So, we have heard lots of ways the canidates will fix the good ole US of A. What you do?

How would you kill unemployment?
Fix the schools?
Stop the offshore flow of high paying jobs?
Close the ever growing gap between the wealthy and everyone else?
Stop corporate crimes against the country?
Stop Terrorism?
Make us stop getting fat?
Pay for our healthcare?
Fix the deficit?
Patch up our relationship with the rest of the world?
Make college more accessable?
Foster racial equity?
Deal with Iraq?
Reduce my hour+ commute to work?
Make a nation of Chicken Littles not live in fear of our own shadows?

Add anything else you feel is important to you.

** Just a note. This post earned me a negative rep point for "not enough drama". This post is not meant to be a work of drama. Its meant as an enticement for intelligent discussion. You want drama? Turn on your TV. Or maybe post something related to the topic perhaps?

What would we do without you, reputation system?!

I wouldn't vote for myself. That would be my contribution to the welfare of the country. I would vote for Barak Obama or Arnold Schwarzenegger though. I know he can't be president... but a guy can dream.

How would you kill unemployment? Change the term 'Sweat Shop' into 'Family Friendly Fun Factory'
Fix the schools? Duct tape and Super Glue
Stop the offshore flow of high paying jobs? Xenophobia
Close the ever growing gap between the wealthy and everyone else? Robin Hood
Stop corporate crimes against the country? See Above
Stop Terrorism? Threaten to send Michael Moore and Bill O'Rielly to debate them to death
Make us stop getting fat? Make the food that is good for you stop tasting so bad and the food that is bad for you taste less good.
Pay for our healthcare? With Monopoly Money
Fix the deficit? Deficit Schmeficit
Patch up our relationship with the rest of the world? Heart Shaped Boxes of Candy and clever Valentine Cards.
Make college more accessable? Handicap Ramps for Harvard!
Foster racial equity? Paint...and those blinders you put on horses.
Deal with Iraq? BOOM!
Reduce my hour+ commute to work? Fire you.
Make a nation of Chicken Littles not live in fear of our own shadows? THE SKY IS FALLING

OH yea. And I would mass produce those candy dots that come on the paper. You know the ones I am talking about. I got some of those today - they'd totally solve world hunger.

So tough, so rough and without a doubt a lose/lose situation but:

I'd put forth a new tax system to start. No loop holes, everyone pays and noone hides....Fairtax.org.

Everyone , at the age of 18 would serve 2 years/min military/peace corps with no exemptions.

Death penalty if trial by peers find you guilty. No more 6 year parole bs.

Total abolishmen of special interest groups lobbying for favors in Washington.

Line Item veto, no more rider bills. If the item attached has nothing to do with the original bill it doesn't get attached.

All Military bases removed from countries that no longer support US. Aka remove the bases from Saudi, Germany etc etc.

Military would be more liquid, more based on need and better paid/trained.

ACLU would be reigned in to it's original purpose, for those of you wondering wth? I'm referring to the group thinking that prisoners on Deaths row warrant better treatment than those without.

Some sort of bill passed that would smack down politicians lying during Election years. Read Kerry and Co promising there latest rip.

I'm sure more will be inc, but it's late here atm and well hell I'm tired.

Fandros

Count me out, I inhale(d).

How would you kill unemployment? TVA style projects with emphesis on blighted urban areas and infrastructure. Encourage more research into emerging industries.
Fix the schools? Pay teachers more. Encourage education as a true profession. Let the teachers teach and not just babysit. Up the standards, instead of dumb them down.
Stop the offshore flow of high paying jobs? Again, encourage more research into new industries.
Close the ever growing gap between the wealthy and everyone else? Tax system overhaul w/ flat tax. Ties in above topics.
Stop corporate crimes against the country? Make them actual crimes with hard time in a common prison, not a country club
Stop Terrorism? Stop pissing off the rest of the world. Stop meddling in the affairs of other nations. Stop giving money to scumbags who will later use that money and training to kill. Otherwise eliminate what cells can be eliminated with just provocation.
Make us stop getting fat? Redesign the food pyramid and RDA to cater to a more physically inactive society. Give tax breaks to fast food joints that eliminate the huge portions from their menus.
Pay for our healthcare? Socialist medicine. Also reduce the huge amount of litegation and awards that drive up costs such as malpractice insurance
Fix the deficit? Cut defense spending other than for research on new technology and intelligence gathering methods. 1000 F-22 fighters will not stop terrorists who use drug store made weaponry. Military needs to be smart, lean and professional with an emphesis on prevention of terrorist acts as opposed to being an instrument of retribution.
Get rid of the pork. Streamline the government and make it accountable.
Patch up our relationship with the rest of the world? Stop screwing with their business. Respect other nations. They are potential business partners or they can be the next terrorists. Take your pick.
Make college more accessable? Give Acedemia more responcibility and incentive to earn money through research. Tax breaks.
Foster racial equity? Education
Deal with Iraq? Pull out. Let them fend for themselves as Private enterprise will take care of it. Iraq is a diamond in the rough.
Reduce my hour+ commute to work? Look into what it takes to encourage cities to be more attractive place to live for families.
Make a nation of Chicken Littles not live in fear of our own shadows? Hard to kill this one. We have been bred to be affraid by years and years of the Cold War. Once we are convienced that we have nothing to fear now, than maybe we can learn to trust our nieghbors and ourselves. It goes back to education once again.

Lots of um..good ideas there, Talid. All the cool people will vote for you to be sure.

I would also look for ways to wean the country off its rampant and irresponciable usage of energy resources with a big emphesis on making the country be self sustaining on energy production. Buying oil from countries and governments that also harbor terrorists that want to kill is stupid. Why use our own dollars to fund terrorist plots?

How would I pay for all this? Tax foriegn petroleum shipments.

Close the ever growing gap between the wealthy and everyone else?


Why would I want to do that? there will always be "poor" . Its just relative. If the average income was 200K a year , then if you make 75K you would be considered poor....

That is why I think that as long as we have a monetary system there will always be poor... its all relative.

The poor in this country are living high on the hog compared to the poor in Iraq or Afganistan.... Just my thoughts, right or wrong its what I think.

Edit: Also, I read somewhere that the poor are not usually classified as "poor" for long. Lots of people who are classified as "poor" work there way out of it in 5 years. It is usually the young who are "poor" for this short period then work there way out of it by working and a accumulating things. This is the USA of course.

A flat tax system penalizes the poor more than the rich, the tax system as it's in place already helps to benefit the poor by paying a much lower amount of their mean income than the middle class.

Remove taxes(some states do this already) from need items like food and place higher tax burdens on luxury items. Tax more expensive vehicles more, tax cigarettes more, tax alchohol more, legalize marijauna and tax the hell out of it(though that topic is for another debate).

Income tax isnt the only way to raise money, taxes on luxury items tax the people with more disposible income more, the people that can actually afford to lose part of their income.

A flat tax, like the one Forbes proposed would just hurt the lower class even more. If you look at the tax paid in by a person that makes less than 20k a year and has a kid or two, you'll see they pay very little. While this isnt the answer to poverty in this nation, the fact that they pay less in taxes does releave a significant burden on their lively hood. Can you imagine what would happen to the poor if they had to pay out an extra 1k in taxes at the end of the year? where would it come from?

Sure there are loopholes that the higher tax brackets utilize to lower their tax paid out, but as a % they still pay way more of their income than a lower income family.

Now if you said a teir system based upon income with fewer loopholoes, and fewer deductions than the current system, then i'd be in agreeance. Any system though that in the long term taxes the poor more than they are currently taxed would just fuel even more poverty.

How would you kill unemployment?
By either offering either much higher incentives to stay in the US, or by revamping the education system. The main problem imho is american workers are not worth what you have to pay them.
Either need to offer incentives or churn out enough ultra-high quality workers to make thier salaries worthwhile.
Fix the schools?
For the love of god, remove standardized testing. This alone would have a huge impact, remove the funding schemes in many states.
Higher teacher incentives for doing good work, many more things.
Stop the offshore flow of high paying jobs?
Better educated workers, the education systems in countries like china and India arn't that bad, we either need to focus on bettering our workforce above thiers to justify what we want in payment, or revise working laws to adapt(aka: lower minimum wage and allow lower level factory positions). I'd prefer the first option.
Close the ever growing gap between the wealthy and everyone else?
Honestly I don't think I'd change much, well I'm not high on praises for the USA, your life here is only what you make of it. Your only bound into your "class" by your own abilities and choices.
Stop corporate crimes against the country?
As has been said..much harsher penalities.
Stop Terrorism?
No comment really, I simply don't know, if we could go back 100 years we probly could stop anti-US terrorism..but I think we've dug ourselves in too deep to just mind our own business now.
Make us stop getting fat?
Very strict nutritional guidelines for resturants, education on the byproducts of a lazy society.
I wouldn't say this in a campaign but also should gear the media and society in general to 'look down' upon lazyiness and obsecity.
They're bad things and most people just don't seem to care.
Pay for our healthcare?
I like the system as is, with the exception that insurance fraud has to be curbed. Insurance isn't a nesseccity for healthcare, but I hate paying more because people/doctors with insurance abuse the system and make me pay more out of pocket.
Fix the deficit?
More accountability for funds and better spending, there really isn't a trick here besides actually doing it.
Patch up our relationship with the rest of the world?
Conquer them. Seriously.
Make college more accessable?
I don't see anything wrong with current system.
Foster racial equity?
Stop treating other races/minorities as special, disallow racially centered organizations. If you can't say white only, you cant use black, mexican,whatever only either.
Basically..actually BE equal.
Deal with Iraq?
I think we're doing ok, just keep at it.

Kill Unemployment: Not possible. You can reduce unemployment by making it easier to start up new businesses, giving incentives for starting businesses in areas that need it worst, i.e.the inner cities.

Fix Schools: Reduce administration overhead and put those resources into the hands of people who actually teach. Turn paper pushers into teachers. Reduce the teacher to student ratio.

Stop Losing Jobs to Other Countries: Tough one. To keep jobs in country, corporations have to be able to compete using local labor. With our minimum labor standards, that will never happen. Best we find a new niche for ourselves, because labor intensive manufacturing will not be coming back until conditions become more expensive overseas. We are best served encouraging design based jobs based on expertise or new areas of research.

Close the Gap Between Rich and Poor: I see it more as raising the income of the extreme poor to a higher level. The gap itself is not the issue, its how low our bottom economic rungs are. We need to raise them to a point where no one is starving, resorting to crime or dying prematurely. This is tied to jobs, education and social acceptance.

Stop Corporate Crimes: Crimes are crimes and must be punishable by criminal prosecution. No special treatment. If a CEO commits a crime, toss his butt in with the rest of the general prison population.

Stop Terrorism: Effort needs to be made to de-romanticize jihadism in islamic countries. Funding organizations that provide alternative (and moderate) views of islam should be covertly encouraged. Keep after the financial networks, continue integrating the police infrastructures between countries, vigorous pursuit of Al Quaeda leadership and be more public in assisting the populations of the Middle East in economic and democratic reform. Be more willing to pressure Israel where they are clearly overstepping their bounds of self defense.

Stop Us From Getting Fat: It is not the proper role of the US government to dictate lifestyle/diet, any more than I think it is the role of the government to dictate sexual preference or religion. There are plenty of private organizations to address this.

Pay for Healthcare: The over-riding cost driver for health care in the US is caused by legal issues. To address this, reforms need to be introduced to limit damage awards and others to prevent frivolous lawsuits. To do that, you would also have to vet your physicians more carefully. No more doctors from 3rd rate schools in third world countries being allowed to practice without thorough testing to US standards.

Fix the Deficit: Reduce spending on non-essential programs, retarget spending on job creation programs and education. Raise some taxes (alcohol, tobacco, gasoline, luxury). Sell "Green Cards" at the borders allowing foreigners who pass a security screening to enter the US legally for less than they currently pay smugglers to get them in illegally.

Repair Our Relations With the Rest of the World: Reward our friends more clearly and substantially. Be consistent and fair in our policies and be willing to compromise (publicly) on occasion when we can afford to. Stomp our enemies who attack us by all means at our disposal (financially, politically and if needed militarily) and be able to explain why they were stomped and how they must change to avoid future stompings. Don't try to remake the world in our image or save the world from itself.

Make College More Available: Another tough one as it is tied to the general health of the economy. Not everyone is suited for college, but those who are and are economically unable to attend without assistance should get it. Possibly a "Peace Corp" scholarship program similar to what the military did. Put in your years of service to the country, either military or peace corp, and earn a degree.

Racial Equity: Enforce the laws that are on the books more vigorously. Job and housing discrimination should be dealt with severely. Social issues like this are very tough to eradicate and it is the work of generations, not just a few years. I think we are mostly on the right track, but we need to watch out we don't go overboard and balkanize ourselves with "ethnic pride" programs. We are Americans first, not who our ancestors were.

Deal With Iraq: We need to work behind the scenes as much as possible and allow the Iraqis room to breath on their own. Encourage the Arab League to take on peacekeeping/law enforcement duties there until such time as the Iraqi's can get their own forces in control. At the earliest possible time, our military forces should withdraw to show we are not there to colonize the place. On the covert side, now is when I would be establishing agents for future monitoring of Iraq. Human intelligence has proven to be lacking in the past, its high time we corrected that given Iraq's strategic importance.

Reducing Commute Time: More areas should encourage "flex hours" for their employees. Decentralizing business areas also makes sense. Instead of cities putting so much effort into developing industry centers, businesses should be more scattered, possibly even into the suburbs.

A flat tax system penalizes the poor more than the rich, the tax system as it's in place already helps to benefit the poor by paying a much lower amount of their mean income than the middle class.
Calling it a flat tax is misleading, it is a federal sales tax and it also would only take effect on spending over the poverty level through rebates. It doesn't penalize the poor over the rich, it actually cuts out alot of the dodging companies and rich individuals do to get out of current taxes.

Go check out the website, it explains it well and addresses the problems you have with it.

The tax revamp would minimize unemployment(everyone that wants to work is employed).

Dissolving teachers' unions would address a good bit of the problems in schools now.

The tax revamp would be a large incentive to keep jobs in country.

What happens to white collar criminals? Summer camps, and if you're rich or famous(like good ol Martha) there's likely to even be a book in it for you(Don't give the old "can't profit from your crime" bit btw, those laws are being struck down).

No more country club prison terms, if you embezzle you're going to Attica with the violent offenders.

Hello Martha, here's your new roommate. You are going to be Bubette's bitch for the next year. Hope that $30k was worth it.

As for terrorism, I think we have a pretty good start on it. We need to be a little more aggressive probably, Iran has already fallen off the bandwagon it had made motions of trying to climb on for example.

As for getting fat..take some responsibility for ourselves -McDonalds didn't force feed you chicken mcnuggets you know.

Healthcare?

Cap lawsuits.

Punish people who bring frivolous lawsuits in order to get easy cash.

The tax reforms would also work on the deficit.

As for international relations, let countries like France who try to block just about everything we do sit and spin. With "friends" like those, who needs enemies?

We helped build the foundation for France and Germany to be what it is today, whether they want to admit it or not..I'm sure we can do the same for countries who share common goals with us.

As for college, the means are there. Alot of people who have problems getting into college do not belong there, and should really be attending trade schools instead.

Racial equity?

Overall it is something that is simply going to take some time...look at where we are today, compare that to 50 years ago. We're on the right track.

As for Iraq, I think almost everything that can be done is already being done. Going after the extremists doesn't solve anything, the people themselves have to get to a point where they don't want to harbor them anymore. I believe they are getting closer to that point daily with all of the attacks on Iraqis instead of westerners.

As to your commute..move closer, or work from home.

you chose to quote one line of my post, but if you read further, i said the problems I quoted was based upon Forbes' proposed flat tax system, not a federal sales tax.

First assumption: That I would have the power to back up what I'm about to type.
Second assumption: Everyone has a sense of humor.

How would you kill unemployment?
Force everyone who is not working into a government sponsored military program. Mandate that everyone serve in the military for X number of years for the right to vote. Persons unable to find employment outside of the military stay in the military until they find a job. (ie: must have a job lined up to get your discharge papers)

Fix the schools?
Remove standardized testing. Move school to a year round system (already being done in some areas). Integrate academic performance with future goals from an earlier age. On the university level, remove all athletics programs, and make all current college teams semi-professional.

Stop the offshore flow of high paying jobs?
Invade all countries with a desirable worker base and annex them as territories or protectorates.

Close the ever growing gap between the wealthy and everyone else?
MORTAL COMBAT!!!! winner take all.

Stop corporate crimes against the country?
Shoot any and all CEOs found to be criminal.

Stop Terrorism?
Total War.

Make us stop getting fat?
Shoot anyone with a body fat composition more than 5% over the highest "average" number. Turn them into pig feed.

Pay for our healthcare?
Shoot all unhealthy people. Turn them into pig feed.

Fix the deficit?
100% taxes.

Patch up our relationship with the rest of the world?
Invade rest of world, make it part of US.

Make college more accessable?
Career tracks in "fix education" question above include college. Persons in college get Military deferment until they graduate, at which point they are moved into the military under a field of their specialty (ie: doctors serve as doctors, engineers serve as engineers, etc. Liberal arts majors will serve as well- but will have their MOS chosen for them).

Foster racial equity?
(getting serious for a moment here) There is no such thing as "race". The minute we realize this, we'll be on our way to equality.

Deal with Iraq?
See: Repair our relationship with the world question.

Reduce my hour+ commute to work?
Draft you into the Army, where your job is where you are.

Make a nation of Chicken Littles not live in fear of our own shadows?
Shoot all chicken littles and serve them to our troops.