Biden was the second best political pick for Obama - Hillary would have been the better pick - but Biden was a very sensible pick.
Now its McCain's turn. If he really wants to win, he will choose Lieberman as his running mate. Doing so would deliver Florida to McCain, but it would really piss off many in the Republican party. I would like to remind McCain: Its about WINNING. No one has to tell Obama that. Obama is, without question, in the top 3 campaign politicians of the past 50 years.
Neither one of these guys has touched the real issues facing America.
So here goes:
Dear Mr. President:
Welcome to the White House. Its good to be King. Now you need to get to work to save the U.S. financial markets as well as the U.S. $ (not to mention our civil rights and freedoms) from an energy crisis of our own making:
1. You must lower the Federal payroll by 1/3 - yes, that means MASSIVE layoffs. The Federal Government must be cut to the bone.
2. You must raise the retirement age to 70 for Social Security and Medicare.
3. You must enact a tax on gasoline, diesel, electricity, and natural gas that really forces the American public to use less - much less.
4. You must privatize Fannie Mai & Freddie Mac, and let the market let things fall where they may
5. You must enact an income tax on the CEO's of PUBLIC corporations that confiscates 99% of everything over $5 million per year in compensation. (Notice I said PUBLIC companies. IF you are smart enough to found the next Google and you do not need to access the PUBLIC markets, you may make as much as possible without said tax. But we gotta stop paying the f%$#ing CEO of Freddie Mac $25 million to fail to see the housing crisis, or $165 million to CEO Stan O'Neil to destroy Merrill Lynch while the rank and file at WalMart does not have health insurance.) Adjust it for inflation. Trust me, $5 million per year leads to a very, very comfortable life.
6. You must find a way to provide health insurance for each and every American - it has been a silly debate and has held the U.S. back - but those who smoke, drink excessively, are overweight, use drugs, drive without seat belts, etc... should pay many multiples more for their insurance than those that accept their responsibilities. (So, you're fat smoker? Quit smooking, loose some weight, or pay up. Pretty simple. BTW, you will live longer, and happier, and you won't need Viagra.)
7. The U.S. must have public transportation as the centerpiece of our new economic plan!!!
8. You must let Ford and G.M., etc... fail, if need be. No tax payer bailouts for ANY for profit corporations. Personal responsibility for ALL, not just the little guy.
You must do all of this in less than 4 years because any President that actually tried this as an agenda would not get a second term... hell, he might not live through the first term.
But he would get his profile on Mt. Rushmore and his picture on the $20 Bill (who cares about Andrew Jackson anymore?).
Yours for a better world,
Mentatt (at) yahoo (dot) com
15 comments:
No one thought that a president who actively pursued a policy set to turn America into a fascist police state would get a second term either...let alone not be impeached.
No president will take on the agenda you have lined out no matter how necessary it might be. A police state is easier and can be lucrative to your friends. No politician want to solve the problem.
John McSame should announce Dick Cheney as his vice president. Then we would have a seamless transition.
But seriously, survivalist is right: the police state is here to stay regardless of President Barack Osama or McSame.
What is more likely is 1) an INCREASE in Federal payroll by 50% - think Homeland Security & Blackwater, 2) a doubling of the DOD Budget, - for military robots like ED-209, 3) Tax CUTS for CEOs and all others making obscene amounts of money, and 4) Tax Payer Bailouts for any/all Fortune 500 companies (the little guys can all go bust).
I'm a democrat. And I agree with your suggestions what the next president needs to do. Not going to happen though whoever wins. Alot of issues aren't even in our hands anymore. Foreign nations control them. Interesting times coming. Jim
(From the Federally-employed non-regulating bureaucrat):
I've been aware of Obama ever since my neighborhood in Chicago was flooded with "Obama" (for Senate) lawn signs. I've been rooting for him for Pres for 2 years. I wanted Hillary to be VP. Anyone who knows us democrats knows we want EVERYONE to win; for every child to be above average. We are silly that way. :) Hillary proved she oughta be on the ticket. Obama made the lesser choice. He ignores the womenfolk at his peril. He made the "safe" choice, not the "change" choice, tho I'll vote for him anyway. But I don't think people understand Obama's popularity. It isn't cause he's cute, or his wife is pretty, or for his "experience." OBAMA IS SOLELY A CRY FOR HELP! from the younger people who know we are up shit creek. That's why we discuss energy and economy on Jeffers forum. The younger people know we are screwed, our debt is gonna turn us into Bolivia on a good day, the cheap oil is becoming scarce, we are pursing non-solutions like wind power, and no on seems to care. The baby boomers are retiring. 70 for social sec. is sucky but I'm listening (wanna retire at 57 :)). A big yes for electricity for transportation (as long as the coal & wires last). The choice of Biden is fine I suppose, but it's the same old, same old. Everyone on Jeffers blog knows what is coming. Obama certainly is not prioritizing what is coming.
Jim:
Funny you are a Democrat and I am a Libertarian Republican and yet we see things fairly the same. Government IS the largest part of the problem. We WILL get less government, one way or the other.
At THIS moment, my money is on McCain to win. Not too long ago I thought Obama was going to wash McCain away. I used to work in campaign politics many, many years ago, and I am impressed with the political operatives on BOTH sides.
I am not partisan. I dislike everybody in government (only half kidding). I am like a retired boxer watching 2 guys go mano e mano.
McCain could still screw up the Veep pick. We will have to wait and see...
Still, McCain will win Ohio. If he can win Florida, he will be the guy raising his hand next Jan 20. If Lieberman is on the ticket he wins Florida, hands down. Romney doesn't do that for McCain. Maybe Rmoney will give $20 million to the RNC... that's different.
I am not thinking hopes and wishes. Just doing critical analysis of is likely to win in what circumstances.
Survivalist:
We have been pursuing a police state for DECADES. That goal has been furthered by every President since Truman.
A cut in Federal expenditures would do WONDERS would do wonders for our cause. Stop paying the Nazis and they won't come to work.
(further from the bureaucrat):
The "needing something to hate and be afraid of" disease is affecting your senses. The U.S. is NOT a police state - not even close. Me and 3 million of my Fed coworkers haven't any energy nor will to waste our time imprisoning you, torturing you, starving you, stealing from you and interrogating you. Sounds boring, and your faith in our abilities is both misguided and comical. You all aren't that valuable, nor interesting. Instead, lets talk about reality: why no one talks about why oil REQUIRES millions of years and high temperature & pressure to create, and can't be done synthetically (there are "manufactured" gems after all, chemically identical to real rubies, emeralds, etc.) AND how can we start a massive movement in reducing demand for everything across the board, saving us decades. The distance between having everything and having just enough is short. The capitalists (like me) would just love that! :)
It scares me that folks like McCain don't realize that the US no longer holds the main cards in the global economy. Or in the geopolitical realm.
And we are on borrowed time when it comes to paying for our 15 million barrels a day of oil imports. They are not going to take those US IOUs much longer. And the Geogia bebacle has shown the world that the US is a paper tiger not worthy of being feared any longer- and with a worthless currency fitting such.
Dear Bureaucrat:
Easy now. I am entitled to my use of hyperbole to get my point across. Don't take this so personally!
The U.S. LOVES its prison system a little too much. We have too many people in prison, or certainly more than anybody else, for a simple mathematical reason:
Sentences for non violent drug and property crimes are MUCH longer than any other nation's sentencing guidelines.
40 year and 60 year sentences for non capital crimes involving 20 year olds is very expensive, non productive, and cruel - yet we do it all the time. And now our prisons have a disproportionate share of superannuated, non violent, no threat to society senior citizens.
(Yet again from democrat bureaucrat):
You'll be happy to know I do have my liberitarian tendencies :)
I am in favor of:
1) drug legalization (empty the jails)
2) dropping alcohol to 18 (they're drinking anyway)
3) legalize prostitution across the board
4) guns for almost everyone (soon to happen after the followup court cases are dismissed)
The waste in government can't ever be controlled so long as we continue this failed enforcement strategy that will always fail.
What's your view on the scandinavian countries? They have a distinctly socialist-capitalist model, high taxes, universal health care, free college for all, they consistently score the best marks in livign standards and for science/maths at high school level. And Norway imposes very high taxes on it's gas although it is a large producer of it. (10+ dollars a gallon last time i checked) and yet they are also some of the most productive, stable, environmentally friendly countries on earth. Why can't the US adopt such a model? Everyone's well off it seems.
He Viv,
The Scandinavian countries have much more homogeneous and disciplined populations than ours. The discipline comes from the nasty climate. Either prepare for winter or starve during it.
There is no such thing as universal health care. There is private health care or government health care. With government health care, when you become seriously ( expensive ) ill, some bureaucrat performs a cost/benefit analysis on you, and if your sorry ass isn't worth saving, they just keep delaying treatment until you die in the waiting line. At least my insurance company has the balls to tell me when and why they deny me coverage.
College is free for those few percent that pass the entrance exam. Those 18 year olds that are just too immature at test time are pretty much screwed, no matter what their potential is at age 25.
And, by and large, they are very much poorer than we are. Ask a Swede about the last time he's gone to a restaurant, or done anything that requires a bit of disposable income. You'll get a very defensive answer.
Glad to live in the USA!
It scares me that folks on this blog don't realize that the US no longer holds the economic and geopolitical cards to determine its own fate. We don't control our own money, our own energy, or our own government.
The USA is bankrupt by any measure, and we continue in our daydream by the grace of the Chinese. While we are dreaming, foreigners are trading in their ever-worth-less dollars for real property in the USA: businesses, farms, real estate...
Just as Thomas Jefferson predicted - "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] . . . will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered . . . The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
aaaah, I love it how Americans fail to see that there is no difference between your two parties. You have a broken system, funding both parties and funded by the same groups.
Anon:
There IS no difference between Rep and Dems... The only thing keeping them alive is the abortion issue. Without that, we might actually evolve.
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