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Post by tastegw on Sept 1, 2016 5:16:34 GMT -5
If I was elected President of the United States, here is what I would do:
50 year plan to abolish tobacco products:
Starting in 2018, the age to purchase tobacco products would raise by 1 year, every year for 50 years.
At the end of 50 years, it would be illegal for an individual or company to manufacture, buy or sell tobacco products.
This includes, cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff, other smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Salary Cap on Governmental Public Servants to $50,000/year:
The effected jobs are for all local, state, and federal branches including but not limited to:
All elected officials, Congressmen, Governors, Mayors, District Attorney's, Judges, City Councilmen, ect ect.
This does not effect the wages for the following:
Teachers, police officers, firefighters, military, and other like minded non-elected government professions.
Legalization of Marijuana:
For both medical and recreational use in all 50 states.
The same laws that we have placed on alcohol will be placed on all Marijuana products. (legal age would be 21, etc)
A flat tax of $5.00 per gram will be imposed on all Marijuana product sales.
All sales must be made through a dispensary store.
An individual, family or company is allowed to grow no more than 2,000 square feet (single floor) of product at any given time. (there will be no monopolization in the Marijuana industry)
All growing must be done indoors, whether that be in a green house or a warehouse. Proper ventilation will be required and is to be inspected by the fire department before being deemed ready for business)
An individual, family or company is allowed to own no more than 3 dispensary stores at any given time. (there will be no monopolization in the Marijuana industry)
The reason(s):
This would boost the economy into uncharted territories. Hundreds of thousands or more of new jobs would be created, not just temporary jobs, but permanent jobs from many different fields:
Transportation, sales, advertising, packaging, construction, management, accounting, legal, etc.
Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, for both the body and for the safety of others.
It also has powerful medical uses such as a form of manageable pain relief and appetite enhancer (for certain cancer patients), it helps with many other medical conditions as well.
IRS to be Abolished:
This would also include all other taxes from your paycheck(s).
Instead of paying taxes based on how much you made through your paycheck(s), a flat tax will be imposed and will be based on how much you spend.
The percentage would be somewhere in the 20-25% neighborhood.
There would be no tax on most food and clothing items, the only items in these categories that would be taxed would be items of luxury or lust.
Soda and other sugary drinks, candy, alcoholic beverages, fast food, restaurants and other prepared food would not be tax exempt.
Clothing that costs more than "X" dollars would not be tax exempt.
Maximum Wage:
Any individual who grosses more than one million dollars of personal wages per year (including all sources of income combined) shall be taxed 100% of all earnings over one million dollars.
Any individual who has more than one million dollars in all of their personal bank accounts combined shall be taxed 100% of the total over one million dollars.
No offshore accounts by legal citizens is to be allowed.
Failure to comply will result in loss of citizenship and all finances will be frozen and forfeited.
Complete the Wall between Mexico and the United States from Texas to California:
All illegal immigrants that are currently here in the United States will be given the option to help build the wall.
Those who refuse will be rounded up and transported back to the country they came from, and future citizenship status will be refused.
Those who comply will be fast tracked into gaining citizenship faster after the wall has been completed.
The pay will be minimum wage, forty hours per week, 8 hour shifts per worker. There will be 3 shifts going Monday through Friday. Weekends will be off.
The total cost of materials will be divided and billed to all illegal immigrants who participated, and they will all may payments each month until the cost of the wall paid in full, all who fail to comply will forfeit their right to citizenship.
English to be the Country's Official Language:
All legal citizens must be fluent in english by year "X" to keep their citizenship.
Failure to comply will result in schooling paid by the citizen.
Further failure to comply will result in loss of citizenship.
I am just getting warmed up, but I will give you some time to absorb the few topics above.
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Post by mcbogga on Sept 1, 2016 5:58:57 GMT -5
Socialism is always nice in writing. Unfortunately it doesn't work.
All for banning tobacco though.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2016 9:50:43 GMT -5
Bad thing about socialism, is you eventually you run out of other people's money.
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Post by mrooola on Sept 1, 2016 9:59:19 GMT -5
Perhaps we haven't practiced socialism in the way Soviet Union never really practiced communism, but I think we have done quite well up here... You lost me at Marijuana. I'm not against legalization per se though. It went steep downhill from there.  I'd love to hear the rest though. A fun read non the less. |
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Post by AFCTUJacko on Sept 1, 2016 9:59:21 GMT -5
Good luck getting any of that through Congress  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2016 10:26:05 GMT -5
I'm not in favor of being told how much I can EARN when working harder and smarter than many around me. You ignore that much of what I make goes far beyond my day to day comforts. It's also my retirement...it insures I don't have to depend on a government check to survive (and I do mean survive) at an advanced age. You ignore that much of that goes into my businesses that allows me to pay other people at competitive wages as well as expand said business to pay even more people.
I wasn't born into money...quite the opposite. We ate beans and cornbread MANY nights when I was growing up. I'm a retired vet...I didn't get rich in the Army either. I've sacrificed certain comforts along the way to make myself debt free, and I've busted my ass and made smart choices to get to a certain standard of living. My wife has done the same.
People often look at percentages, but don't fully grasp exactly what it means: everything I EARN for the first 4 calendar months of the year goes to cover taxes. That's not an exaggeration. As somebody that has worked damn hard to get to where I am, it's an insult to be told there's a cap on what I can rightfully EARN. It's also an insult to be villianized and punished for being successful. Nobody has ever given me a damn thing, yet I give back and am punished for it.
Sorry...sore spot with me. This Robin Hood mentality drives me crazy. And the "revolutionist" Bernie Sanders just closed on a 3rd....3rd....3rd home for $650k. So it's ok for HIM to have more than everybody else, just not anybody else. THAT'S the problem with this brand of socialism. The very moment that one person has more than everybody else it's doomed to failure.
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Post by mrooola on Sept 1, 2016 10:40:20 GMT -5
I'm not in favor of being told how much I can EARN when working harder and smarter than many around me. You ignore that much of what I make goes far beyond my day to day comforts. It's also my retirement...it insures I don't have to depend on a government check to survive (and I do mean survive) at an advanced age. You ignore that much of that goes into my businesses that allows me to pay other people at competitive wages as well as expand said business to pay even more people. I wasn't born into money...quite the opposite. We ate beans and cornbread MANY nights when I was growing up. I'm a retired vet...I didn't get rich in the Army either. I've sacrificed certain comforts along the way to make myself debt free, and I've busted my ass and made smart choices to get to a certain standard of living. My wife has done the same. People often look at percentages, but don't fully grasp exactly what it means: everything I EARN for the first 4 calendar months of the year goes to cover taxes. That's not an exaggeration. As somebody that has worked damn hard to get to where I am, it's an insult to be told there's a cap on what I can rightfully EARN. It's also an insult to be villianized and punished for being successful. Nobody has ever given me a damn thing, yet I give back and am punished for it. Sorry...sore spot with me. This Robin Hood mentality drives me crazy. And the "revolutionist" Bernie Sanders just closed on a 3rd....3rd....3rd home for $650k. So it's ok for HIM to have more than everybody else, just not anybody else. THAT'S the problem with this brand of socialism. The very moment that one person has more than everybody else it's doomed to failure. Looking at so called socialist countries, that's not how it works. I do think people who earn more should contribute more to the society, but never to a point where it's no longer beneficial to be successful and earn even more. There should never be a cap on income in the private sector but could be a good thing in the public sector. I don't have the knowledge to decide how it should work, but elected officials that make money from lobbyists is in my mind a terrible thing. I do think that police and nurses to name two groups in my country is grossly underpaid. Seems to be the same everywhere. Healthcare should be free and money should never give privileges in that regard. Buy your house and buy your car, but if you get I'll you should not get better care than a rich person. When it comes to taxation I think Denmark use a model worth striving for... My 2 cents. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2016 11:01:15 GMT -5
I'm not in favor of being told how much I can EARN when working harder and smarter than many around me. You ignore that much of what I make goes far beyond my day to day comforts. It's also my retirement...it insures I don't have to depend on a government check to survive (and I do mean survive) at an advanced age. You ignore that much of that goes into my businesses that allows me to pay other people at competitive wages as well as expand said business to pay even more people. I wasn't born into money...quite the opposite. We ate beans and cornbread MANY nights when I was growing up. I'm a retired vet...I didn't get rich in the Army either. I've sacrificed certain comforts along the way to make myself debt free, and I've busted my ass and made smart choices to get to a certain standard of living. My wife has done the same. People often look at percentages, but don't fully grasp exactly what it means: everything I EARN for the first 4 calendar months of the year goes to cover taxes. That's not an exaggeration. As somebody that has worked damn hard to get to where I am, it's an insult to be told there's a cap on what I can rightfully EARN. It's also an insult to be villianized and punished for being successful. Nobody has ever given me a damn thing, yet I give back and am punished for it. Sorry...sore spot with me. This Robin Hood mentality drives me crazy. And the "revolutionist" Bernie Sanders just closed on a 3rd....3rd....3rd home for $650k. So it's ok for HIM to have more than everybody else, just not anybody else. THAT'S the problem with this brand of socialism. The very moment that one person has more than everybody else it's doomed to failure. Looking at so called socialist countries, that's not how it works. I do think people who earn more should contribute more to the society, but never to a point where it's no longer beneficial to be successful and earn even more. There should never be a cap on income in the private sector but could be a good thing in the public sector. I don't have the knowledge to decide how it should work, but elected officials that make money from lobbyists is in my mind a terrible thing. I do think that police and nurses to name two groups in my country is grossly underpaid. Seems to be the same everywhere. Healthcare should be free and money should never give privileges in that regard. Buy your house and buy your car, but if you get I'll you should not get better care than a rich person. When it comes to taxation I think Denmark use a model worth striving for... My 2 cents. That's why I said "this brand of socialism". The problem is that there's not just "one model" that works best for every country. There's too many factors, circumstances, and resource differentials for it to be an across-the-board solution. Healthcare is the US is a prime example. Obamacare isn't working, it was never going to work, and anybody that thought it had a chance was looking at it as an idealist and not a realist. It was an economic failure before it was ever signed into action. Here's the rub when you talk about universal healthcare in the US versus say Sweden: significant difference in population, cost of education for doctors and caregivers, cost of malpractice insurance, and the % of the population that contributes absolutely nothing to the cost of said healthcare. It's not a problem we can solve approaching it from just one angle...there's several issues tied into it that needs reformed. Tort reform would be a good start, and would be a huge step in lowering the overall costs of healthcare. Too many others for me to get into, but if we truly want healthcare for all in the US, it starts by reforming other problems before we can get serious about it. |
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Post by AFCTUJacko on Sept 1, 2016 11:11:26 GMT -5
Personally I have no issue with any individual/company earning as much money as possible, as long as they
A/ Pay their taxes and
B/ If they employ people, pay ALL their employees a decent wage they can live on.
Sadly, many don't, and that's where all the "Robin Hood" stuff comes from.
A lot of wealthy people don't seem to understand that without the "little" people serving them coffee, collecting their rubbish and cleaning their office blocks, the world just wouldn't function - you shouldn't have to climb the greasy pole just to live a comfortable life.
Big Corporations would rather add an extra zero to their bottom line that give their staff a 2% wage increase.
Capitalism is a better option than communism, but it needs to be socially responsible capitalism to really work. |
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Post by mrooola on Sept 1, 2016 11:22:42 GMT -5
Looking at so called socialist countries, that's not how it works. I do think people who earn more should contribute more to the society, but never to a point where it's no longer beneficial to be successful and earn even more. There should never be a cap on income in the private sector but could be a good thing in the public sector. I don't have the knowledge to decide how it should work, but elected officials that make money from lobbyists is in my mind a terrible thing. I do think that police and nurses to name two groups in my country is grossly underpaid. Seems to be the same everywhere. Healthcare should be free and money should never give privileges in that regard. Buy your house and buy your car, but if you get I'll you should not get better care than a rich person. When it comes to taxation I think Denmark use a model worth striving for... My 2 cents. That's why I said "this brand of socialism". The problem is that there's not just "one model" that works best for every country. There's too many factors, circumstances, and resource differentials for it to be an across-the-board solution. Healthcare is the US is a prime example. Obamacare isn't working, it was never going to work, and anybody that thought it had a chance was looking at it as an idealist and not a realist. It was an economic failure before it was ever signed into action. Here's the rub when you talk about universal healthcare in the US versus say Sweden: significant difference in population, cost of education for doctors and caregivers, cost of malpractice insurance, and the % of the population that contributes absolutely nothing to the cost of said healthcare. It's not a problem we can solve approaching it from just one angle...there's several issues tied into it that needs reformed. Tort reform would be a good start, and would be a huge step in lowering the overall costs of healthcare. Too many others for me to get into, but if we truly want healthcare for all in the US, it starts by reforming other problems before we can get serious about it. I don't doubt for a second that there are far more ingredients in this stew than I can imagine and I would never claim to know what it takes to make it all work. It's simply not my field. I don't think there is one way to do anything that works for all either. One thing though. Don't use population and non contributors as an argument when discussing free Healthcare. Look at what countries succeed in this area in various degrees and you'll notice that argument is invalid. Many of the things you mention is way above my head. Don't know what it is and I don't know what it means. Just mentioned Denmarks tax system as it is something I believe in. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2016 11:24:30 GMT -5
Personally I have no issue with any individual/company earning as much money as possible, as long as they
A/ Pay their taxes and
B/ If they employ people, pay ALL their employees a decent wage they can live on.
Sadly, many don't, and that's where all the "Robin Hood" stuff comes from.
A lot of wealthy people don't seem to understand that without the "little" people serving them coffee, collecting their rubbish and cleaning their office blocks, the world just wouldn't function - you shouldn't have to climb the greasy pole just to live a comfortable life.
Big Corporations would rather add an extra zero to their bottom line that give their staff a 2% wage increase.
Capitalism is a better option than communism, but it needs to be socially responsible capitalism to really work. I actually agree with this. I can promise that we are business owners that very much take care of our employees. I'm also a man that has great respect for anybody that makes the choice to get up every morning and go to work...regardless of what it is they do for a living. I do, however, have serious issues with people that just don't give a damn and have made a lifestyle of accepting entitlement benefits that are paid for by the efforts and sacrifices of others. I fully agree that there are exploits employed by corporate entities, but I honestly don't know the best way to fix it. That being said, I would start by limiting the impact and access they can have to politicians in the form of lobbyists. This is is in no way a conspiracy theory...it's fundamental fact for anybody willing to look into it: your head would spin if you knew just how much influence Goldman-Sachs and other banking entities have on our domestic policy. When the biggest "untouchable" corporations can literally leverage control over policy and lawmakers....that's a BIG friggin problem...and one of the many reason we're where we're at now in this country in regards to economics. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2016 11:36:41 GMT -5
That's why I said "this brand of socialism". The problem is that there's not just "one model" that works best for every country. There's too many factors, circumstances, and resource differentials for it to be an across-the-board solution. Healthcare is the US is a prime example. Obamacare isn't working, it was never going to work, and anybody that thought it had a chance was looking at it as an idealist and not a realist. It was an economic failure before it was ever signed into action. Here's the rub when you talk about universal healthcare in the US versus say Sweden: significant difference in population, cost of education for doctors and caregivers, cost of malpractice insurance, and the % of the population that contributes absolutely nothing to the cost of said healthcare. It's not a problem we can solve approaching it from just one angle...there's several issues tied into it that needs reformed. Tort reform would be a good start, and would be a huge step in lowering the overall costs of healthcare. Too many others for me to get into, but if we truly want healthcare for all in the US, it starts by reforming other problems before we can get serious about it. I don't doubt for a second that there are far more ingredients in this stew than I can imagine and I would never claim to know what it takes to make it all work. It's simply not my field. I don't think there is one way to do anything that works for all either. One thing though. Don't use population and non contributors as an argument when discussing free Healthcare. Look at what countries succeed in this area in various degrees and you'll notice that argument is invalid. Many of the things you mention is way above my head. Don't know what it is and I don't know what it means. Just mentioned Denmarks tax system as it is something I believe in. It's not invalid, Ola. It's economics, brother. You have one community with 10 people, you have one community with 100 people...which one has an easier time paying for their entire community? The one community has 2 people out of 10 that can't financially contribute to the cost of their care, the other community has 20 people out of 100 that contribute...which one has the easier time covering the costs of the non-contributors? If you look at that exponentially, it's not invalid at all. Granted, that's a simplified look at it, but there is merit in comparison. Now, factor in the cost of education required to become a doctor. Many of those people spend several years if not their entire lives paying back the cost of said education. That payback combined with with them making money to live on gets passed on to the patient. Now factor in the costs of malpractice insurance (which is VERY expensive) because of frivolous lawsuits, well, that gets passed onto patients as well. These se are very simplified examples, but I use them to highlight that it's not cut and dry...not in the US anyways. Until we can find ways to effectively lower the overall cost of care to an individual we're fighting an uphill battle. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2016 11:56:10 GMT -5
Other than that, I've got Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hermine knocking on my front door, so not sure how political I'm going to be the rest of the day...lol.
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Post by biyombo on Sept 1, 2016 15:24:04 GMT -5
If I was elected President of the United States, here is what I would do:50 year plan to abolish tobacco products:Starting in 2018, the age to purchase tobacco products would raise by 1 year, every year for 50 years. At the end of 50 years, it would be illegal for an individual or company to manufacture, buy or sell tobacco products. This includes, cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff, other smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes. Salary Cap on Governmental Public Servants to $50,000/year:The effected jobs are for all local, state, and federal branches including but not limited to: All elected officials, Congressmen, Governors, Mayors, District Attorney's, Judges, City Councilmen, ect ect. This does not effect the wages for the following:
Teachers, police officers, firefighters, military, and other like minded non-elected government professions. Legalization of Marijuana:For both medical and recreational use in all 50 states. The same laws that we have placed on alcohol will be placed on all Marijuana products. (legal age would be 21, etc) A flat tax of $5.00 per gram will be imposed on all Marijuana product sales. All sales must be made through a dispensary store. An individual, family or company is allowed to grow no more than 2,000 square feet (single floor) of product at any given time. (there will be no monopolization in the Marijuana industry)
All growing must be done indoors, whether that be in a green house or a warehouse. Proper ventilation will be required and is to be inspected by the fire department before being deemed ready for business) An individual, family or company is allowed to own no more than 3 dispensary stores at any given time. (there will be no monopolization in the Marijuana industry)The reason(s):
This would boost the economy into uncharted territories. Hundreds of thousands or more of new jobs would be created, not just temporary jobs, but permanent jobs from many different fields:
Transportation, sales, advertising, packaging, construction, management, accounting, legal, etc.
Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, for both the body and for the safety of others.
It also has powerful medical uses such as a form of manageable pain relief and appetite enhancer (for certain cancer patients), it helps with many other medical conditions as well.IRS to be Abolished:This would also include all other taxes from your paycheck(s). Instead of paying taxes based on how much you made through your paycheck(s), a flat tax will be imposed and will be based on how much you spend. The percentage would be somewhere in the 20-25% neighborhood. There would be no tax on most food and clothing items, the only items in these categories that would be taxed would be items of luxury or lust. Soda and other sugary drinks, candy, alcoholic beverages, fast food, restaurants and other prepared food would not be tax exempt. Clothing that costs more than "X" dollars would not be tax exempt. Maximum Wage: Any individual who grosses more than one million dollars of personal wages per year (including all sources of income combined) shall be taxed 100% of all earnings over one million dollars. Any individual who has more than one million dollars in all of their personal bank accounts combined shall be taxed 100% of the total over one million dollars. No offshore accounts by legal citizens is to be allowed. Failure to comply will result in loss of citizenship and all finances will be frozen and forfeited. Complete the Wall between Mexico and the United States from Texas to California: All illegal immigrants that are currently here in the United States will be given the option to help build the wall. Those who refuse will be rounded up and transported back to the country they came from, and future citizenship status will be refused. Those who comply will be fast tracked into gaining citizenship faster after the wall has been completed. The pay will be minimum wage, forty hours per week, 8 hour shifts per worker. There will be 3 shifts going Monday through Friday. Weekends will be off. The total cost of materials will be divided and billed to all illegal immigrants who participated, and they will all may payments each month until the cost of the wall paid in full, all who fail to comply will forfeit their right to citizenship.
English to be the Country's Official Language:
All legal citizens must be fluent in english by year "X" to keep their citizenship. Failure to comply will result in schooling paid by the citizen. Further failure to comply will result in loss of citizenship. I am just getting warmed up, but I will give you some time to absorb the few topics above. That is why you are not President |
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Post by tastegw on Sept 1, 2016 18:32:06 GMT -5
I am against giving out handouts and all the other entitlement programs. Perhaps it takes a bit of outside the box thinking to understand that one point of maximum wage.
It is not about taking money away and giving it to the poor. It is about creating more opportunity to others to take advantage of.
If there was a maximum wage, most people who currently do make more than the set amount would simply choose not to make the amount over the threshold, which in return leaves that money for somebody else to make and earn.
the 1 million was just a figure. what ever the amount was to be, it would be extremely high.
Lets face it, raising minimum wages does not work. History tells us this. Every time minimum wage is raised, the value of the dollar will follow the same pattern, for a short period after the minimum wage is raised, it goes up sharply, then it slowly comes back down and starts to flat line,....then it gets raised again and the cycle starts all over. The minimum wage has never dipped below the threshold of the nominal dollar, but we keep raising it because we keep thinking it is the solution, even though graphs show us otherwise.
so no, a truly socialist viewpoint is to raise the minimum wages, and that is why true socialism never works, its not sound economics. Minimum Wage Hikes is what fuels our cost of living spikes.
so the goal was,....not to give out handouts, but to open up new opportunities that can be earned.
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