US Economy Advances At A Brisk Pace
The US GDP appears to be increasing at about 4% annually, which is excellent for the world's largest economy. Europe is stuck around 2% to 2.5%, and that drops when considering the overvalued euro.
Social Security will be a problem if it is not fixed, but it will not cause an economic crash. Healthcare and it's rising costs, however, will cause a crash if it's not fixed. Mind you, if you think healthcare's expensive now, wait until it's "free" (quote/paraphrase of someone whom I am unable to track down and credit). Personally, I think medical research and the rapid advancement of technology may be causing much of the price hike, but I have little data and no credible sources for this. However, much of the increase is also due to hospital expansion. Hospitals are expanding because Americans want hospitals to accommodate every potential patient at every time. This means that the hospital must be staffed and built to handle far more patients than they normally have. This is comparable to building an 18-lane highway, rather than a 10-lane highway, to make sure that traffic will never slow down at rush hour (this may be a bit of an exaggeration). Government mandates are also increasing the costs of taking care of patients. Finally, the cost of new drugs are not only due to research, but also to extensive testing, and as a safeguard in case there may be a problem and the drug company is sued for unreasonably large amounts of money.
Next, I want ANWR opened to oil drilling. All of ANWR, unless something spectacular like an alien spacecraft or ancient civilization of very advanced humans is found (they won't be found). It will take about 6 to 7 years for any oil to come out of ANWR once it is opened, but the drilling operations would create at least 250,000 jobs (that's just in the Coastal Plain area, which is only about 2 million of ANWR's 19 million acres), as well as tens of billions of dollars, and significantly reduce US dependence on foreign oil.
Additionally, I want minimum wage to rise by 75 cents to $1 per year for the next four years. Very few people get paid minimum wage, but those who do are getting ripped off, and too many people are getting paid something close to minimum wage. This would help reduce the disparity between the salaries of CEO's and the average employee in their company, which has grown disgustingly, even to a capitalist republican like me.
After that, I want executives to be held accountable for the 'accounting irregularities' of their companies. If a company steals from its customers, the executives go to jail, unless they can prove themselves innocent (either as individuals who had no relation to the theft, or as a whole, in the case that all the lower employees were steeling and the executives didn't know, which is unlikely. Trials should be held within a week so that people who are obviously innocent can get out of jail, while the guilty or possibly guilty have a later trial, so lawyers have more time to gather evidence and make a proper argument). The jail would be the prison near the company's headquarters to make things simple, and so that executives have a hard time going to a more relaxing prison.
Next, I want cable lines to be taken out of AOL/TimeWarner's hands, and opened to all companies, just as phone lines are. This case is going to the supreme court in a few months, and I really hope that TimeWarner looses, because that company needs to be destroyed. TimeWarner, because of its incompetence, stealing from customers, and terrible service, is in the way of a ton of development that the US needs.
I want no limits on the number of immigrants the US will accept; the only limits the US should have are to keep criminals and the like out of the country. A great way to stop outsourcing is to allow cheap labor to come to the US, so US companies do not move abroad for the cheap labor (wow, that seems incredibly logical, and I'm ashamed I didn't think up that line earlier). People will come into the US illegally anyway, so it's better to make sure that those who try to cross the border are the type that the US doesn't want, and border patrol agents are not restricted in catching the wannabe-illegal immigrants. Also, reform the immigration system, because it is failing at present. First off, those applying for immigration are treated poorly (they should be given the same respect as any American, as they will soon be an American), the system is slow, and it is a huge hassle for immigrants to go through. The immigration service should help those who want to become Americans. Some of the first things that the immigration service should do are helping the immigrant find somewhere to live, somewhere to work, and ways to adapt to the American culture. Some immigrants have little interest in adapting to American culture, but they should find that it is easier to spend the time to learn english because the immigration service will help them get somewhere to work and live in return.
While reforming immigration, we ought to send a lot of waterproof ziplock bags to Cuba. It's about time those refugees brought some cigars with them, so they don't have to live off the government or charity the minute they arrive.
These changes should help push the US economy from a brisk jog to a healthy sprint. Plus, the changes would simply be nice to have.
Social Security will be a problem if it is not fixed, but it will not cause an economic crash. Healthcare and it's rising costs, however, will cause a crash if it's not fixed. Mind you, if you think healthcare's expensive now, wait until it's "free" (quote/paraphrase of someone whom I am unable to track down and credit). Personally, I think medical research and the rapid advancement of technology may be causing much of the price hike, but I have little data and no credible sources for this. However, much of the increase is also due to hospital expansion. Hospitals are expanding because Americans want hospitals to accommodate every potential patient at every time. This means that the hospital must be staffed and built to handle far more patients than they normally have. This is comparable to building an 18-lane highway, rather than a 10-lane highway, to make sure that traffic will never slow down at rush hour (this may be a bit of an exaggeration). Government mandates are also increasing the costs of taking care of patients. Finally, the cost of new drugs are not only due to research, but also to extensive testing, and as a safeguard in case there may be a problem and the drug company is sued for unreasonably large amounts of money.
Next, I want ANWR opened to oil drilling. All of ANWR, unless something spectacular like an alien spacecraft or ancient civilization of very advanced humans is found (they won't be found). It will take about 6 to 7 years for any oil to come out of ANWR once it is opened, but the drilling operations would create at least 250,000 jobs (that's just in the Coastal Plain area, which is only about 2 million of ANWR's 19 million acres), as well as tens of billions of dollars, and significantly reduce US dependence on foreign oil.
Additionally, I want minimum wage to rise by 75 cents to $1 per year for the next four years. Very few people get paid minimum wage, but those who do are getting ripped off, and too many people are getting paid something close to minimum wage. This would help reduce the disparity between the salaries of CEO's and the average employee in their company, which has grown disgustingly, even to a capitalist republican like me.
After that, I want executives to be held accountable for the 'accounting irregularities' of their companies. If a company steals from its customers, the executives go to jail, unless they can prove themselves innocent (either as individuals who had no relation to the theft, or as a whole, in the case that all the lower employees were steeling and the executives didn't know, which is unlikely. Trials should be held within a week so that people who are obviously innocent can get out of jail, while the guilty or possibly guilty have a later trial, so lawyers have more time to gather evidence and make a proper argument). The jail would be the prison near the company's headquarters to make things simple, and so that executives have a hard time going to a more relaxing prison.
Next, I want cable lines to be taken out of AOL/TimeWarner's hands, and opened to all companies, just as phone lines are. This case is going to the supreme court in a few months, and I really hope that TimeWarner looses, because that company needs to be destroyed. TimeWarner, because of its incompetence, stealing from customers, and terrible service, is in the way of a ton of development that the US needs.
I want no limits on the number of immigrants the US will accept; the only limits the US should have are to keep criminals and the like out of the country. A great way to stop outsourcing is to allow cheap labor to come to the US, so US companies do not move abroad for the cheap labor (wow, that seems incredibly logical, and I'm ashamed I didn't think up that line earlier). People will come into the US illegally anyway, so it's better to make sure that those who try to cross the border are the type that the US doesn't want, and border patrol agents are not restricted in catching the wannabe-illegal immigrants. Also, reform the immigration system, because it is failing at present. First off, those applying for immigration are treated poorly (they should be given the same respect as any American, as they will soon be an American), the system is slow, and it is a huge hassle for immigrants to go through. The immigration service should help those who want to become Americans. Some of the first things that the immigration service should do are helping the immigrant find somewhere to live, somewhere to work, and ways to adapt to the American culture. Some immigrants have little interest in adapting to American culture, but they should find that it is easier to spend the time to learn english because the immigration service will help them get somewhere to work and live in return.
While reforming immigration, we ought to send a lot of waterproof ziplock bags to Cuba. It's about time those refugees brought some cigars with them, so they don't have to live off the government or charity the minute they arrive.
These changes should help push the US economy from a brisk jog to a healthy sprint. Plus, the changes would simply be nice to have.
posted by Chris at
11:27 PM
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