GLENJ wrote:OK PHIL,, what are the basic problems Americans are facing? What are your solutions?
While I've made no claim to having all the inside info, or any real answers, myself,I have made several suggestions in these forums over the last cpl years, Glen. Of course, some of them have been rather tongue-in-cheek, & some ppl might have a bit of trouble distinguishing when I'm serious or laughing...
Okay - some of the real problems we face:
1 ) Obviously, the present state of the economy is right up there at the top. I think there should be limits to what lending institutions can do, & they need to be overseen by the gov't, at
least to the degree they were prior to the Reagan administration. Banks also need to be regulated much more than they've been over the last 30 years or so. There are many unfair costs being passed on to ppl. A bank is responsible for handling a person's or a business' money, for example. To charge a fee to the recipient of a check in order to cash it, if the payee hasn't an account with the bank, is an unfair practice, since the bank is already getting paid by the holder of the account, to handle payments, whether they be electronically payed, or in person at the teller's window.
2 ) Another part of the economic equation is the lack of jobs. We produce virtually nothing in this country anymore but entertainment & junk. Ppl need jobs in manufacturing again. Tax the living hell out of any company that outsources jobs & tries to sell thier products in this country, so that Americans may get back to work. Also put high tariffs on thier products, so that American products may have a cost advantage in the American marketplace.
Another way to produce jobs is to actually work on our infrastructures. As our bridges & roads are failing, our reps in our gov't are bewailing the problem during thier campaigns, while addressing it hardly at all once they get into office. Someone needs to give them a swift kick in the butt to get these projects going. ("But where will this money come from?" you may ask...stick with me...)
3 ) We need to sh*t or get off the pot in the war zones. Finish the jobs, already! If Bin Laden's in Pakistan, make demands, use economic sanctions, & finally invade them to get this culprit & bring him & his cronies to justice. This situation should have been solved 6 years ago, by my reckoning, but for some reason, we seem to be afraid of "war." Once the job is done, allow the
UN to rebuild the countries in question, cuz we've spent quite enough, thank you very much, to solve the problems that we haven't gotten help to solve.
4 ) I don't believe we need an excess of 50,000 troops stationed in Germany anymore. We have military bases throughout the world that are costing us billions to maintain, monies which could far better be spent on our own problems. I'm sure there are a lot of hawks that would find this idea repulsive, but we have the technologies to protect ourselves quite well without all of the extra fluff spending we are so fond of.
5 ) Some of the monies that are saved by removing such high numbers of military personnel from abroad could be used for better intelligence, which we seem to have a deficit in.
6 ) Complete revamping of our school systems is in order. Far less should be spent on the style of the buildings, for example, & the gymnasium costs are ridiculous. Spend the current monies you have on proper curriculae, hold parents responsible for the actions of thier children, use common sense rather than "zero tolerance" policies, & you will have a better educated public.
7 ) Any candidate should be made to expose exactly where each & every cent comes from in his campaign. Yeah, we SAY we do that, now, but I doubt it's true. Anyone who accepts foreign donations to his campaign should be removed from any election, or removed from office, after this is exposed.
8 ) I really hate to say it, but we need to put the issue of health care on the back burner until our economic problems are being better addressed. There are far more serious issues facing us right now, although our ppl still need help, here.
7 ) Prisons should be under gov't rule, & not run by private firms. The reasons for this are obvious to me. The businesses that are doing the job now are making profit that we needn't be spending. Take the profit out of crime from BOTH sides of the equation.
8 ) Crack down on the trusts that are obviously controlling pricing in this country. Make the firms explain thier pricing, & if they are taking a loss to dissolve competition, fins them heavilly. If they are gouging the public, fines should also be applied, & arrests should be made for thoss responsible for making the decisions. It's past time that the ppl responsible started to be held accountable for the actions of outlaw corporations.
These are only some of the ideas that I have, Glen. I can't think of everything, & as I said, I haven't all the inside info. Feel free to pick it all apart.