2) Legalize pot (would raise tax income, drastically reduce violence in the US and Mexico allow regulation)
3) Open up trade with Cuba (sanctions are needlessly impoverishing Cubans with no political success)
4) Quietly tell Israel and Taiwan they have 4 years to work out peaceful agreements as best as they can with their neighbors. After which, we will openly withdraw protectionist support. These countries currently serve as trigger points for another world war just as the Austrian archbishop did. It’s not worth the risk leaving these triggers in place.
5) Slash medicare, medicade and SS. Also raise taxes on capital gains in line with income taxes. Gonna fix this deficit.
Fix politics – this is the single biggest problem facing the country. Most of the major problems we have can be directly traced back to our broken government.
1) Term limits for all politicians – perhaps 2 terms. NO CAREER POLITICIANS.
2) Take money out of politics altogether. Each candidate per district gets the same (low) amount of money each for basic campaign infrastructure needs. This would be government funded. No one gets a billion dollars. Do you know how crazy that is, a billion dollars for a political race? We’ve lost our minds.
3) Eliminate the media hooplah – every candidate gets a preset amount of time on national television to discuss their platform. It is the exact same for all candidates. No bus tours, no appearances on Leno, no rallies, no landing on aircraft carriers. You get your time, you get to say what you want to say, then you get to shut up and let people decide. No attack ads either. We would still have the debates, but no theme music, CGI planes flying across the screen, etc. Politics is not entertainment.
4) Shorten the cycle. It takes forver to elect a President, let’s cut this down.
5) At every vote, voters are handed a sheet of paper explaining what anyone in office has voted for in the past – simply a statement of the facts.
6) No lobbyists, period. Corporations are not people. If your corporation wants something to happen, you can try to encourage your employees to vote for that. No buying influence (although this would certainly still happen under the table, it would be drasticly reduced).
Never gonna happen, but if we could do this, within a decade a lot of the problems this country faces would fix themselves.
Also, I agree with Blackswan. He makes some great points.
“I lost my wife to a margin call. Wives get mad when you come home and say, ‘Sweetheart, I lost the house today.’” - Dennis Gartman on trading mistakes
1) no toilet paper in public restrooms. Lets learn from the Chinese!
Are you encouraging people to be more Asian and steal extra napkins from restaurants on a regular basis?
“I lost my wife to a margin call. Wives get mad when you come home and say, ‘Sweetheart, I lost the house today.’” - Dennis Gartman on trading mistakes
The problem is that it’s really hard to make a significant change in public policy without causing short term friction. For instance, let’s say we do something pretty obvious, like cut corn subsidies. In the short term, we would get huge unemployment in Iowa and similar states. Also, there will be more layoffs and bankruptcies of corn processors, ethanol producers, and other companies that rely on the status quo. While there will probably be long term economic benefits, when making the decision, we must factor in how long it will take to recover from the short term effects. Too many reforms at the same time would be even more complicated, so we would need to prioritize the more important reforms, and time the policy changes very carefully.
But anyway, if I was supreme dictator, here are a few things that I would consider:
1) Discourage personal leverage - cut mortgage tax interest deduction, increase penalties on personal bankruptcy.
2) Encourage immigration of highly skilled workers - free green card with every science PhD. Instant H1 if your company is willing to pay for it.
3) Allow export of trash and waste to other countries - screw those guys!
4) Do something to cut healthcare costs - cap lawsuit payouts to something reasonable, like the person’s expected lost income. Encourage immigration of skilled foreign doctors. Cut Medicare/Medicaid payment on treatments which don’t have proven clinical results.
5) Keep Social Security in a separate fund - stop allowing politicians to use Social Security payments for non-related things.
6) Congressional term limits.
7) Encourage healthy eating - cut meat and dairy subsidies.
8) Encourage US people to do useful things with their lives - require universities to publish employment rates based on college major in their admissions material.
9) Increase Social Security retirement age - people live longer now.
2) Limit campaign financing. It’s ridiculous the amounts both sides are collecting. An individual or institution should be limited to donate $100 to a political party And there should be a limit to how much a party can spend in a campaign.
1) no toilet paper in public restrooms. Lets learn from the Chinese!
In China, you are supposed to put used toilet paper in the trash can. This was a big culture shock for me when I went there. Apparently, the plumbing in some places is not so good and cannot handle the toilet paper. Also, I saw that someone took a dump on the Great Wall of China. Nothing says “FU, world” like defecating on a world wonder.
1) no toilet paper in public restrooms. Lets learn from the Chinese!
In China, you are supposed to put used toilet paper in the trash can. This was a big culture shock for me when I went there. Apparently, the plumbing in some places is not so good and cannot handle the toilet paper. Also, I saw that someone took a dump on the Great Wall of China. Nothing says “FU, world” like defecating on a world wonder.
Same thing in Greece, Turkey and some Middle Eastern countries. And Mexico. You wipe, put it in the trash next to the toilet, and move on. Kind of disturbing at first, but you get used to it.
Also in China, it’s no thing to see people going #1 or #2 in the street at any time for any reason. The Great Wall is next level but I’m not that surprised (maybe there wasn’t a street conveniently located nearby). This is a major reason that I am not that worried about China replacing the US any time soon – large swaths of the culture think it’s okay to crap in the street. They have a ways to go yet.
“I lost my wife to a margin call. Wives get mad when you come home and say, ‘Sweetheart, I lost the house today.’” - Dennis Gartman on trading mistakes
The problem is that it’s really hard to make a significant change in public policy without causing short term friction. For instance, let’s say we do something pretty obvious, like cut corn subsidies. In the short term, we would get huge unemployment in Iowa and similar states. Also, there will be more layoffs and bankruptcies of corn processors, ethanol producers, and other companies that rely on the status quo. While there will probably be long term economic benefits, when making the decision, we must factor in how long it will take to recover from the short term effects. Too many reforms at the same time would be even more complicated, so we would need to prioritize the more important reforms, and time the policy changes very carefully.
But anyway, if I was supreme dictator, here are a few things that I would consider:
1) Discourage personal leverage - cut mortgage tax interest deduction, increase penalties on personal bankruptcy.
2) Encourage immigration of highly skilled workers - free green card with every science PhD. Instant H1 if your company is willing to pay for it.
3) Allow export of trash and waste to other countries - screw those guys!
4) Do something to cut healthcare costs - cap lawsuit payouts to something reasonable, like the person’s expected lost income. Encourage immigration of skilled foreign doctors. Cut Medicare/Medicaid payment on treatments which don’t have proven clinical results.
5) Keep Social Security in a separate fund - stop allowing politicians to use Social Security payments for non-related things.
6) Congressional term limits.
7) Encourage healthy eating - cut meat and dairy subsidies.
8) Encourage US people to do useful things with their lives - require universities to publish employment rates based on college major in their admissions material.
9) Increase Social Security retirement age - people live longer now.
Agree with most except for the increase penalty on bankruptcy. If you want to decrease the amount of leverage individual consumers take you need to make the bankruptcy process easier not harder. If companies knew that individuals could default on unsecured debt by simply not paying without repercussions aside from a dinged credit report (basically letting the free market handle credit extension), card companies would be less willing to extend credit in the first place.
I agree with a lot of these. Terms limits would be at the top of the list of the mentions so far. The only thing I’d stab someone with a spork over is increasing cap gains. Nope.
If you want to decrease the amount of leverage individual consumers take you need to make the bankruptcy process easier not harder. If companies knew that individuals could default on unsecured debt by simply not paying without repercussions aside from a dinged credit report (basically letting the free market handle credit extension), card companies would be less willing to extend credit in the first place.
Ok it took me a while to process this. I was thinking penalty = go to jail. In which case, consumers would theoretically take out fewer loans. If penalty = credit card company can enslave your children, then yes, credit card companies would be more willing to issue debt. However, this might still be offset by lower willingness of consumers to take on debt.
My underlying assumptions are 1) Consumers generally have a choice about debt levels. So, debt levels would change more based on consumer preference than credit card company preference. And 2) Consumers will respond somewhat rationally to changes in laws. These assumptions might not be true, of course.
1.) Make it illegal to use cell phones in cars without some sort of hands free device or speaker phone. How many people need to die b/c some idiot was facebooking or texting on their phone before we make this illegal?
2.) I would make it illegal to possess all hand guns and assault weapons. All other guns would have to be registered. I live in STL and almost every week some innocent person dies while being held up at gun point. The argument that the bad guys are gonna have guns anyway doesn’t fly with me anymore and I am a conservative. We need to make it more difficult for the regular thugs to get guns and the only way to do that is what every other developed nation has done and get rid of these guns.
3.) I would increase the required qualifications for High School Teachers to be a Master’s degree in the specific subject they teach, not just some bull sh!* degree in “teaching”.
4.) I would increase the requirements for graduation from HS in science and math.
5.) I would eliminate university degree programs in liberal arts such as English Lit, History, Dance, Music, etc.
Put me in charge of food stamps. I’d get rid of Lone Star/ EBTcards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho’s, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I’d do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we’ll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your “home” will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a “government” job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the “common good.”
Before you write that I’ve violated someone’s rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be “demeaning” and ruin their “self esteem,” consider that it wasn’t that long ago that taking someone else’s money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people’s mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
1.) Make it illegal to use cell phones in cars without some sort of hands free device or speaker phone. How many people need to die b/c some idiot was facebooking or texting on their phone before we make this illegal?
2.) I would make it illegal to possess all hand guns and assault weapons. All other guns would have to be registered. I live in STL and almost every week some innocent person dies while being held up at gun point. The argument that the bad guys are gonna have guns anyway doesn’t fly with me anymore and I am a conservative. We need to make it more difficult for the regular thugs to get guns and the only way to do that is what every other developed nation has done and get rid of these guns.
3.) I would increase the required qualifications for High School Teachers to be a Master’s degree in the specific subject they teach, not just some bull sh!* degree in “teaching”.
4.) I would increase the requirements for graduation from HS in science and math.
5.) I would eliminate university degree programs in liberal arts such as English Lit, History, Dance, Music, etc.
If you were president and had full authority to do anything you wanted to change the laws … what would you change?
in the US or the country you are from
Mostly economic ideas.
1. Simplify tax code. Eliminate most deductions - phased in gradualy so that people who calculated on having a mortgage deduction or employers with medical premiums don’t get a sudden shock. But eventually, they are gone, baby!
2. Fuck Milton Friedman. Not literally, but I mean no paycheck withholding. Everyone writes a check to Uncle Sam on or before April 15th like they used to a long time ago. Let’s see anyone raise income taxes after that.
3. (Echoing CFAvMBA) - free basic food, shelter and clothing to adults; all this and free healthcare and education for kids. Anything fancy, you pay for it. Gadgets and drugs (incl tobacco) (If you contract terminal cancer at age 19, too bad but we don’t have unlimited resources. Ask Gates Foundation to help you. OK maybe we will make an exception for the very old or the disabled etc.)
4. Majorly reduced tax rates but 50% death tax for estates above 100 times the national average household income (so, 5 million as of now) to pay for it. You can’t take it with you. Don’t like it? Don’t die. Spend your money now. Stimulate the economy. Trickle down some real cash.
5. No needs-based anything. Everyone gets it or no one does. Rich or poor, if you are a citizen you should get what everyone else gets.
After 9th grade if you are 1) not passing all classes or 2) a habitual problem maker you will enter trade school. You will still be a part of your school and can participate in sports, clubs, ect. but you get to learn a skill set you will actually use.
People don’t get Calculus because they had a good teacher, they get calculus because they are smart. Forcing everyone through 4 years of classes they will never use is a waste of time for them and for tax payers. Who wouldn’t want to be taught for free welding, carpentry, construction, etc. when they know they will never be a banker or engineer……we are really just setting people back by not letting them pursue these routes sooner.
1) no toilet paper in public restrooms. Lets learn from the Chinese!
In China, you are supposed to put used toilet paper in the trash can. This was a big culture shock for me when I went there. Apparently, the plumbing in some places is not so good and cannot handle the toilet paper. Also, I saw that someone took a dump on the Great Wall of China. Nothing says “FU, world” like defecating on a world wonder.
Same thing in Bolivia. I just can’t do it though. I secretly put the paper in bowl and pray it goes down.
People don’t get Calculus because they had a good teacher, they get calculus because they are smart.
False dichotomy. You need both.
Students ages 14-20 are pretty impressionable and a good teacher vs a bad teacher makes a world of difference.
Especially if it’s a subject you are initially indifferent about. I can’t tell you how many subjects that I knew nothing about, I came to love thansk to great teachers. And similarly, was completely turned off of, by bad teachers.
I believe need-based education is important. Without financial aid programs, talented poor kids will be excluded from the highest tiers of education. Think of it as a societal investment in these kids’ potential.
I also think there should be some built-in societal insurance program. For instance, if you are hit by a car tomorrow and become disabled, it’s not really your fault if you cannot work any more. The same applies to people born with disabilities, or (arguably) people who are just born stupid, lazy or ugly. The challenge is keeping people from exploiting the system. Some exploitation is still better than absolutely no social insurance, in my opinion.
People don’t get Calculus because they had a good teacher, they get calculus because they are smart.
False dichotomy. You need both.
Students ages 14-20 are pretty impressionable and a good teacher vs a bad teacher makes a world of difference.
Especially if it’s a subject you are initially indifferent about. I can’t tell you how many subjects that I knew nothing about, I came to love thansk to great teachers. And similarly, was completely turned off of, by bad teachers.
The important thing is that you have some sort of motivating factor. It could be a good teacher, Tiger Mom, or any other sort of societal influence. I’m sure math teachers in India don’t have the same training as US math teachers. Yet, Indian kids are better at math in than US kids. Indian kids are pressured by parents and society to excel in technical subjects, much more so than US kids.
Healthcare hands down. Unfortunately people in the U.S. take it from behind really hard, and the current state of the system is way worse than that of many developed and shitty countries. How come the U.S. consumers are forced to pay for most of the global R&D, and then the industry happily sells the exact same treatment / procedures / equipment for a fraction of the cost worldwide? It’s not a matter of being a public, private or even a mixed system. It’s the artificial cost.
Wifey is closely involved in a foundation for treatment of a very rare disease affecting children ages around 1-6, and it’s just sad to learn about children who are victims not only of that condition, but also the U.S. healthcare system.
Also, I would authorize to have blo*job cabins next to office buildings.
1. I would not definitely send man to moon or have a mars mission. My country has millions hungry, I would feed them with this money and allow them to come to main stream. Nothing is more important in this world than a meal for a human being.
2. Ban motor sports - its funny we talk about green world and then watch F1 racing..
3. Improve public transport to the extent that nobody feels like driving a car. Subsidise electric car prices.
4. Politics will not be made a career.
5. Donate a percentage of my salary to treating child/brain cancer - support “help harry help others”.
Topless Tuesdays
1) Allow open alchohol containers in public
2) Legalize pot (would raise tax income, drastically reduce violence in the US and Mexico allow regulation)
3) Open up trade with Cuba (sanctions are needlessly impoverishing Cubans with no political success)
4) Quietly tell Israel and Taiwan they have 4 years to work out peaceful agreements as best as they can with their neighbors. After which, we will openly withdraw protectionist support. These countries currently serve as trigger points for another world war just as the Austrian archbishop did. It’s not worth the risk leaving these triggers in place.
5) Slash medicare, medicade and SS. Also raise taxes on capital gains in line with income taxes. Gonna fix this deficit.
I used to smoke pot and go to class.
Sneak in ten minutes late with a bullsh*t excuse.
Slink down low at my desk.
Pray to god nobody asked me any questions.
I was the best teacher ever.
His Royal Highness King Higgmond
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
Fix politics – this is the single biggest problem facing the country. Most of the major problems we have can be directly traced back to our broken government.
1) Term limits for all politicians – perhaps 2 terms. NO CAREER POLITICIANS.
2) Take money out of politics altogether. Each candidate per district gets the same (low) amount of money each for basic campaign infrastructure needs. This would be government funded. No one gets a billion dollars. Do you know how crazy that is, a billion dollars for a political race? We’ve lost our minds.
3) Eliminate the media hooplah – every candidate gets a preset amount of time on national television to discuss their platform. It is the exact same for all candidates. No bus tours, no appearances on Leno, no rallies, no landing on aircraft carriers. You get your time, you get to say what you want to say, then you get to shut up and let people decide. No attack ads either. We would still have the debates, but no theme music, CGI planes flying across the screen, etc. Politics is not entertainment.
4) Shorten the cycle. It takes forver to elect a President, let’s cut this down.
5) At every vote, voters are handed a sheet of paper explaining what anyone in office has voted for in the past – simply a statement of the facts.
6) No lobbyists, period. Corporations are not people. If your corporation wants something to happen, you can try to encourage your employees to vote for that. No buying influence (although this would certainly still happen under the table, it would be drasticly reduced).
Never gonna happen, but if we could do this, within a decade a lot of the problems this country faces would fix themselves.
Also, I agree with Blackswan. He makes some great points.
“I lost my wife to a margin call. Wives get mad when you come home and say, ‘Sweetheart, I lost the house today.’” - Dennis Gartman on trading mistakes
1) no toilet paper in public restrooms. Lets learn from the Chinese!
Are you encouraging people to be more Asian and steal extra napkins from restaurants on a regular basis?
“I lost my wife to a margin call. Wives get mad when you come home and say, ‘Sweetheart, I lost the house today.’” - Dennis Gartman on trading mistakes
Studying With
Its funny how all of us agree what needs to be fixed and how to go about doing it yet the people WE voted into office can’t and won’t do it.
Can’t change the system if you are not in the system but the system is damn dirty that we don’t want to be in the system. Catch-22
The problem is that it’s really hard to make a significant change in public policy without causing short term friction. For instance, let’s say we do something pretty obvious, like cut corn subsidies. In the short term, we would get huge unemployment in Iowa and similar states. Also, there will be more layoffs and bankruptcies of corn processors, ethanol producers, and other companies that rely on the status quo. While there will probably be long term economic benefits, when making the decision, we must factor in how long it will take to recover from the short term effects. Too many reforms at the same time would be even more complicated, so we would need to prioritize the more important reforms, and time the policy changes very carefully.
But anyway, if I was supreme dictator, here are a few things that I would consider:
1) Discourage personal leverage - cut mortgage tax interest deduction, increase penalties on personal bankruptcy.
2) Encourage immigration of highly skilled workers - free green card with every science PhD. Instant H1 if your company is willing to pay for it.
3) Allow export of trash and waste to other countries - screw those guys!
4) Do something to cut healthcare costs - cap lawsuit payouts to something reasonable, like the person’s expected lost income. Encourage immigration of skilled foreign doctors. Cut Medicare/Medicaid payment on treatments which don’t have proven clinical results.
5) Keep Social Security in a separate fund - stop allowing politicians to use Social Security payments for non-related things.
6) Congressional term limits.
7) Encourage healthy eating - cut meat and dairy subsidies.
8) Encourage US people to do useful things with their lives - require universities to publish employment rates based on college major in their admissions material.
9) Increase Social Security retirement age - people live longer now.
“I’m a CPA! I got money b***h!”
1) Reform tax code. No loopholes.
2) Limit campaign financing. It’s ridiculous the amounts both sides are collecting. An individual or institution should be limited to donate $100 to a political party And there should be a limit to how much a party can spend in a campaign.
3) Kill Mortgage interest tax deduction
In China, you are supposed to put used toilet paper in the trash can. This was a big culture shock for me when I went there. Apparently, the plumbing in some places is not so good and cannot handle the toilet paper. Also, I saw that someone took a dump on the Great Wall of China. Nothing says “FU, world” like defecating on a world wonder.
“I’m a CPA! I got money b***h!”
Same thing in Greece, Turkey and some Middle Eastern countries. And Mexico. You wipe, put it in the trash next to the toilet, and move on. Kind of disturbing at first, but you get used to it.
Also in China, it’s no thing to see people going #1 or #2 in the street at any time for any reason. The Great Wall is next level but I’m not that surprised (maybe there wasn’t a street conveniently located nearby). This is a major reason that I am not that worried about China replacing the US any time soon – large swaths of the culture think it’s okay to crap in the street. They have a ways to go yet.
“I lost my wife to a margin call. Wives get mad when you come home and say, ‘Sweetheart, I lost the house today.’” - Dennis Gartman on trading mistakes
Agree with most except for the increase penalty on bankruptcy. If you want to decrease the amount of leverage individual consumers take you need to make the bankruptcy process easier not harder. If companies knew that individuals could default on unsecured debt by simply not paying without repercussions aside from a dinged credit report (basically letting the free market handle credit extension), card companies would be less willing to extend credit in the first place.
I agree with a lot of these. Terms limits would be at the top of the list of the mentions so far. The only thing I’d stab someone with a spork over is increasing cap gains. Nope.
Ok it took me a while to process this. I was thinking penalty = go to jail. In which case, consumers would theoretically take out fewer loans. If penalty = credit card company can enslave your children, then yes, credit card companies would be more willing to issue debt. However, this might still be offset by lower willingness of consumers to take on debt.
My underlying assumptions are 1) Consumers generally have a choice about debt levels. So, debt levels would change more based on consumer preference than credit card company preference. And 2) Consumers will respond somewhat rationally to changes in laws. These assumptions might not be true, of course.
“I’m a CPA! I got money b***h!”
Lots of good ideas on this board.
In addition, I would:
1.) Make it illegal to use cell phones in cars without some sort of hands free device or speaker phone. How many people need to die b/c some idiot was facebooking or texting on their phone before we make this illegal?
2.) I would make it illegal to possess all hand guns and assault weapons. All other guns would have to be registered. I live in STL and almost every week some innocent person dies while being held up at gun point. The argument that the bad guys are gonna have guns anyway doesn’t fly with me anymore and I am a conservative. We need to make it more difficult for the regular thugs to get guns and the only way to do that is what every other developed nation has done and get rid of these guns.
3.) I would increase the required qualifications for High School Teachers to be a Master’s degree in the specific subject they teach, not just some bull sh!* degree in “teaching”.
4.) I would increase the requirements for graduation from HS in science and math.
5.) I would eliminate university degree programs in liberal arts such as English Lit, History, Dance, Music, etc.
6.) I would deport the Kardashians.
Studying With
End the Fed.
At first I thought you meant me, and I thought “ew, get out!” then I realized you meant St. Louis. Original reaction is still valid.
Haha, no. I live in probably the single worst city in the US, Saint Louis, Missouri. GOT TO GET OUT!
Studying With
Put me in charge …
Put me in charge of food stamps. I’d get rid of Lone Star/ EBTcards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho’s, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I’d do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we’ll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your “home” will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a “government” job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the “common good.”
Before you write that I’ve violated someone’s rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be “demeaning” and ruin their “self esteem,” consider that it wasn’t that long ago that taking someone else’s money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people’s mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
#6 would be a declaration of war against Frank.
I would pass the H.R. 3012 bill and make it a law effective my presidency! I am tied up and tired on waiting for the GC and I see no end in sight….
Abdicate to Ron Paul and let him have at it.
Mostly economic ideas.
1. Simplify tax code. Eliminate most deductions - phased in gradualy so that people who calculated on having a mortgage deduction or employers with medical premiums don’t get a sudden shock. But eventually, they are gone, baby!
2. Fuck Milton Friedman. Not literally, but I mean no paycheck withholding. Everyone writes a check to Uncle Sam on or before April 15th like they used to a long time ago. Let’s see anyone raise income taxes after that.
3. (Echoing CFAvMBA) - free basic food, shelter and clothing to adults; all this and free healthcare and education for kids. Anything fancy, you pay for it. Gadgets and drugs (incl tobacco) (If you contract terminal cancer at age 19, too bad but we don’t have unlimited resources. Ask Gates Foundation to help you. OK maybe we will make an exception for the very old or the disabled etc.)
4. Majorly reduced tax rates but 50% death tax for estates above 100 times the national average household income (so, 5 million as of now) to pay for it. You can’t take it with you. Don’t like it? Don’t die. Spend your money now. Stimulate the economy. Trickle down some real cash.
5. No needs-based anything. Everyone gets it or no one does. Rich or poor, if you are a citizen you should get what everyone else gets.
--
One Rec Ho
After 9th grade if you are 1) not passing all classes or 2) a habitual problem maker you will enter trade school. You will still be a part of your school and can participate in sports, clubs, ect. but you get to learn a skill set you will actually use.
People don’t get Calculus because they had a good teacher, they get calculus because they are smart. Forcing everyone through 4 years of classes they will never use is a waste of time for them and for tax payers. Who wouldn’t want to be taught for free welding, carpentry, construction, etc. when they know they will never be a banker or engineer……we are really just setting people back by not letting them pursue these routes sooner.
Same thing in Bolivia. I just can’t do it though. I secretly put the paper in bowl and pray it goes down.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
False dichotomy. You need both.
Students ages 14-20 are pretty impressionable and a good teacher vs a bad teacher makes a world of difference.
Especially if it’s a subject you are initially indifferent about. I can’t tell you how many subjects that I knew nothing about, I came to love thansk to great teachers. And similarly, was completely turned off of, by bad teachers.
--
One Rec Ho
I believe need-based education is important. Without financial aid programs, talented poor kids will be excluded from the highest tiers of education. Think of it as a societal investment in these kids’ potential.
I also think there should be some built-in societal insurance program. For instance, if you are hit by a car tomorrow and become disabled, it’s not really your fault if you cannot work any more. The same applies to people born with disabilities, or (arguably) people who are just born stupid, lazy or ugly. The challenge is keeping people from exploiting the system. Some exploitation is still better than absolutely no social insurance, in my opinion.
“I’m a CPA! I got money b***h!”
The important thing is that you have some sort of motivating factor. It could be a good teacher, Tiger Mom, or any other sort of societal influence. I’m sure math teachers in India don’t have the same training as US math teachers. Yet, Indian kids are better at math in than US kids. Indian kids are pressured by parents and society to excel in technical subjects, much more so than US kids.
“I’m a CPA! I got money b***h!”
Healthcare hands down. Unfortunately people in the U.S. take it from behind really hard, and the current state of the system is way worse than that of many developed and shitty countries. How come the U.S. consumers are forced to pay for most of the global R&D, and then the industry happily sells the exact same treatment / procedures / equipment for a fraction of the cost worldwide? It’s not a matter of being a public, private or even a mixed system. It’s the artificial cost.
Wifey is closely involved in a foundation for treatment of a very rare disease affecting children ages around 1-6, and it’s just sad to learn about children who are victims not only of that condition, but also the U.S. healthcare system.
Also, I would authorize to have blo*job cabins next to office buildings.
1. I would not definitely send man to moon or have a mars mission. My country has millions hungry, I would feed them with this money and allow them to come to main stream. Nothing is more important in this world than a meal for a human being.
2. Ban motor sports - its funny we talk about green world and then watch F1 racing..
3. Improve public transport to the extent that nobody feels like driving a car. Subsidise electric car prices.
4. Politics will not be made a career.
5. Donate a percentage of my salary to treating child/brain cancer - support “help harry help others”.
Best regards,
Sooraj.
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