How to get us out of this in a heart beat..economically

[Peacetrain]

Seriously.. when it comes to medicare, medicaid, etc

Lift the limits off of the social security taxes.. why should some of us have to pay the tax on every penny we make, but the upper 30% get a bye..

It would keep us in the black for our social programs, and for those not paying attention, the unemployment insurance and social secruity programs put in by Roosevelt is what has kept people from spinning totally out of control..we would have had those soup lines around the block by now with out them.


There is an added benefit.. we need to borrow money, and borrow big.. what the Chinese, Japanese, Aussies, Canadians, everyone who lends to us, lends on our paper,, the fact that we have that money coming in, with that policy will open all the credit markets internationally.

Now, lets get those credit markets open domestically, they have the money, and get some hard industries back in here..

Gaza, we are sending in the UN.. that is it.. We have been watching for the last 50 years this thing go down the drain.. enough.. this is just the place for the UN

Equal Rights for everyone. That is it. Call it what ever makes you happy. As long as people are treated fairly, have the same opportunities, chance at life and happiness and safety.

Pass the ERA as of yesterday.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. OK by me.

We need some form of progressive taxation, really.

[tbyg52]

2. Soak the rich - er, make them pay their fair share. Sounds like a plan to me. nt

[ThomWV]

3. If I have to pay in 7% of all I make why shouldn't a person who makes more than me do the same?

[backscatter712]

9. I'm all for soaking the rich.

Back in the 50's, the multimillionaires paid 93% income taxes. Since then, and especially since Reagan, they've been paying jack shit and forcing the working and middle-classes to take up their slack.

[Peacetrain]

11. When you look at the payroll taxes, and the loopholes

there is a part of that population of the uber wealthy living off of our society like leeches. I do not want to soak them, but I want them to pony up their fair share

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Yeah since the rich have been getting a free ride for the past 8 yrs at least, SOAK 'EM!

[Hannah Bell]

15. Soak them through income, corporate & capital gains increases - not SS.

It's those taxes that have been steadily reduced for them since the 70s.

[Occam Bandage]

4. While those are all very good ideas,

to suggest that raising the cap on social security taxes would have an immediate positive impact on the economy seems more than a little optimistic.

[Peacetrain]

7. I think it would immediately give confidence

back to the credit markets.. good companies are shutting down because they cannot borrow.. and the banks are sitting on the money.

Also knowing that SS would be in the black, (truthfully it is now) but forward into the future would also give us open credit markets overseas.. if our overseas credit markets dry up, we might as well tie the anchors around our necks, we are sunk!

[Warpy]

5. I reluctantly agree with removing the OASDI cap

but only until the debt is paid down to the point that we're not in hock to foreign powers and in danger of losing everything the public owns. Then the program should be restored to what was intended: a pay as you go insurance program, separate from the general fund. Oh, and tax all income including capital gains until the debt is paid down.

It would have the secondary benefit of giving the wealthy that flat tax with no exemptions they claim to want. My guess is that they won't like it very much and will be absolutely thrilled to see the program ended as a way to loot taxes from the poor and hand them to the rich and restored to its original form.

Universal single payer health care is a part of the recovery, too. The necessity will become painfully apparent even to right wing Limbecile Dildoheads as they lose their jobs and insurance that was tied to them.

The military budget desperately needs to be cut by 10% per year until it's in line with what other countries spend as a portion of their GDP. We need a defense force. We don't need an imperial one and Empire is what is breaking this country.

The rest of your program is sound. That's why it will never be done.

[Peacetrain]

10. Its a new day warpy.. and the internut or internet

depending on your outlook is going to bring about changes because we the "people" have a voice like never before.

I am optimistic.. very optimistic.. I know we have hard times ahead, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Oh there are those who will fight it tooth and nails, but I am ready for that battle :)

[machI]

6. President Obama should implement a massive 'Moon Shot' clean energy technology program immediately

Put people to work right away, up front, implementing conservation measures on all existing structures and industries.

Put the best research and development laboratories, Universities, and defense contractors on to developing new technologies.

Lay the frame work for American Industries to manufacture and sell world wide the clean energy technologies.

We win up front with lower unemployment. We win in the long term with a productive industrial base. We increase our National Security by reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels. We eliminate our contribution to man made climate change.

[Peacetrain]

8. I am all for that and more.. time to move to the green revolution

we went from farm to the industrial revolution, then the technological computer revolution.. time for a brand new "economic revolution" that will not only jump start this economoy, but insure a healthier planet for our descendants.

I can see individual or block windmills churning energy, including practical house to house solar panels, and all that work that goes into developing and making those types of products that will put us all in a decent economic place.

Now is the time to push the dream

And as you so succinctly stated it is great for national security also

[Hannah Bell]

13. Here's a better plan:

1. Return SS taxation to pay-as-you-go, like it was before 1983. This would reduce the % of SS taxation by about 1% (5.2% of your check v. 6.2%).

2. Return INCOME, CORPORATE, & CAPITAL GAINS TAXES to the levels of the 70s, & spend the additional income on pumping jobs, fixing UE, etc.



SS was capped at 90% of total wages for a reason. The reason was: so it could never be called a welfare scheme into which the very wealthy paid most of the money & got very little in return, & would thus be able to control, politically.

SS I'm amazed at all the calls to uncap it here on this "liberal" board, while inequities in other tax streams are IGNORED.

[JerseygirlCT]

16. I don't think that's 90% of total wages -

I think it's closer to the first 90k, isn't it?

[Hannah Bell]

18. You've misunderstood. SS was originally designed to tax 90% of all wages received in the US.

To do so, the cap is periodically raised, & is currently at $106K.

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/cbb.html

[JerseygirlCT]

14. That's not going to get us out of it alone

But I think it should be looked at - along with means testing for SS benefits, and the age at which those benefits kick in. One of those many third rails of politics, though...

[Hannah Bell]

17. Then you'd better just merge SS with welfare, because that's what you're proposing.

And you'd better get ready for welfare-style benefit levels & welfare style "investigation" to see if you're "deserving."

When the rich fund most of SS, they control it politically.

Stupid idea.