There is nothing radically centrist about many of these policy proposals. They are in fact radical proposals combining the worst parts of libertarianism and liberalism/progressivism.
VAT =Ever increasing taxes hidden from the public. No thank you.
You want to federalize everything, from the police to unemployment insurance. Goodbye federalism and states rights (and diversity) by centralizing everything in the hands of unelected bureaucrats who are unelected and VERY far from the people whom their policies affect. No thank you.
Moratorium on immigration. Maybe, just maybe, we can talk about facilitating high-skilled, wealthy immigrants when and ONLY when we get our own house under control. Even then, Americans have learned that immigration will be gamed as "high-skilled' is endlessly watered down year after year. Look at HB-1 visas. Temporary nonimmigrant guest worker visas, which increased in number, then allowed for permanent residency, then could stay in US AFTER being laid off so you can find another job. You have foreigns working HR jobs on HB-1 visas being labeled "high-skilled. Complete and utter bullshit. No high-skilled immigration, which is a euphemism for unchecked mass migration of the world's middle class. No thank you.
Biden withdrew Trump's Remain in Mexico program, which was fantastic. Everyone knows that once someone sets foot in the US, they are almost impossible to deport. No one will even come looking for them. Asylum is being gamed and the issue is not "resources." Americans don't want to spend endless billions on adjudicating claims that will never be approved. We don't want your solution. No thank you.
No loan forgiveness for borrowers paid for by the US taxpayer. No heads I win, tails you lose anymore. Going to school and borrowing money for it entails risk. The risk is on YOU. Student loans guaranteed and the complete lack of underwriting standards led to this. No loan forgiveness whatsoever (unless you are completely disabled). No thank you.
No higher taxes. I want to keep my own money. If the government (federal, state and local) shower any fiscal restraint whatsoever, even if just during the good times, I could countenance this but they NEVER EVER show any desire to rein in spending. If we lowered taxes during flush years and then increased during the hard years, I could support higher taxes. That never ever comes to pass though. No thank you.
It's fascinating to me how "centrists" can make policy proposals that are actually quite radical and left-wing but present them as reasonable.
First of all, thanks ofr the comments. They are just what I hope for.
Well, the word "radical" is on the name plate and my explainer says that most of my ideas are more orthogonal to the left-right line.
VAT: Is that really more hidden than the wage tax? Than the subsidies for employer purchase of employees' health insurance?
Student Loan forgiveness: I don't support the extent Biden went to. It is/was badly structured in the risk sharing and make it very easy for people to make bad decisions. There is always an issue in relieving people from consequences of circumstances that are partly bad luck and party bad decisions.
As for federalizing unemployment insurance that is true, but it is already very heavily regulated. And sure enough when there is a recession there is federal intervention to prevent the state programs from running out of money. I look on this as just cleaning up a messy system. But I suppose there are other ways of making the program more generous and automatically countercyclical while leaving it as a state program.
You are right about the asylum loophole in the law. But until it is fixed let's follow it. Precisely what I am saying is have enough resources to follow the lay and yes deport those with invalid claims. I think that if that were done, had been done when the exclusion order was lifted it would deter people from coming to make invalid claims.
As for skilled workers, I WANT that "watered down" made much easier for many more people who will earn good money to come here. Whoever is elected, I'd like to see them do Trump's "green card on graduation" on day one if that's legal.
There is no one that wants to pay higher taxes. And no one who wants to receive lower transfers or payments for doing Congress's idea of what's good like the ethanol subsidy or farm subsidies. I just want Congress to resolve that by raising taxes enough to pay for everything it wants to spend on except really high yielding public investments. My tax proposals make that easier by reducing one of the bad things about taxation, that they discourage saving. [That part of the reason to substitute a VAT for the wage tax.]
You discuss VAT so I replied to that. Now you're mentioning employer provided health insurance. I believe this should be taxed as income actually, but you know how that will go. People really hate paying cash for non-cash benefits. I'd also eliminate SALT, despite benefiting from it, because it's unfair to states that don't have income taxes. Their residents get no break. VAT is insidious precisely because it is hidden. If the government wants to tax people, they should see it and feel it. I generally oppose hidden and indirect taxation because it is stealth.
Students loans aren't incurred because of bad luck. People make decisions based on expected results and when those plans don't pan out, they don't want to be stuck dealing with the consequences. It's human nature but it's not my cost to bear and I don't want to subsidize it. It's privatize the gains and socialize the losses on a massive individual scale. Those whose students loans were on forbearance during the pandemic didn't use their cash to save for a rainy day or save the cash to put towards principal payments post-forbearance. They spent it on other things. I don't feel bad for them. I don't see how student loans are any different than say auto loans. At least for the former, this would help the poor and working class. Student loan forgiveness just benefits Democratic voters. It's pure pork.
High-skilled immigration or watered-down skilled immigration - which is it? It sounds like you just want mass migration to the US depending on if the person can get a decent paying job. What is decent paying - someone not dependent on welfare? We know that will also get watered down real quick as it already was (e.g., non-cash assistance doesn't count towards being a public charge). Trump's green card statement would be a DISASTER for the USA. The elite of poor countries would come here, depriving them of leaders, and you'd see mass migration of the middle class from around the world. You';d have families from poor countries borrowing cash to send one child to any institution in the US so they'd get their green card and then sponsor the entire rest of the family. Student tuition would rise exponentially as the poor and middle class of the 2nd and 3rd world send their young adults to every community college and lower ranked school to get US citizenship. Every institution would become a diploma mill, taking in under and unqualified foreigners who'd pay more in tuition. Americans in previously competitive and uncompetitive areas would see masses of immigrants start competing for roles such as HS teachers, police officers, middle-manager type work (officer manager for a company HQ) and even janitors and it would devastate wages and engender politics blowback. You think like an economist who only focuses on increased GDP and demand for consumer goods without any regard whatsoever on families, communities, the social fabric and politics. Wait until all those foreign college grads who now have their green card but cannot get a decent paying job. It won't be pretty and especially since they can vote.
Asylum is a book unto itself. No asylum claims for people passing through 3rd countries, no taxpayer subsidized legal counsel for asylees and deportation for all illegal aliens with mandatory e-verify with stiff penalties and jail time for employers AND employees over a time period to give businesses time to adjust. Good luck with any enforcement. It's all "inhumane."
I'd like to encourage savings too. We should make interest income tax deductible then and also stop obsessing over lower interest rates. Higher interest rates encourage savings and deter consumption. VAT will NEVER EVER be a substitute for the income tax. That's my primary opposition to it. What would be best for the American people would be taxing everything as ordinary income with lower tax rates and few (if any) deductons. This way you'd get greater ability to control your tax rate but determining if you want to work more hours, get a promotion or a part-time job. As it stands now, it's very difficult for the ordinary American to determine if greater income will mean you lose some tax credits and not others, how much you'll be taxed on the increased income, and of course the tax compliance costs are out of control.
Also, I'm fine with farm subsidies in some form. Food security is an actual national security risk.
2,4 6, 13, 19. The lard, endless pork from both parties irritates me to no end when you have to stretch every dollar.
I'm a half full kind of gal and given independents like me we're hoping for a 4 year placeholder, unification, back to regular order. I still think he/cabinet delivered quite well for the American people. Crime us down, inflation down, restoring is happening, given the right condition the US will become an energy, innovation powerhouse.
I still want to move forward in coalitions and compromises. There are tiny blossoms showing. Even on days when I'm tired.
That is a _fair_ evaluation. I was being _unfair_ In a way you could say I was doing a "Steelman" case for Biden. How negative can one be and still be net positive?
But yes, wouldn't it be nice if Elections did NOT seem so important -- Democrats wanting to tax and spend and regulate a little more and Republicans a little less.
You and I are on the same page as far as the "Congress" is concerned -- and there has been a fundamental change that has taken place in that Congress.
I also believe that when you have people -- anywhere in this Country -- but especially those making up the Republican Party in the Congress -- who do the bidding of the Orange Jesus Striker -- actively work to undermine the Country: - not disagree - but subvert the country:
--- those people have consciously decided to change themselves from "being the opposition" -- while both parties work to better the Country -- into becoming "traitors to the Country" -- and should be dealt with accordingly as the Law dictates and allows.
There is no more "opposition Party" -- where either Parties may disagree - but where both work for the betterment of the people of the Country.
The Republican Party now worships the Orange Jesus Striker as their Messiah - along with "...Commercial Business over Country...".
The average Republican Party member - has consciously gotten rid of any moral compass they might have had --as they blindly follow their Pied Piper - like the unthinking Lemmings they have turned themselves into.
Are these strong words -- you bet: --but as a Vet who was raised in a US Army Officer's family and who fought for this County in Vietnam while in the Navy -- I know a traitor when I see one.
The environmentalist take on banning LNG exports was hella dumb, but doesn't that serve to lower NG prices here in the US? I could see a "we're not gonna export energy products from the US to lower energy costs at home" as a populist move, too. but idk
Oh yeah it’s a terrible measure if reducing emissions is your guide. But I don’t particularly have a problem with hoarding energy resources in the US to keep prices low (in election years)
I agree. That's part of what I meant by saying that these "errors" were not exclusively Biden's responsibility. I think most of what I suggest requires Congress to act.
There is nothing radically centrist about many of these policy proposals. They are in fact radical proposals combining the worst parts of libertarianism and liberalism/progressivism.
VAT =Ever increasing taxes hidden from the public. No thank you.
You want to federalize everything, from the police to unemployment insurance. Goodbye federalism and states rights (and diversity) by centralizing everything in the hands of unelected bureaucrats who are unelected and VERY far from the people whom their policies affect. No thank you.
Moratorium on immigration. Maybe, just maybe, we can talk about facilitating high-skilled, wealthy immigrants when and ONLY when we get our own house under control. Even then, Americans have learned that immigration will be gamed as "high-skilled' is endlessly watered down year after year. Look at HB-1 visas. Temporary nonimmigrant guest worker visas, which increased in number, then allowed for permanent residency, then could stay in US AFTER being laid off so you can find another job. You have foreigns working HR jobs on HB-1 visas being labeled "high-skilled. Complete and utter bullshit. No high-skilled immigration, which is a euphemism for unchecked mass migration of the world's middle class. No thank you.
Biden withdrew Trump's Remain in Mexico program, which was fantastic. Everyone knows that once someone sets foot in the US, they are almost impossible to deport. No one will even come looking for them. Asylum is being gamed and the issue is not "resources." Americans don't want to spend endless billions on adjudicating claims that will never be approved. We don't want your solution. No thank you.
No loan forgiveness for borrowers paid for by the US taxpayer. No heads I win, tails you lose anymore. Going to school and borrowing money for it entails risk. The risk is on YOU. Student loans guaranteed and the complete lack of underwriting standards led to this. No loan forgiveness whatsoever (unless you are completely disabled). No thank you.
No higher taxes. I want to keep my own money. If the government (federal, state and local) shower any fiscal restraint whatsoever, even if just during the good times, I could countenance this but they NEVER EVER show any desire to rein in spending. If we lowered taxes during flush years and then increased during the hard years, I could support higher taxes. That never ever comes to pass though. No thank you.
It's fascinating to me how "centrists" can make policy proposals that are actually quite radical and left-wing but present them as reasonable.
First of all, thanks ofr the comments. They are just what I hope for.
Well, the word "radical" is on the name plate and my explainer says that most of my ideas are more orthogonal to the left-right line.
VAT: Is that really more hidden than the wage tax? Than the subsidies for employer purchase of employees' health insurance?
Student Loan forgiveness: I don't support the extent Biden went to. It is/was badly structured in the risk sharing and make it very easy for people to make bad decisions. There is always an issue in relieving people from consequences of circumstances that are partly bad luck and party bad decisions.
As for federalizing unemployment insurance that is true, but it is already very heavily regulated. And sure enough when there is a recession there is federal intervention to prevent the state programs from running out of money. I look on this as just cleaning up a messy system. But I suppose there are other ways of making the program more generous and automatically countercyclical while leaving it as a state program.
You are right about the asylum loophole in the law. But until it is fixed let's follow it. Precisely what I am saying is have enough resources to follow the lay and yes deport those with invalid claims. I think that if that were done, had been done when the exclusion order was lifted it would deter people from coming to make invalid claims.
As for skilled workers, I WANT that "watered down" made much easier for many more people who will earn good money to come here. Whoever is elected, I'd like to see them do Trump's "green card on graduation" on day one if that's legal.
There is no one that wants to pay higher taxes. And no one who wants to receive lower transfers or payments for doing Congress's idea of what's good like the ethanol subsidy or farm subsidies. I just want Congress to resolve that by raising taxes enough to pay for everything it wants to spend on except really high yielding public investments. My tax proposals make that easier by reducing one of the bad things about taxation, that they discourage saving. [That part of the reason to substitute a VAT for the wage tax.]
You discuss VAT so I replied to that. Now you're mentioning employer provided health insurance. I believe this should be taxed as income actually, but you know how that will go. People really hate paying cash for non-cash benefits. I'd also eliminate SALT, despite benefiting from it, because it's unfair to states that don't have income taxes. Their residents get no break. VAT is insidious precisely because it is hidden. If the government wants to tax people, they should see it and feel it. I generally oppose hidden and indirect taxation because it is stealth.
Students loans aren't incurred because of bad luck. People make decisions based on expected results and when those plans don't pan out, they don't want to be stuck dealing with the consequences. It's human nature but it's not my cost to bear and I don't want to subsidize it. It's privatize the gains and socialize the losses on a massive individual scale. Those whose students loans were on forbearance during the pandemic didn't use their cash to save for a rainy day or save the cash to put towards principal payments post-forbearance. They spent it on other things. I don't feel bad for them. I don't see how student loans are any different than say auto loans. At least for the former, this would help the poor and working class. Student loan forgiveness just benefits Democratic voters. It's pure pork.
High-skilled immigration or watered-down skilled immigration - which is it? It sounds like you just want mass migration to the US depending on if the person can get a decent paying job. What is decent paying - someone not dependent on welfare? We know that will also get watered down real quick as it already was (e.g., non-cash assistance doesn't count towards being a public charge). Trump's green card statement would be a DISASTER for the USA. The elite of poor countries would come here, depriving them of leaders, and you'd see mass migration of the middle class from around the world. You';d have families from poor countries borrowing cash to send one child to any institution in the US so they'd get their green card and then sponsor the entire rest of the family. Student tuition would rise exponentially as the poor and middle class of the 2nd and 3rd world send their young adults to every community college and lower ranked school to get US citizenship. Every institution would become a diploma mill, taking in under and unqualified foreigners who'd pay more in tuition. Americans in previously competitive and uncompetitive areas would see masses of immigrants start competing for roles such as HS teachers, police officers, middle-manager type work (officer manager for a company HQ) and even janitors and it would devastate wages and engender politics blowback. You think like an economist who only focuses on increased GDP and demand for consumer goods without any regard whatsoever on families, communities, the social fabric and politics. Wait until all those foreign college grads who now have their green card but cannot get a decent paying job. It won't be pretty and especially since they can vote.
Asylum is a book unto itself. No asylum claims for people passing through 3rd countries, no taxpayer subsidized legal counsel for asylees and deportation for all illegal aliens with mandatory e-verify with stiff penalties and jail time for employers AND employees over a time period to give businesses time to adjust. Good luck with any enforcement. It's all "inhumane."
I'd like to encourage savings too. We should make interest income tax deductible then and also stop obsessing over lower interest rates. Higher interest rates encourage savings and deter consumption. VAT will NEVER EVER be a substitute for the income tax. That's my primary opposition to it. What would be best for the American people would be taxing everything as ordinary income with lower tax rates and few (if any) deductons. This way you'd get greater ability to control your tax rate but determining if you want to work more hours, get a promotion or a part-time job. As it stands now, it's very difficult for the ordinary American to determine if greater income will mean you lose some tax credits and not others, how much you'll be taxed on the increased income, and of course the tax compliance costs are out of control.
Also, I'm fine with farm subsidies in some form. Food security is an actual national security risk.
2,4 6, 13, 19. The lard, endless pork from both parties irritates me to no end when you have to stretch every dollar.
I'm a half full kind of gal and given independents like me we're hoping for a 4 year placeholder, unification, back to regular order. I still think he/cabinet delivered quite well for the American people. Crime us down, inflation down, restoring is happening, given the right condition the US will become an energy, innovation powerhouse.
I still want to move forward in coalitions and compromises. There are tiny blossoms showing. Even on days when I'm tired.
Unity.
That is a _fair_ evaluation. I was being _unfair_ In a way you could say I was doing a "Steelman" case for Biden. How negative can one be and still be net positive?
But yes, wouldn't it be nice if Elections did NOT seem so important -- Democrats wanting to tax and spend and regulate a little more and Republicans a little less.
You and I are on the same page as far as the "Congress" is concerned -- and there has been a fundamental change that has taken place in that Congress.
I also believe that when you have people -- anywhere in this Country -- but especially those making up the Republican Party in the Congress -- who do the bidding of the Orange Jesus Striker -- actively work to undermine the Country: - not disagree - but subvert the country:
--- those people have consciously decided to change themselves from "being the opposition" -- while both parties work to better the Country -- into becoming "traitors to the Country" -- and should be dealt with accordingly as the Law dictates and allows.
There is no more "opposition Party" -- where either Parties may disagree - but where both work for the betterment of the people of the Country.
The Republican Party now worships the Orange Jesus Striker as their Messiah - along with "...Commercial Business over Country...".
The average Republican Party member - has consciously gotten rid of any moral compass they might have had --as they blindly follow their Pied Piper - like the unthinking Lemmings they have turned themselves into.
Are these strong words -- you bet: --but as a Vet who was raised in a US Army Officer's family and who fought for this County in Vietnam while in the Navy -- I know a traitor when I see one.
The environmentalist take on banning LNG exports was hella dumb, but doesn't that serve to lower NG prices here in the US? I could see a "we're not gonna export energy products from the US to lower energy costs at home" as a populist move, too. but idk
I was judging it as a measure to reduce CO2 emissions and at what cost.
Oh yeah it’s a terrible measure if reducing emissions is your guide. But I don’t particularly have a problem with hoarding energy resources in the US to keep prices low (in election years)
Hi Mr. Hutcheson -- I believe almost all of these listed require that a law be written for a President to pass ,
Maybe your thinking of what the Orange Jesus Striker would do if he were King.
Presidents can do what you listed --
Sorry
I agree. That's part of what I meant by saying that these "errors" were not exclusively Biden's responsibility. I think most of what I suggest requires Congress to act.