from office. All confiscated funds will be donated to a charity chosen by the governor of your state.
US Dictator - For One Week
If we have learned anything from the last 20 years of American politics, it is that the American political system is broken and unable to fix itself. Politicians are ill-equipped to deal with anything more important than how to create another committee to investigate the seating at the next lunch paid for by me, the American Taxpayer. Compound their ineptitude by elections with a voting public that can’t properly push out a perforated dot and you get where we are now.
Whether you are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or any other party doesn’t matter. Your guy/girl, is powerless to address the real issues confronting our nation. The truly sad part is that if you asked the leaders of each of the parties to name the top 10 most pressing issues in our nation, the list would only vary by an item or two. They agree on the problems, but solutions are conspicuously absent in any meaningful debate.
If the American people would allow me to be dictator for a week, we can actually implement common sense solutions that govern our nation as intended by the founding fathers and tweaked by time and culture. Gone would be the red tape and the endless party line votes that seem to kill any truly helpful legislation. Gone would be the billions of dollars of pork that gets attached to even the simplest of bills.
My first action as dictator would be to establish ground rules for reversing any action that I implement. No action can be reversed without a supermajority of both houses, a signature of agreement by the President and immediate constitutional review by the Supreme Court. Upon agreement by all three branches, my decisions can be overturned.
First of all, the supermajority requires people to work together and not just vote along party lines. We have had enough of partisan politics in this country and not enough of what is good for our country. JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Too many politicians ask what our country can do to get them elected. Politics has always been about political parties, but we have taken it too far in this country and it needs to cease.
The President is the leader in our government. In this day, he is the most powerful person in the world. He is commander in chief of one of the greatest military forces ever assembled and the largest economy in the world, and in fact, the world economy hangs on his every word. Our founding fathers were wise enough to temper his power with oversight by the other two branches of government, but no legislation should be enacted without his approval.
It has been said that laws are not laws until they are challenged in court. It was probably said by a lawyer earning his new BMW at the expense of me, the American Taxpayer. To reduce court costs, why not make the Supreme Court review all new laws before they are officially enacted for constitutionality. If they pass muster and all have agreed, so be it.
Now that we have established the ground rules of my short dictatorship, let’s get to work solving the problems of our age. The problems we have in this country are complex. They are so interconnected within our society that even when one is losing, one is benefiting. It has been my experience that the more complex the problem, the more simple the solutions have to be. First, implementing a complex solution seldom works right the first time and always frustrates the users. Second, often the problem is the complexity itself and a simple solution has to address the complexity.
It is for this reason alone that as dictator I would start with the complex issues of the day and work toward simpler issues. The most complex issue confronting our society today is the single largest entity, the US Federal Government.
Whether you are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or any other party doesn’t matter. Your guy/girl, is powerless to address the real issues confronting our nation. The truly sad part is that if you asked the leaders of each of the parties to name the top 10 most pressing issues in our nation, the list would only vary by an item or two. They agree on the problems, but solutions are conspicuously absent in any meaningful debate.
If the American people would allow me to be dictator for a week, we can actually implement common sense solutions that govern our nation as intended by the founding fathers and tweaked by time and culture. Gone would be the red tape and the endless party line votes that seem to kill any truly helpful legislation. Gone would be the billions of dollars of pork that gets attached to even the simplest of bills.
My first action as dictator would be to establish ground rules for reversing any action that I implement. No action can be reversed without a supermajority of both houses, a signature of agreement by the President and immediate constitutional review by the Supreme Court. Upon agreement by all three branches, my decisions can be overturned.
First of all, the supermajority requires people to work together and not just vote along party lines. We have had enough of partisan politics in this country and not enough of what is good for our country. JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Too many politicians ask what our country can do to get them elected. Politics has always been about political parties, but we have taken it too far in this country and it needs to cease.
The President is the leader in our government. In this day, he is the most powerful person in the world. He is commander in chief of one of the greatest military forces ever assembled and the largest economy in the world, and in fact, the world economy hangs on his every word. Our founding fathers were wise enough to temper his power with oversight by the other two branches of government, but no legislation should be enacted without his approval.
It has been said that laws are not laws until they are challenged in court. It was probably said by a lawyer earning his new BMW at the expense of me, the American Taxpayer. To reduce court costs, why not make the Supreme Court review all new laws before they are officially enacted for constitutionality. If they pass muster and all have agreed, so be it.
Now that we have established the ground rules of my short dictatorship, let’s get to work solving the problems of our age. The problems we have in this country are complex. They are so interconnected within our society that even when one is losing, one is benefiting. It has been my experience that the more complex the problem, the more simple the solutions have to be. First, implementing a complex solution seldom works right the first time and always frustrates the users. Second, often the problem is the complexity itself and a simple solution has to address the complexity.
It is for this reason alone that as dictator I would start with the complex issues of the day and work toward simpler issues. The most complex issue confronting our society today is the single largest entity, the US Federal Government.
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