[RunItUpTheGut]

First off, I do NOT want this to turn into a republican/democrat debate.
Put Obama and Romney aside, as well as your party affiliation, and answer the question. Also, this should have nothing to do with gays, races, etc.

I know this will be hard without blaming one party or the other, but i just want personal opinions on what you would do personally.

What policies, agencies, etc, need to stay or go?
How does our military and military spending play into all of this?
How would you change the tax rates for the wealthy, middle class, poor?
What would really stimulate job growth?
How do gas prices affect this?

[SKINNYPIG]

Change the tax system to the Fair Tax...BOOM!

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
What would be the fair tax, you mean a flat tax?

[MustangSally]

1. lower the corporate tax rate
2. Get rid of the personal income tax/IRS and move toward Flat tax rate based on income
3. eliminate the federal Departments of education, energy, and HUD, make Department of Interior not a Cabinet position.
4. Create a national sales tax on foreign made goods
5. Place term limits on Congress
6. Make all Federal administrative law with built in sunshine clause

[judgementday]

1. lower the corporate tax rate
2. Get rid of the personal income tax/IRS and move toward Flat tax rate based on income3. eliminate the federal Departments of education, energy, and HUD, make Department of Interior not a Cabinet position.
4. Create a national sales tax on foreign made goods
5. Place term limits on Congress
6. Make all Federal administrative law with built in sunshine clause

^this.........the current tax system needs to be trashed....

You mentioned gas prices....IMO it is one of the reasons for the down turn in the economy......higher gas prices led to companies charging more for transporting their goods which led to higher prices in grocery stores, etc....

[MustangSally]

Lower energy cost across the board- Gasoline, Diesel, electric power - the lowering of energy cost would spark the economy not only on the manufacturing but by in consumer spending

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
Ive always though gas is the one major factor in all of this.
Lower it and you lower so many more things.

What about medicaid, medicare, ssi?

[Bob Seger]

^
Ive always though gas is the one major factor in all of this.Lower it and you lower so many more things.

What about medicaid, medicare, ssi?

While gasoline gets all the publicity and the attention, it's effect is minor compared to how the price of diesel fuel effects all consumables. It effects the price of every good that is sold in this country. Yet the media attention it receives is very minor.

[Bob Seger]

^this.........the current tax system needs to be trashed....

You mentioned gas prices....IMO it is one of the reasons for the down turn in the economy......higher gas prices led to companies charging more for transporting their goods which led to higher prices in grocery stores, etc....

Virtually nothing is transported using gasoline anymore. It's just about all shipped by use of diesel fuel.

[Bob Seger]

1. lower the corporate tax rate
2. Get rid of the personal income tax/IRS and move toward Flat tax rate based on income
3. eliminate the federal Departments of education, energy, and HUD, make Department of Interior not a Cabinet position.
4. Create a national sales tax on foreign made goods
5. Place term limits on Congress
6. Make all Federal administrative law with built in sunshine clause

7. Put about 90% of the lawyers and judges in this country either in jail or debar them forever.

[SKINNYPIG]

^
What would be the fair tax, you mean a flat tax?

Somewhat the same but different. There are exemptions for "poverty level" families...Something along the lines where they pay zero taxes on any goods considered to be monthly necessities...They are paid a monthly check to cover any tax on necessities.

It replaces the ENTIRE federal tax code. Imagine never seeing a federal deduction of any kind on your check again.

It would almost abolish the IRS and do away with billions of dollars spent on Tax Law every year. The savings on just paper alone is staggering.

It removes ALL imbedded taxes on manufacturing goods.

It is the most researched piece of legislation ever introduced in the history of this country. It was introduced by Congressman John Linder. Linder, along with Neal Boortz co-wrote the book on The Fair Tax.

Google it and see what You think.

Sad part...It will never happen, it would be the largest shift of power from the government to the people since the Declaration of Independence. Our leaders are hooked on power and they want nothing to do with the Fair Tax. 90% of them will never show it any favor.

[nky]

everyone should pay something in taxes

[SKINNYPIG]

everyone should pay something in taxes

I agree, and it's another reason I like the Fair Tax.

[RunItUpTheGut]

Virtually nothing is transported using gasoline anymore. It's just about all shipped by use of diesel fuel.

Thats what i meant lol, my truck is diesel.
Im one of those guys that refers to fuel as gas.

[RunItUpTheGut]

Somewhat the same but different. There are exemptions for "poverty level" families...Something along the lines where they pay zero taxes on any goods considered to be monthly necessities...They are paid a monthly check to cover any tax on necessities.

It replaces the ENTIRE federal tax code. Imagine never seeing a federal deduction of any kind on your check again.

It would almost abolish the IRS and do away with billions of dollars spent on Tax Law every year. The savings on just paper alone is staggering.

It removes ALL imbedded taxes on manufacturing goods.

It is the most researched piece of legislation ever introduced in the history of this country. It was introduced by Congressman John Linder. Linder, along with Neal Boortz co-wrote the book on The Fair Tax.

Google it and see what You think.

Sad part...It will never happen, it would be the largest shift of power from the government to the people since the Declaration of Independence. Our leaders are hooked on power and they want nothing to do with the Fair Tax. 90% of them will never show it any favor.

Thats a hell of an idea.
Like you, i would be all in favor for it.
Last week alone i had about 200 dollars taken out for federal taxes.

Im a big fan of ridding the career politicians. If this was the case could it be more possible to see something of a fair tax be brought in? Power would only be a memory to these guys then. It would be nice to see 2 term congressmen.

[TheRealThing]

Elect Romney this fall.

[vundy33]

You boys are missing one of the costliest things of all...this damn war!

We need to get out of it, and quick, because you all have no idea how much it costs. My God it is mind-blowing. With all the gear we would take on one average mission, (weapons, ammo, protective equipment, vehicles, fuel, electronics, not to mention the resources command puts into the mission), If I had all that money, I'd have at least a million or two, if not more. It's just crazy.

We get out of this war, and then that gives us alot of that money to use to hit enemy targets around the globe with special operations like we're already doing. Just a thought.

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
I was waiting for someone to being up the military budget as stated in the first post.

[Granny Bear]

Arch Coal Company just laid off another 600 this morning. Two hundred of those are located in Harlan Co. Devistating blow!! I feel horrible for those families; lots with small children.

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
Its getting worse.
I expect that by the end of the year thousands will be laid off.

[Granny Bear]

I wouldn't be surprised.....

[TheRealThing]

Arch Coal Company just laid off another 600 this morning. Two hundred of those are located in Harlan Co. Devistating blow!! I feel horrible for those families; lots with small children.

Just heard on the news that Arch Coal will be laying off 750 workers, closing 3 facilities in Kentucky and West Virginia, and curtailing production in most of the facilities that will be remaining open. Arch Coal is blaming the Obama Administration's war on the coal industry directly, complaining about harsh EPA regulations. How working men and women could support the present administration defies logic.

[Hoot Gibson]

^
I was waiting for someone to being up the military budget as stated in the first post.

Government spending will not lead to a roaring economy but I would rather see federal money spend on national security than any other place.

Nothing is going to turn around the economy quickly but taxes and regulations are the biggest job killers that we face. We have the highest corporate tax rate in the world and laws like Dodd-Frank and the Sarbane-Oxley Act are huge drains on the economy.

I read this morning that the Obama administration dumped $9 billion into wind and solar energy projects and created a grand total of 910 jobs in the process. Central economies like the one that the Soviets employed do not work. The old U.S.S.R. was incredibly blessed with natural resources, had an educated workforce, and yet it struggled keeping basic items like bread on grocery shelves. Capitalism works and the further our economy is dragged toward socialism (or fascism), the worse our economy will become.

[nky]

^
I was waiting for someone to being up the military budget as stated in the first post.

Should military spending be cut? Yes but not cut for cutting stake. Look to cut waste, duplication of services, out dated or unwanted systems that are funded because some congressmen has it in his district. Stream line and cut the waste but that goes for all government sectors including entitlements.
Going after waste and fraud will save this country Billions

[nky]

1. lower the corporate tax rate
2. Get rid of the personal income tax/IRS and move toward Flat tax rate based on income
3. eliminate the federal Departments of education, energy, and HUD, make Department of Interior not a Cabinet position.
4. Create a national sales tax on foreign made goods
5. Place term limits on Congress
6. Make all Federal administrative law with built in sunshine clause

That's an interesting idea. national sales tax on foreign made goods would that help goods made in US? make them more competitive? make it better by funneling that money collected to pay on the debt

[SKINNYPIG]

That's an interesting idea. national sales tax on foreign made goods would that help goods made in US? make them more competitive? make it better by funneling that money collected to pay on the debt

Wouldn't a tax like that just be passed on to us, the consumers?

[vundy33]

Should military spending be cut? Yes but not cut for cutting stake. Look to cut waste, duplication of services, out dated or unwanted systems that are funded because some congressmen has it in his district. Stream line and cut the waste but that goes for all government sectors including entitlements.
Going after waste and fraud will save this country Billions

Exactly. Also, like I mentioned before, getting out of the war in Afghan opens up alot of that money for other things, and some of it to go towards ongoing special ops missions around the world that are very, very effective, but 90% aren't ever even heard about.

This topic isn't my best, but when it comes to military spending, I know my shit, because I've seen so much of it. And what I've seen probably isn't even 0.5%, and that is absolutely mind-blowing to me.

[TheRealThing]

Wouldn't a tax like that just be passed on to us, the consumers?

Yeah, supposedly we are not masters of our own destiny anymore because we are in the deadly coils of the 'global economy'. I believe to some extent this is in fact the case, but I don't accept the notion that we can't do much about it. We're in some kind of crossfire between the new worlders and traditional America.

[TheRealThing]

Exactly. Also, like I mentioned before, getting out of the war in Afghan opens up alot of that money for other things, and some of it to go towards ongoing special ops missions around the world that are very, very effective, but 90% aren't ever even heard about.

This topic isn't my best, but when it comes to military spending, I know my shit, because I've seen so much of it. And what I've seen probably isn't even 0.5%, and that is absolutely mind-blowing to me.

Well, this is largely the reason the USSR collapsed under it's own weight in 1991. Socialism simply could not provide the funding necessary to make the Soviet Union to run. The socialism experiment didn't work for Russia, and it won't work for anybody else either. None the less, we are constrained to maintain the type of military budget we have always had if we want to stay free. Like or not, it doesn't matter. Freedom = a kickbutt military force.

[nky]

Wouldn't a tax like that just be passed on to us, the consumers?

sure the consumer always pays the sales tax. It would raise the price of the imported goods making goods made in this country more appealing to the consumer plus it could increase manufacturing in this country (more jobs)