Good God, where do I start...
On the military side of things, its time to reassess our overseas commitments. We have troops stations based on WWII commitments and Cold War threats. Time to let our allies shoulder the burden for their own security. We don't need bases in Western Europe anymore. Time to close them all, bring our troops home and realign active duty troop levels.
Actually you do. Its hard to project air power if you're having to refuel your planes in the air because you haven't got any air bases close enough to where you want to project air power.
Of course, whether you should be projecting said airpower is another issue...
While we're at it, dissolve NATO. It has never lived up to its ideals and there are NATO members that have never fulfilled their obligations. Another international organization that has never quite lived up to its vision is the UN. I would invite the UN to relocate to Brussels and greatly curtail financial support for that international debating society.
heh, the only one that never fulfilled NATO commitments was France really, but then the French didn't like the idea of being told what to do by the US.
Although it is true, NATO was formed in the cold war era to combat the USSR. It probably isn't required anymore, to be honest.
The UN though is required, although I'd admit, it has become a debating society and unable to do the most seemingly obvious things - such as the critism of Syria over the treatment of its own people when the demonstrations originally flared up.
Military adventurism needs to end. Repeal the War Powers Act. The US only puts troops in harm's way with a declaration of war.
Yup, totally agree. However its a difficult call though as allowing the Taliban to control say, Afghanistan would open the door for mass training camps and an upsurge in attacks, no only on the US but western allies too. Like it or not, they are not going away and like an army of ants trying to be stamped on by the US' boot - its really a battle that can never be 'won', only suppressed and those types never end.
Economically, we are held hostage by OPEC. Time to end that. We open up ANWAR and the coasts to oil drilling - to US companies. Not BP, Brazil or China, but US oil producers.
You don't need to be quote so protective towards your own producers, simply an alternative to OPEC is what's required. The problem is most of the oil suitable for Gasoline comes from the Middle East. But the cartel should be banished and Oil should be subject to market rule, just as any other commodity is. Yes oil is getting more expensive to get at, but they are making truely obscene profits at the moment.
We also have to embrace nuclear power. Frace is an excellent example of how it can be done safely.
Well, I'm not quite there with you on this one. A few years ago perhaps, but there's a fair bit to be said for micro-generation, especially when you have a lot of sun-kissed states where Solar would work well. Until we get Fusion sorted, Fission should be off the agenda. Its too dirty and too risky, especially in the US where practically every state is at risk of one natural disaster or another.
The problem with Solar is efficiency of the cells though, something that should change over the next 5 years or so due to recent improvements in the lab.
Which brings us to taxes. Two flat taxes - a national sales tax and a flat income tax. Everyone pays from the bottom to the top at the same percentage. No loopholes, and nothing more than the standard deduction permitted.
Flat income taxes are hugely unfair. Why should someone earning $20K a year pay the same tax rate as someone on $200k a year? The low paid should pay less tax %ge and the well paid should pay more - simple. However, having a nationally set tax regime would make collection a damn sight easier, rather than allowing states to set their own levels.
More tough love?
Welfare is ended. No able bodied American should collect a check from Uncle Sam without working for it. Workfare will replace welfare. Instead of welfare sucking off the GDP of the US, Workfare will increase the GDP.
Ahh, one aspect that rings true on this side of the Atlantic as well. Definitely get the able to work to work and off the welfare system.
The minimum wage will be lowered. Like it or not, we're competing in a global economy and the cost of unskilled labor in the US is too high. $7.25/hr for flipping burgers is ridiculous. Time to be more realistic. We can't keep reassign the minimum wage and complain about companies moving overseas. Do we not realize we're causing this?
Sounds fine, but you're missing one key factor - cost of living. The cost of Living in the US (or the UK for that matter) is what pushes the Minimum wage up. We can never compete with the likes of China, India or Pakistan for cost of living, its why they are so low over there, because they don't need anywhere near as much to live as we do.
Social Security - time for the elderly to realize a harsh truth - you allowed your saving to be spent by your government. Its not there. And you can't expect the next generation to pay for your mistake by working until they're 70 so you can retire at 65. Its morally wrong. To do so will create a cycle where the next germination is a wage slave to the previous. I'm sorry, but your benefits are going to have to be cut. The government cannot be your primary means of support. That duty now falls to your family where, frankly, it should always have been.
Sorry, that is woefully missing the point. The reason we will have to retire later is simply down to the fact that as a society, we are living longer than previous generations and as such, the pensions are being claimed for longer. Saying that someone spent their savings and as a result they're out on the street is, frankly, disgusting.
This is what we need to restore our financial health. Do you really see the US with the stomach for this? Do you think Americans are ready to care for their elderly parents instead of the government? My grandparents' generation could have done it. As the children of WWI and the adults of The Great Depression and WWII, they understood common sacrifice.
We don't possess a 1/10th of their greatness. We will not accept reality. We will not accept the sacrifices that are required to solve our problems. We've lied to ourselves about our greatness to the point where we believe it. We think we're a nation of destiny, the shining light of freedom when the reality is we're slaves to our debt, selling our nation piecemeal to our greatest threat - China.
The Egyptian empire fell. Greece gave way to history. Roman fell into a decline of its own making. Britannia allowed the sun to set on it. America will soon reach its zenith, if it hasn't already.
If history tells us anything its that every Civilisation comes and goes. The western Civilisation may well have peaked and we're staring down the abyss of a massive financial collapse to come, which to be quote honest, scares the crap out of me. Perhaps we need a big reset button to be pressed and all the world's debt is wiped out and we start again! The problem is the issues this would cause with those who lent the money in the first place.
One thing is for sure, nations cannot continue living in debt levels that are as high as they are. We can't keep paying Interest on the debt to the level of billions of pounds / dollars / euros a year and not start to repay the capital. If we as people tried to do this, we'd be forced into bankrupcy by the lenders... problem is though, when you're talking of the debt levels of a country, its the banks that can quite easily go bust if a country defaults..
And we all know what happens when confidence in banks is shattered....
