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Agree with some but not raising Social Security to 70. We already have enough elderly workers who can't find work or couldn't work even if there were enough jobs. Reinstating the draft would reduce unemployment among the young, but many would be rejected due to obesity.
You mentioned Greece. I predict Greece will finally exit the Eurozone and its economy will start growing. Spain considers following suit.
Another item to drop: Part D of Medicare. It was an unfunded entitlement implemented by the Republicans.
Raise co-payments for every visit to a doctor. Minimum of $50 dollars a pop for primary care. 75$ for specialists.
Everyone has got to hurt. True, some more or less but everyone.
I have no problem with raising taxes on the "rich". Republicans may not win another election on that issue. Democrats going to hang that around their necks forever.
I've read much on this mess. Liberals, conservatives, extremists, moderates, libertarians, gold bugs, keynsians, and the common thread is we have a problem and a massive one. That is where the agreement ends.
My personal interest in this matter starts with this. I am on the autistic spectrum and it is far harder for me to change my life than it is for everyone else. The change I want to make is I want to get a job. Because of the challenges I face that others don't I want 2% unemployment before I try getting a job. So how do you get 2% unemployment and keep it from where we are now. That is the question that I have tried to answer.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
Ideally, we would appoint a committee of people with decision making power to sort out this entitlement business because no matter what, that is the major issue.
Or not. Who appointed the people that revolted against the king? No one they took on the responsibility for their lives and the future of their children's lives. That you said we need to appoint a committee is part of the problem. We are the committee. That is the answer.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
It must be taken out of the hands of an elected congress and president and given over to a small group who have nothing to lose other than their reputations and their lives but so did the bunch of guys who came up with the idea of revolting against the King of England.
Read the Constitution. It says that it is our hands those things not innumerate in that hallowed document.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
As long as people who receive entitlement benefits get to influence the actions or inactions, nothing will change until we utterly collapse under our own debt load.
Or not. Up the minimum wage above the payout for entitlements and get full employment. Then the coarse of least resistance is to get a job. This is coming from someone that has walked that path.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
As it stands, everyone, every group has a stake in the outcome and no one wants to give an inch: retirees, medicare and medicaid beneficiaries, military related groups, unions both public and private and on and on. All of the folks listed above starting with liberals all agree we have a train wreck coming but no one is willing to apply the brakes.
So hit the gas instead. The train wreck is driven by an imbalance between debt and income as well as spending and income. Inflate income and the books balance.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
So, you get some few who will do it regardless of the pain. One way or another, we are going to have much, much pain. Everyone will feel it.
I've looked at it and the coerce of least pain looks to me like intentional inflation driven by upping the minimum wage law.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
Raise the social security age to 70 now.
Reduce current benefits by at least 10% including disabled. No means testing, everyone is hammered. No exceptions.
Inflation can do this by simply having a lag between higher costs and increases in benefits.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
Do not use ANY heroic measures to prolong life beyond age 78 or some other number. If someone wants that, they pay for it.
Doesn't matter. More inco0me on the bottom end makes health care cheaper for everyone. The top will lag the bottom with inflation driven by upping the minimum wage so it will reduce the cost of health care.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
Cut the military in a hundred ways. Have only one military academy, not 5. Have one staff college, not several. Have one War College, not 6. Have 5 aircraft carriers, not 11. Do away with all Reserves and limit National Guard units to one brigade per state if that. Cancel F35 fighter system. Cut nukes to 1/10 of what we have. Do away with all land based missiles and go with a few nuclear submarines. No more than 5 active divisions. Reinstate the draft to include a percentage of females.
Revamp tax law to do away with all deductions. No exceptions.
Not needed. Boom the economy and limit the increase in government spending and it will balance the books nicely. That and up the wages for everyone.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
No student loans. Universities, public and private, would have to lower prices or go out of business. We have too many now.
Eliminate public education in its entirety. The constitution has a separation of church and state. Teachers in schools have the same legal protections as clergy do. The public education system performs the same function as the church of england did back in the day. It teaches you what class you are and it teaches you to follow what the authorities tell you to do.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
Make every interstate a toll road. Pay for what you use.
The tax on gas, fuel does that already.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
Off shore accounts become a criminal activity. I believe Mr. Romney had off shore accounts.
Make it worthwhile for railroads to reestablish passenger service to include many branch lines to smaller areas. Kill Amtrak. Buses and rail to be emphasized.
Why?
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
We are NOT Greece. Greece is a small, corrupt country with not much in the way of resources or industry. The US is a giant with all sorts of resources, R & D, space program, the Great Lakes represent 20% of the planet's fresh water. We are massive in every respect. We have to get our economic house in order. It is a matter of will and execution and stopping catering to every whining group with their hand out to get something from the public trough.
We are not Greece but we face the same problems tho the scale differs in size.
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Originally Posted by Ollie1946
And this is just a start for me. Give me the authority. Nothing will happen that has a chance of working as long as political hacks are in charge. The numbers are too big now and growing. Hard, ugly measures are required.
Yes but looking at the least intrusive way to fix things is called for. Less control from the top not more. Put selective stresses so that growth happens where it will benefit everyone. The top has been doing this for their benefit for a long time. What is good for them is good for us as well.
"My personal interest in this matter starts with this. I am on the autistic spectrum and it is far harder for me to change my life than it is for everyone else. The change I want to make is I want to get a job. Because of the challenges I face that others don't I want 2% unemployment before I try getting a job. So how do you get 2% unemployment and keep it from where we are now. That is the question that I have tried to answer."
This is the main problem in getting anything accomplished and that is "personal interest" from individuals through giant corporations. It is understandable but it is a nation killer. Inflation is a killer of economies. Inflating might seem like a good idea but it crushes the reliability of a currency.
As long as entitlements are off the "fix it" table, we have no hope to repair our economy. It will get worse.
The US Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is. If Congress sets up a "salvation committee" and it passes muster by the SC, then it is done deal. I doubt it will happen, but it is the only way, in my opinion, that we will get through this. The Simpson-Bowles committee came up with a plan and it was shouted down. Yet here we are on a downward trend. Where I live, a loaf of bread just over a year ago was 1.79. Yesterday, I paid 3.15 for that same loaf. Small sample but indicative of where we are headed.
Hyperinflation??? Well, that would help a whole lot of people who are upside down on their mortgages, or flipping burgers with their college degrees. Will it happen? We'll, we've seen a sudden down tick in the value of gold. Seems like the market is disagreeing with this mentality.
This is something I will never understand. Why do people think that the creditors in control of this country are not a significant barrier to effectively wiping out the debt owed them?
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Personally, I believe 2013 will be another year of correction. The people who over leveraged themselves into debt will continue to struggle, while the sensible will continue to buy up bargains, including property. Those of us who have continued to work, save, and invest wisely will continue to slowly build wealth in this tough economy. Hopefully, when things start to turn around in full force, there will be more rewards for all who kept a cool head.
Yes they will slowly and painfully build up financial wealth but unfortunately at the cost of the real kind. Financial wealth is mostly just debt. The faster financial wealth rises the more likely the real kind isn't. Last time I remember when Germany had all its debt wiped out after WWII since their rentiers were Nazis. They called it the miracle generation. That is when all wealth can only come from real producers and not interest bearing securities and debt instruments. The more financial wealth that exists, the more people can drop out into the leisure class.
My personal interest in this matter starts with this. I am on the autistic spectrum and it is far harder for me to change my life than it is for everyone else. The change I want to make is I want to get a job. Because of the challenges I face that others don't I want 2% unemployment before I try getting a job. So how do you get 2% unemployment and keep it from where we are now. That is the question that I have tried to answer.
I am sorry for your disability, but you have incredibly unrealistic expectations to demand in order to even look for a job. The lowest unemployment has been since the end of world war 2 was 2.9% on Jan 1, 1953, and the only time it was under 3%. You are setting the bar so that you can blame others in order to say you want to, but so far things aren't perfect.
Life isn't perfect...it's messy, frustrating, and a struggle. That is what makes it worth living. I am friends with, and have helped, many people with all sorts of disorders (mental/physical) and see people go from the streets to happy productive lives.
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Originally Posted by pie_row
Eliminate public education in its entirety. The constitution has a separation of church and state. Teachers in schools have the same legal protections as clergy do. The public education system performs the same function as the church of england did back in the day. It teaches you what class you are and it teaches you to follow what the authorities tell you to do.
No where in there is a rational idea. I was a Chaplin, and the rules for clergy and teachers are very different. Education does not teach you what class (not sure what "classes" there are in the US) you are in or unquestioning obedience.
I agree that a number of well maybe well meaning, and poorly though out, churches will demand obedience over critical thinking. It is something I find as a cancer on the love of Jesus. Jesus gave us a mind to use and not to threaten others with hell if they use it.
2013 is going to be the year the crap hits the fan for the US economy. Everybody's worst case fears from 2009 will come true in 2013. This is going to be one tough year for America and will be the beginning of the complete collapse of the US economy. Here are a few things I predict just this year.
-We go over the fiscal cliff: Dow 9000 at least by February.
-A new farm bill is not passed - food prices more than double in January
-In Q2 and Q3 we will average between 700,000 and 1,100,000 job losses per month
-Dow 4000 by September
-Oil spike initially as people pull their money out of stocks and into commodities, but a spectacular crash during the second half of the year taking oil down to $50/bbl
-Unemployment above 20% by year end (with real unemployment over 30%)
-Riots and civil unrest in many cities across the country
-Most chain big box and grocery stores will disappear. High end luxury retailers will also go bankrupt. Most malls will become ghost malls. Wal-Mart will be the last man standing
Get ready for the worst year for the US economy since 1930.
2013 will however be a better year than 2014 and 2015 in which near all out civil war will break loose as American society completely collapses around us.
I bookmarked this post for hilarity on Jan 1st, 2014.
You'll probably just make the same prediction again, though.
I bookmarked this post for hilarity on Jan 1st, 2014.
You'll probably just make the same prediction again, though.
After six days and 28 posts by other people, the OP has not once returned to his own thread. Perhaps he is enjoying his own hilarity at our expense. This may be his plan: Post something outrageous which has no rational underpinning, then sit back and watch others rise to the bait.
By all means, please do revive this thread a year from now.
I will take in to consideration Kyle Bass' predictions.
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