Quote:
Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna
[B]
To SteveZ:
I can't agree that the only "say" we have is at the time of federal elections. If that were true, there would be a whole lot of pollsters who provide information on public sentiment to elected officials who would be out of work. And while I know I tend to be more pragmatic that enthusiastic, whether the news is good or bad, I'm going to try hard to avoid the cynicsm that you suggest regarding the power of the democratic system. If we had so little control over those we elect to represent us, one might conclude that some other system might be better. I'm not there yet.
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This has been a pretty good thread. I only hope that the exchange of posts has gotten people to think a little more deeply about the crises we face and the things that can be done to correct them.
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If the Congressfolk paid any attention to the public sentiment that pollsters report, there would not be an approval rate of 9 Percent. Again, the fault is ours, not theirs, because we keep them in office in spite of their paying no true attention to us.
A democratic republic is still a fabulous governmental system. I love it. I just think the American voter as a group has lousy long-term memory skills, or we wouldn't fall for the same garbage each campaign season.
All that being said, if we are going to print $1.5Trillion and pass it out like S&H Green Stamps to banks, auto makers and others; why is it that the very first "solution" you propose is that the little guy is to take it in the chin one-more-time via losing Social Security and Medicare benefits?
Can government reduce spending? Sure it can!
1) Eliminate all those pork-barrel independent agencies that nobody even knows exists (see
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plumbook/2008/index.html for a list of them all - and how many had you never heard of?)
2) dismantle the Departments of Education and HUD - neither does anything of merit, and the FHA has been instrumental in the housing debacle;
3) reduce all foreign aid by one-quarter across-the-board, and continue that until it is down to 25% of today's numbers;
4) place a tariff on all goods imported into the US which were made in countries where the labor rate is below what would have been paid to US workers to make the same goods - and the tariff would be 90% of the difference in equivalent labor cost (this would make money!);
5) bring all US troops stationed in NATO and other such staging-area countries back to the US - we don't need to pre-position troops (and their dependents) in Germany and other countries anymore - today's transportation systems make pre-positioning virtually obsolete and many US states could use the positive economic impact that US troops provide;
6) Require that if anyl new legislation needs public funding to be implemented, corresponding existing federal program(s) equating to the same public funds obligation must be terminated , so that the budget (and deficit) doesn't grow.
The above are representative actions which would provide significant changes in the budget/deficit situation. There is no need to screw the little guy with Social Security or Medicare cuts - there's plenty of pork and special interest areas which could easily be trimmed FIRST!