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Permalink Reply by Dick McManus on November 2, 2011 at 11:44am

Mixing the economic mess in the short term.

I agree with Robert Reich.

Commentary by Robert Reich on the Economy

18 October 2011: Today, 14 million Americans are out of work, and 11 million more are working part-time who’d rather be working full time. The top 1 percent gets over 20 percent of total income and holds over 35 percent of national wealth;
The nation needs a real jobs plan, one of sufficient size and scope to do the job – including a WPA and a Civilian Conservation Corps, to put the millions of long-term unemployed and young unemployed to work rebuilding America.
He wants to lop $4 trillion off the budget over the next ten years. This almost certainly means sacrificing education, job training, food stamps, and everything else now listed in the so-called “non-defense discretionary” budget, as well as cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.
Incomes of more than $5 million should be subject to a 70 percent rate. (The top marginal rate was never below 70 percent between 1940 and 1980.) And these rates should apply to all income regardless of source, including capital gains. This would allow for a bigger Earned Income Tax Credit (that is, a wage subsidy) for lower-income workers. And lower taxes on middle-income workers.
There should be a 2 percent annual surtax on all fortunes over $7 million. This would only hit the richest half a percent of Americans at the very top of the heap. And would yield $70 billion a year – enough to improve our schools and make college affordable to everyone. We need to resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act and break up the biggest banks. And we should have a tax on financial transactions. Even a tiny one of one-half of one percent would generate $200 billion a year. That’s enough to make a major contribution toward early childhood education for every American toddler.
We need Medicare for all. Medicare has lower administrative costs than private insurers.
The best way to ensure the Social Security program’s long-term solvency is to lift the ceiling on income subject to Social Security payroll taxes (now $106,800.)
We should tax carbon-based fuels, and divide the revenues equally among all Americans. It’s the best way to get us to switch to non-carbon fuels, and stimulate research and development of them. And by dividing the revenues, the typical American would come out ahead even though some prices would increase.
Finally, we need public financing of elections and strict limits on so-called “independent” expenditures. Corporations should have to get the approval of every shareholder before spending corporate funds – the shareholders’ money – on politics.
Comment by me: And we need to talk about what if technology does not rescue us from the effects/affects of in our new age where we no longer have cheap oil. We need to tell Americans that our economy will never recover to the present level and they need to expect big changes. We may need global anti-trust rules for transnational corporations which now exist only at national level and to limit how closely tied transnational corporations are, one possible solution: firms should be taxed for excess interconnectivity to discourage this risk.
I have added this to my list of issues on which I am running for Congress.

http://www.truth-out.org/meagerness-republican-debates-smallness-pr...
and
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-ca...

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Permalink Reply by Dick McManus on November 2, 2011 at 11:44am

Fixing the economic mess we are in.

Barney Frank and Dennis Kucinich: Cut NATO Spending, It 'Serves No Strategic Purpose'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/27/barney-frank-nato_n_801515...

The US has reduce our military footprint in Germany (European Command) by 75% since the 1990s.
...
Lawrence J. Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who has argued that the defense budget can be cut without harming military readiness,

This paper identifies roughly $109 billion that could be saved in the FY 2015 defense budget without compromising vital U.S. national security interests.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/09/defense_spending.html

In FY2010, the Treasury Department spent $414 Billion of your money on interest payments to the holders of the National Debt. Compare that to NASA at $19 Billion,

I recommend we pass a resolution that spending on space station and astronomy be cut and we get down to earth with science funding. The last time I check we could found a 1,000 times more scientists and non-space research vs. spending on the space station.
http://www.federalbudget.com/

In 2007, the largest recipient of American aid was Iraq. The second-largest was Afghanistan. The third-largest was Israel. In that year, these three countries accounted for $16.5 billion of America’s $41.9 billion in foreign economic and military aid, or 39%. I would be flabbergasted if less than 50% of America’s public would respond “yes” to the question “Do you think America should cut its aid to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel?” I’m pretty sure that means that cuts to 39% of the aid budget are off the table, too.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/04/deficit_r...

poll shows foreign aid is top of the list for budget cuts:
http://washingtonindependent.com/81684/the-futility-of-budget-cuts

US infrastructure debt: $2.2 Trillion http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/



Fixing the economic mess we are in.




Law Enforcement Against Prohibition


In 2000, the National Drug Control budget exceeds $18 billion and the states will spend upwards of $20 billion more.

Drug legalization would reduce government expenditure by $44.1 billion annually. Roughly $30.3 billion of this savings would accrue to state and local governments, while roughly $13.8 billion would accrue to the federal government. Approximately $12.9 billion of the savings would result from legalization of marijuana, $19.3 billion from legalization of cocaine and
heroin, and $11.6 from legalization of all other drugs.

Over the past 30 years, the government has spent 70% of drug war resources on police, prisons, and military with only 30% devoted to drug education and treatment.

http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php
http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/factsheets/economiccons/fact_econ...
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_budget_pie_chart
http://proxychi.baremetal.com/leap.cc/cms/docs/Miron-economic-repor...

Murder City a new book that explains that the government of Mexico is totally corrupt.

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-City-Ciudad-Economys-Killing/dp/156858...

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