Thank-you for the very long post...I have a different opinion...Sorry about that...My top (5) items in no particular order are:
1. Bring our troops home for these foreign interventions, and close around 30% of our 900+ global military bases. I know many of the people on this board fear the muslims, but I personally think that what the Muslims could possibly do is much further out timewise than what we are doing to ourselves. The Federal Budget Deficit will still be more then 700 Billion dollars this year...It needs to be much lower so we can actually remain an economic superpower...
2. Pass legislation that makes it illegal for businesses to donate to any political partisan organization/person. Only allow donations to politically partisan organizations from individual U.S. citizens, and limit it to 5,000 per year and adjust it according to the CPI in the future. Also, provide x amount of Free airtime equally to all people running for political office. CSPAN is a great mechanism to start with.
3. Raise the Minimum Wage to 10.78 per hour. Most of the industries affected by this are competing nationally, and are not jobs that are shipped overseas. All things will remain equal, and prices will go up a little to start with, but the people receiving the money will immediately spend it back into the economy. Also, virtually all people earning under 10.00 and hour or 20,000 per year qualify for many govt benefits. That will no longer be true. It also aligns the minimum wage with the 1968 wage in terms of real dollars on an hourly basis.
4. Pare down the federal govt. Eliminate the Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of Education, Dept of Energy, EPA, and provide less money for the CIA and NSA. Eliminate Obamacare, and create s Medicare for all system that only covers Preventative Medicine, Catastrophic insurance, and Insurance for those with preexisting medical conditions. People can buy GAP insurance to cover the rest.
5. Reform the Federal Income tax. Eliminate all Deductions, Credits, and Subsidies. The first 40,000 should be tax free, and the rest should have a graduated rate from that. The idea is to allow all people to get a basic cost of living free.
Shermann
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