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Originally Posted by EventHorizon
i don't think its beyond repair.
i think we need to go back to the reaganomics (i think thats the right term anyways) and employ the masses of people collecting welfare to construct public works. i don't think another new highway system is needed but (for the sake of conserving space) we started useful tunnel systems or massive greenhouses capable of turning a turbine or two with the heat produced.
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Reaganomics, the core of which was massive tax cuts with the assumption that it would "trickle down" and stimulate the economy. It failed. Reagan economic policies added more to the US debt that every president before him combined....only second to G Bush in total contribution to the debt.
FRD's Works Program Administration was more like what you suggested...public works spending on infrastructure and creating jobs. BTW, in case you hadnt noticed, your suggestions for infrastructure investment to create jobs and investments in developing alternative energy programs were at the core of Obama's stimulus program.
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right now social security is costing the government more than any other program, even more than the DoD. i think the social security program is great, but what i don't like is the welfare program. i think the people who are able to kick back for 99 weeks without a care in the world knowing that they're getting paid need to earn that money provided by taxpayers by working for the taxpayers. road repair, vocational education, farming, there are so many projects that America could get a great return on instead of just throwing money at unemployed people and hoping that they find something to do at the end of 99 weeks.
the first thing i ever learned about economics was that it isn't about money, its about making decisions and the first law of economics is that people respond to incentives. do people on welfare have any incentive to work? nope. Even if the labor isn't manual labor but rather assembling staplers or cleaning computers or just doing door to door surveys for the government, people should be made to earn their welfare.
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There is an easy fix for Social Security. Raise the level of income that is subject to the payroll tax. Now if your income is over $106K, there is no FICA tax on that income, so, in effect, if you make over $106 K, you pay an increasingly lower percentage of income in FICA taxes as income rises.
Your comments about welfare are old stereotypes. The welfare program was significantly improved by Clinton and the Republican Congress in the late 90s, with stricter requirements on working while receiving money and limits on how long one can stay on welfare. As a result, the number of people on welfare had been on the decline....until the deep recession started in 08.
As to the question of the US being broken beyond repair.
I dont think so. My concern is not as much with the system that can be repaired with tweaks as with the unwillingness of those who make policy to compromise.
And therein lies the problem. If the US is broken to any degree, it is because the extremists, with the loudest voices, are having a far greater influence than the vat majority who prefer practical solutions over rigid ideology.
---------- Post added at 03:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:17 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
If we keep this up, we'll all be broken and broke.
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I would suggest the highest level of of public assistance is due to two factors..
1) the post WW II baby boomers beginning to drawing from Social Security and Medicare
2) the onset in 08 of the worst recession in more than 75 years, with resulting increases in people utilizing the social safety net programs for a short period of time.