Here's How To Make Things Better
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?
Duh, right?
Eleven percent of Americans said they were satisfied.
Now, as negative a number as 11 percent is in that poll, I gotta ask, “Who are these 11 percent of Americans who are satisfied?”
I mean, there are 11 percent of us sitting around saying, “Yeah, it’s good. I think things are going pretty swimmingly right now.”
Who are these people?
Are they people who simply don’t know what’s going on around them? People who never watch, listen to or read the news? Are they polling town drunks? cloistered monks? Who?
All I can say is, if you think things are going well, you’re either delusional or you just really have no idea what’s going on.
And the thing that concerns me the most is that there is little evidence that things are going to get better any time soon. Economic indicators are feeble at best. And financial markets around the globe are beyond jittery. Don’t even look at your 401(k).
There is no real potential for job growth as companies rein in hiring and capital expenditures.
And worst of all? The government doesn’t seem to have a plan.
I know, I know, this is all George W. Bush’s fault. But seriously, can we all at least agree that Obama’s plan to make things better – the Keynsian economic model of spending copious amounts of government money – isn’t making things better?
Can we all at least agree that the government needs to try something else?
A couple of months ago, when I still had a Facebook account, one of my liberal friends was posting all these rosy assessments of the economy and saying what a wonderful job President Obama was doing. I posted a couple links that pointed out some ominous signs in the economy and hinted that a double-dip recession and severe stock market gyrations were possible.
He and his liberal minions dismissed my comments out of hand and skewered me for them. See, you say anything but glowing happy stuff about President Obama, those folks paint you as a far-right loon.
Of course, today pretty much exactly what I warned them would happen, happened. Never passing up the opportunity to be a bit of a political jerk, I fired off an email to my liberal friend and pointed this all out. I ended with, “What do you say now, Obama boy?”
So he says, “OK, so you’re the prez beginning tomorrow. What do you do? What’s your plan? “
I am so glad he asked.
First, you reform/simplify the tax code. You have three tax brackets for individuals and corporations based on income level and then you eliminate ALL exemptions, deductions and ridiculous corporate loopholes.
You tax income generated by outsourcing at 70 percent. If you did only those things, tax revenue would increase so much I might even be on board with some of the dopey government programs liberals hold so dear.
Next, you pass meaningful campaign finance reform so corporate, trial lawyer and union interests stay the hell out of Congress’ business and can’t screw things up and put the loopholes back in.
Suddenly, the only thing a Congressman has to worry about is his constituents and THEIR wishes – you know, the people that elect him.
Next you severely limit the size and scope of government in all sectors, defense included. (The U.S. is responsible for 46 percent of the world’s defense spending. China is second at 6 percent. That’s insanity.)
You reign in myriad government agencies that regulate everything from how you shut off a lawn mower to how hot a clothes dryer can be. Basically, you follow the 10th Amendment. The powers not delegated to the feds by the Constitution stay with states and individuals. There’s a reason the founders put that in there.
I checked out the “A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies.” It’s an alphabetical list of all organizations in the federal executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. What a hoot. Well, it would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. There are nearly 500 of them listed.
Yes, 500.
All those departments and agencies are staffed by piles of bureaucrats. They drain capital from the private sector, thereby strangling investment and innovation. Government is totally out of control.
It’s pretty simple.[[In-content Ad]]If you turn the capitalists and entrepreneurs loose, there will be jobs and prosperity.
If you regulate the daylights out of everything and try to run everything out of Washington, if you throw in a few huge government programs like George Bush’s prescription drug plan and No Child Left Behind nonsense, if you run up a mountain of debt, if you crash the economy and reduce tax revenue, if you pass a monstrously expensive health care mandate and a trillion-dollar “stimulus package” and run up a 4X bigger mountain of debt there will be, well, pretty much what we’ve got today.
Government just needs to get out of the way and allow the private sector to flourish.
What’s the alternative? European-style Keynsian silliness where the government provides more and more services and pumps money into the economy?
European economies are falling like dominoes. They’re more broke then we are. Too much government. Too many agencies. Too many programs. Too many administrators. It’s a zero sum game. There are only so many of us in the private sector paying the bills for all that government.
I know, I know. Corporations are all evil and greedy. Maybe, but they’re also are only hope. Allow them to invest, innovate and make money. Tax them fairly, sit back and watch the prosperity.
That’s a good start anyway.
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In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?
Duh, right?
Eleven percent of Americans said they were satisfied.
Now, as negative a number as 11 percent is in that poll, I gotta ask, “Who are these 11 percent of Americans who are satisfied?”
I mean, there are 11 percent of us sitting around saying, “Yeah, it’s good. I think things are going pretty swimmingly right now.”
Who are these people?
Are they people who simply don’t know what’s going on around them? People who never watch, listen to or read the news? Are they polling town drunks? cloistered monks? Who?
All I can say is, if you think things are going well, you’re either delusional or you just really have no idea what’s going on.
And the thing that concerns me the most is that there is little evidence that things are going to get better any time soon. Economic indicators are feeble at best. And financial markets around the globe are beyond jittery. Don’t even look at your 401(k).
There is no real potential for job growth as companies rein in hiring and capital expenditures.
And worst of all? The government doesn’t seem to have a plan.
I know, I know, this is all George W. Bush’s fault. But seriously, can we all at least agree that Obama’s plan to make things better – the Keynsian economic model of spending copious amounts of government money – isn’t making things better?
Can we all at least agree that the government needs to try something else?
A couple of months ago, when I still had a Facebook account, one of my liberal friends was posting all these rosy assessments of the economy and saying what a wonderful job President Obama was doing. I posted a couple links that pointed out some ominous signs in the economy and hinted that a double-dip recession and severe stock market gyrations were possible.
He and his liberal minions dismissed my comments out of hand and skewered me for them. See, you say anything but glowing happy stuff about President Obama, those folks paint you as a far-right loon.
Of course, today pretty much exactly what I warned them would happen, happened. Never passing up the opportunity to be a bit of a political jerk, I fired off an email to my liberal friend and pointed this all out. I ended with, “What do you say now, Obama boy?”
So he says, “OK, so you’re the prez beginning tomorrow. What do you do? What’s your plan? “
I am so glad he asked.
First, you reform/simplify the tax code. You have three tax brackets for individuals and corporations based on income level and then you eliminate ALL exemptions, deductions and ridiculous corporate loopholes.
You tax income generated by outsourcing at 70 percent. If you did only those things, tax revenue would increase so much I might even be on board with some of the dopey government programs liberals hold so dear.
Next, you pass meaningful campaign finance reform so corporate, trial lawyer and union interests stay the hell out of Congress’ business and can’t screw things up and put the loopholes back in.
Suddenly, the only thing a Congressman has to worry about is his constituents and THEIR wishes – you know, the people that elect him.
Next you severely limit the size and scope of government in all sectors, defense included. (The U.S. is responsible for 46 percent of the world’s defense spending. China is second at 6 percent. That’s insanity.)
You reign in myriad government agencies that regulate everything from how you shut off a lawn mower to how hot a clothes dryer can be. Basically, you follow the 10th Amendment. The powers not delegated to the feds by the Constitution stay with states and individuals. There’s a reason the founders put that in there.
I checked out the “A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies.” It’s an alphabetical list of all organizations in the federal executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. What a hoot. Well, it would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. There are nearly 500 of them listed.
Yes, 500.
All those departments and agencies are staffed by piles of bureaucrats. They drain capital from the private sector, thereby strangling investment and innovation. Government is totally out of control.
It’s pretty simple.[[In-content Ad]]If you turn the capitalists and entrepreneurs loose, there will be jobs and prosperity.
If you regulate the daylights out of everything and try to run everything out of Washington, if you throw in a few huge government programs like George Bush’s prescription drug plan and No Child Left Behind nonsense, if you run up a mountain of debt, if you crash the economy and reduce tax revenue, if you pass a monstrously expensive health care mandate and a trillion-dollar “stimulus package” and run up a 4X bigger mountain of debt there will be, well, pretty much what we’ve got today.
Government just needs to get out of the way and allow the private sector to flourish.
What’s the alternative? European-style Keynsian silliness where the government provides more and more services and pumps money into the economy?
European economies are falling like dominoes. They’re more broke then we are. Too much government. Too many agencies. Too many programs. Too many administrators. It’s a zero sum game. There are only so many of us in the private sector paying the bills for all that government.
I know, I know. Corporations are all evil and greedy. Maybe, but they’re also are only hope. Allow them to invest, innovate and make money. Tax them fairly, sit back and watch the prosperity.
That’s a good start anyway.
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