State of the Union Address

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Ghostwriter

As I am what I consider a "true" conservative (social and fiscal), I can attest to the above. I was appalled with the spending that occurred under Bush. With the full employment we enjoyed and low taxes we could have easily maintained a balanced budget and should have been able to start paying off some of our massive debt. Look at the fiasco of "No Child Left Behind" and the prescription drugs program for seniors.

As a swerve;

If I were in charge or had the power I would propose:

1. exempting the first $35K of wages from income taxes
2. moving to a flat rate of 14% for everything over $35K for everyone
3. remove all deductions except for charitable
4. a 10% reduction in spending across the board for all departments in the Federal govt.
5. do away with all czar's
6. shut down the Surgeon General's Office
7. return the Dept. of Educations duties to the states
8. cut capital gains to 15%
9. reduce the tax burden on small businesses (20 employees or less) by 1/2
10. privatize Social Security for those under 55 years of age
11. totally revamp Medicaid and Medicare
12. do away with all earmarks
13. do away with the inheritance tax
14. require that everyone pay their taxes directly to the IRS themselves and not have them paid via their employer
15. not allow congress to increase their own pay. approval by the voting public, only.
16. term limits of 2 six year terms for the senate and 6 two year terms for the house
17. require that for every law written by congress one must be rescinded. the less laws they write the better.
18. require the budget to be balanced by law

When you get right down to it the root of most evil in Washington is via manipulation of the tax codes for self interest. The above would most certainly shut down a large portion of the IRS and yield further savings.

Off my "true conservative" soap box, now.

I can't fault any of your ideas, but no one would ever pass them...lobbyists would have no power and that's just not the American way!

[Ghostwriter]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I can't fault any of your ideas, but no one would ever pass them...lobbyists would have no power and that's just not the American way!

And you my dear are absolutely correct. We don't have the will to do what is right. However, I can guarantee you that if we do not do something rather quickly we are heading for an economic catastrophe.

Just read that there are 2.15 MM people on the Federal Govt. payroll. Totally unsustainable.

Also the debt ceiling was raised today to 2 trillion. This is the 4th time it was raised in less than a year.