A Pace We Can Ill Afford
Nov 23rd, 2009 | 8 responses
Most of us fail to grasp the enormity of trillions of dollars, let alone billions, so let’s just throw the numbers out the window and for the sake of argument concede we’ll never pay back what we as a nation owe in our lifetimes or those of future generations.
Instead, let’s focus on ending this insanity and establishing our priorities. For the most part, these are tough decisions our elected leaders do not have the guts to enact.
National Security. We are a bankrupt superpower being drained with diminishing resources in money and manpower. The Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan are not the same people who harbored terrorists who hijacked our planes on Sept. 11, 2001. Why field a standing army of 150,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when we fight the same terrorists in Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia and Indonesia with special operation forces, the CIA and drones?
Foreign Aid. Cut it to humanitarian purposes only.
Space Exploration. Put it on hold and redirect the brain trust to national defense measures such as developing missile defenses, IED detection devices and improved satellite surveillance technology.
Energy and Climate. Reduce and eliminate dependence on foreign fossil fuels by tapping into natural gas as a bridge to wind, solar, nuclear and electrical power as well as building a new electrical grid infrastructure. Tax credits to those who cooperate; tax penalties to those who don’t.
Health Care. Extend Medicare to all U.S. citizens. Subsidize private insurers to run the programs administered by the government comparable to the way in which Medicare Part D is now handled for drug coverage but with the stipulation purchasing of drugs is based on competitive bidding. Tort reform and capping malpractice awards must be imposed.
Certainly, some domestic programs will cost more in the short term but pay dividends in savings in the larger view. Yes, Virginia, there will be tough decisions to ration care as we saw last night on “Sixty Minutes.” Get over it.
Congressional earmarks would be abolished and federal appropriations for local districts must prove a positive cost-benefit ratio. One good policy from the Nixon administration should be restored — checks written directly to cities, counties and states to be spent on projects only they deem appropriate.
Finally, Congress must pass a law with teeth that forces a federal balanced budget. Yes, Nancy, the time has come.
The way it works now, Congress’s priority is getting reelected than living within its means. The Republicans say no to everything except national security. The Democrats can’t decide if everything they want is worth it.
The way I see it, watching our economy going to hell is akin to watching the Hindenburg crash. “Oh, the inhumanity of it all.”
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8 Responses to “A Pace We Can Ill Afford”
I agree with about 75% of this. I would like to see our #1 or #2 priority to be job creation. When they work, they pay taxes, they spend and they don't use unemployment funds.
Bankrupt super power. Being a super power does indeed tend to bankrupt them. Working backwards, Soviet, British, Turkish, French, Spanish, I could continue. Fact is that there is always another country waiting to assume the rights without the responsibilites and when the responsibilities arrive, it bankrupts them.
Jerry, you've got my vote!!! . . . . . . . . . (you do wear one of those little flag lapel thingees right?)
Bring the all troops home, close all Non-Naval bases outside of the continental US. Downsize the Army, get rid of the Air Force, slim down the Navy and beef up the Marine Corps, cut the Military Budget down to one third of what it is today, and butt out of other peoples business.
You do realize that we give very little in foreign aid and most of that goes to Israel, Egypt & Colombia to buy weapons so they can kill their neighbors.
Space exploration is pretty much a positive, more money should probably be spent on robot exploration and studying asteroids to see what minerals are possibly exploitable. Missile Defense is a sad joke, how billions have we pissed away in research for some defenses that can be defeated for a few hundred Ks. IEDs detection devices: why waste the time and money, just butt out of other people's business and you won't need them.
Sounds nice. After you have raised federal taxes on gasoline to at least $2.00 a gallon, come and talk to me about all that other stuff, that's when I know you are serious.
The only way to control cost & cover everyone is a single payer system. Why should we subsidize private insurers to do what we can do ourselves for less money?
BTW. Texas has had tort reform and caps, and the cost of health-care hasn't gone down…
All of the above are problems, but really they are just a symptom of globalization. As long as you can manufacture goods in China and other third world rat-holes using “slave labor” (No Unions, Starvation wages, No regulations, Child Labor, No overtime, Company Goons), no manufacturing will be done in the US and the wealth of the country will keep trickling out…
Way too expansive. (That's a major reason why the stimulus is failing, as well as, even more broadly, why the Dems are increasingly concerning Americans with what the Dems are doing this year.) ObamaCo instead should revert to practicality and realism (which are missing), and proceed according to Zandi's months-old “bang for the buck” stimulus-measure effect and ranking list.
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Medicare for all: expanding on eminent failure. Repealing McCarran-Ferguson, reversing the bank bailouts, killing off Fannie and Fredie — these are ways of putting the economy back on solid ground, rather than desperately trying to make a depression feel good.
My list:
National Security: Enforce government contracts more strictly, especially in the case of cost overruns so that we get more realistic bids on military projects. Eliminate pork in the military budget where congressmen are able to win money for military projects in their district in exchange for votes.
Health Care. Keep the free market free and private. Government should establish a database and require that medical providers list services and fees so that customers and patients can make informed decisions about where they purchase healthcare. Allow purchasing of insurance across state lines. Pass stricter guidelines about what insurance providers can do regarding pre-existing conditions so that folks wont be dropped in their time of need. Regulate advertising on television by Big Pharma so that people aren't convinced they need products they really don't. Do not eliminate the advertisement, just have a more detailed list of specifics that are required, especially if they make comparisons with competing products, including mention of which have generic counterparts. Pay doctors and hospitals 100% of the cost for medicare/medicaid don't shortchange them like at present.
Foreign Aid: Make it only available for national security interests or disaster relief for reliable allies, make all other aid illegal until the deficit is paid off.
Space Exploration: Cut it back to projects that seem to have promise for technological innovation that could be commercially beneficial
Energy and Climate: Tap into available natural resouces like offshore oil to reduce dependence on other countries. Use the most modern tech to reduce environmental impact. Build more nuclear facilities from a uniform blueprint so that cost are reduced and the workforce and equipment is easier to transfer.
In General: Reduce federal aid to the States in which a state must adopt a federal one size fits all approach. Give the funds to the states to spend as they within a broader range and make state come up with their own revenues to pay for some items. The States should not be held hostage to federal monies.
Eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development altogether, this should be done by the states and cities, not the federal government.
Place the office of the United States Trade Representative under the Department of Commerce to reduce redundancy.