Politics

In the military, we were given an option to opt in to the G.I. Bill(pre-9/11 version for purposes here) which would pay for an undergraduate degree. This is the reason a great many of my peers joined the military. Regardless, the overwhelming majority of military members did not in fact use it. By opting into the program, you agreed to pay a $100USD each month for your first 12 months in service. This is the same principle behind how insurance and taxes work and stay low-more people pay than use the service(yes, you pay for interstates in CA even if you live in NY). Now, what if we had something similar for every US citizen(I've also previously suggested extending the…

http://www.senate.mo.gov/11info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=4124271 I have no idea why this is needed. Anyone got the scoop?

Housing foreclosures and health-care funding seem to be two major economic issues at present. Could these two issues be solved simultaneously by insurance companies taking over mortgages of properties in danger of foreclosure? This could allow the buyers to trade their equity for guaranteed health-care. Doctors and others who get paid by health-insurers could receive compensation in the form of gradual equity-transfers of properties they could choose. So, for example, doctors and other health-care providers could pick out one or more properties from the available selection and then build up equity in these in lieu of payment for services. They could then in turn nego…

There's three kinds of jobs. One type produces tangible goods, contributing directly to wealth. One type provides useful services. And one type is overhead or trading (trading of things like stocks and derivatives, I mean) -- it provides nothing of value but is nevertheless necessary. The government, of course, taxes all these jobs. However, production jobs are limited by resources, people, and capital. Service jobs are limited by people. However, overhead jobs don't really have limits. For example, trillions of dollars are traded in the stock market every day. No actual wealth is generated -- money simply trades hands from the losers to the winners -- but I guess thi…

This follows similar recent rejections from Ohio and Wisconsin. The problem is that the plans call for states to pony up most of the money, and state budgets are hurting. The Florida plan would have put the state on the hook for another $3 billion, at a time when it's trying to eliminate $4.5 billion in spending to balance the budget. Couple articles: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/us/17rail.html http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7430061.html IMO the time for this sort of thing is when we have a surplus to invest, and even then the benefit is questionable. I think there's a place for some HS rail in the US, and intra-city routes are the righ…

The problem with a flat tax is that it disproportionately burdens the poor due to the fact that the cost of basic needs does not go up with your income. Could an overhaul of the tax system fix that? What if by filing your taxes, you not only provide information for correcting last year's taxes, but also provide information to inform the next year's taxes? Could gathering information like city of residence and number of children then using that information to calculate the actual needs of the household reduce the burden on the poor while maintaining a flat tax. If we take that amount of basic needed to live and make it non-taxable income then tax the rest, would th…

Just left the Gifford's shooting post and ran across this. Rarely, but in all honesty, this time I am without words. http://www.komonews.com/news/local/115496449.html

I have been having a major dispute for over two years in regards to the iraqi dinar. Im not a political person but i do know how money works and that theres no magical anything to become an over night millionair. Can someone anyone please let me know what this is all about? EX: some people say the iraqi dinar is going to revalue and their going to become instant millionairs and IMO i call this a complete waste of time and money. Along with all information ive read seems uneasy and non credible. Thanks in advance.

I couldn't think of an antonym for "stimulus," but could debt be the antithesis of fiscal stimulus in terms of encouraging spending? This thought occurred to me when reading recent political articles about republican criticisms of deficit-spending as hurting economic growth, preventing job-creation, etc. At first this just sounded like a reversal of the by now well-known liberal political logic that deficit spending encourages growth and job-creation. However, I have begun to wonder whether debt, both public and private, stimulate people to avoid spending because they're worried about the consequences of debt. Maybe if people were free of debt, they would also be free…

Glenn Beck recently went off about Obama's support of the Egyptian people. He was upset because the People created fundamental change in the Government. But, isn't that the basic idea behind the very existence of the USA? Oh, but Obama used the word 'change' in his campaign slogan, so it has to be evil. Why would someone who claims to love America so much hate her founding principle?

Usually recession is discussed in terms of rates of GDP growth and unemployment. It is common to hear people blame "the recession" for their economic woes, but could this be redundant? Could it be that the economic woes themselves are the recession. Consider an example where GDP growth is very high but unemployment is still high. Wouldn't the high unemployment rate still signal "recession?" Then, if you analyzed what the cause of the high unemployment was, it would be due to economic dissatisfaction on the part of employers, correct? In other words, the assumption is that when employers are satisfied with the growth of their business, they must create more jobs. Th…

The elephant in the room of American politics this week will no doubt be the Giffords shooting in Arizona. As you've probably heard by now, a young man with a semi-automatic pistol with an extended ammunition magazine ran into a supermarket crowd that was gathering to meet Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in a "town hall" setting. Six people are known dead, including a nine year old girl and a Bush-appointed Federal judge, and 19 injured in an event that would have rocketed to the top of the news cycle even without the congresswoman's presence. Some updated background here: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2011/01/09/congresswoman_critical_6_…

If you would like to voice your thoughts on the first ten Amendments to the US Constitution, what they mean and any abuses you see then please join my group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/itsyourright If you don't wish to be part of the discussion please don't join the group. Paul

is fox reliable. is CNN a friend of mine keeps telling me that i should stop watching fox and watch CNN instead is there a real difference?

According to Zeitgeist 2011, GDP increases due to inefficiency because efficiency reduces need and peoples need increases GDP. In other words the economy suffers when everything runs smoothly. Zeitgeist has a bad track record with accuracy, exaggeration, seeing links where there are none etc..., but braudly speaking I think it gets things right. Do we think this assertion about GDP by the Zeitgeist is correct?

Popular uprisings are now taking place in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, and most importantly, these revolts suggest that a kind of domino effect is operative, where the more success the first uprising has the more it inspires the people of other countries to rise up. The U.S. seems to be caught in a difficult situation by these events. On the one hand, the U.S. poses as the champion of democracy, liberal freedoms, and probative government, but on the other hand, it has allied itself with unpopular dictatorships throughout the Arab world in support of its more pragmatic geopolitical interests. Arab regimes which are non-democratic make the best allies of the U.S., since…

I took this thread from another topic, not to plagiarize but to show how things don't differ much in time. Few of us "are not guilty" of making assumptions, accusations and innuendoes when not fully informed of or understanding the embodiment of a particular piece of history. Especially, if those half truths happen to fit our purpose. Tragedy is something we link much more readily to than happiness. Is this video very different than what is happening in today world? If so, will you explain?. This was a tragedy of the 1860s. Kennedy was a more recent tragedy of the 1960s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIJaxu3w4-U&feature=player_embedded#!

What do you think about a possible national STD registry for incurable STDs? I'm thinking something like: If you go to the doctor and come up positive for an STD that isn't curable, then you're placed on a national list of people with that disease, you are required by law to inform any future sexual partners that you are on the list, and you provide names of recent(time length dependent upon incubation period of disease and its current stage in the patient) sexual partners. The aforementioned names are then checked against the list. If the name is on the list and the current patient was not informed(proper protective measures obviously weren't followed), then …

I watched a rather disturbing movie last night. I didn't cry as much as I normally do, as it was a bit sad, I think this was a side effect of my being so purely and utterly disgusted and disturbed at the idea. The movie was Never Let Me Go and it was alright in terms of movies. I'll avoid the details of the actual movie and get to the point. In the film the idea of organ farming from engineered persons was presented as a feat of medical science made to the general public. We may not presently have the technology to engineer persons in any way, shape or form and this point is rather moot. We currently do have the technology to transplant organs. I know there are …

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak#President_of_Egypt Mubarak has been "president" for almost 30 years now, and it seems the people are sick of him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Egyptian_protests Definitely something to keep an eye on in the following weeks.

Considering that so many people are concerned about various forms of religious-rooted oppression occurring in secular life through government, I have begun to wonder why there is not universal liberation among secular people. For example, secular people often criticize sexual prudishness and attribute religious restrictions on sexuality to pre-modern and/or irrational superstitions - but what would then account for relative sexual inhibitions among secular people who seemingly hold no form of religiosity or other anti-sexual superstitions? Why don't such people have casual sex with anyone they come in contact with, for example, if they're reasonably sure they can preven…

It looks like it'll be an interesting week in foreign affairs. Wikileaks, along with its media partners, has begun releasing the first batch of classified diplomatic cables from US embassies and officials. Apparently, releases will be spread out through several months. It'll be fun to watch. So far, among the batch released this afternoon: Saudi Arabia privately urges the US to attack Iran's nuclear facilities Diplomats asked to spy on UN officials and other diplomats China's Politburo organized the large hacking attacks on Google and other companies earlier this year US ponders delivering bunker-busting bombs to Israel while staying out of Iranian attacks ...a…

When will poverty be eradicated? How do you eradicate poverty? Are we in the Western World doing enough in the world to stop it?

In 2005 the national academies followed a bipartisan call provide recommendations to ensure economic growth. One of the key findings was that low quality if science education was endangering the US' innovation potential and thus, economic growth. Link Now, five years later a follow-up report has been published. While some suggestions are at least partially implemented, the once held advantage of the US seems to have continued eroding. Follow up I have not finished the whole report yet, however many of the key points appear to be very important to me (although I may be biased).Despite the importance AFAIK I can see little coverage of this in the media (as opposed to, …

I mentioned in the Giffords Shooting thread that a recent opinion poll showed that most Americans disagreed that inflammatory language was behind the shooting, but felt that it is a problem in general. Well, more polls have been coming out, and what looked initially like bright news for the Sarah Palin camp is turning into something else entirely. In short, the public doesn't approve of her reaction any more than it approves of liberals blaming her. People simply aren't buying what she's selling. I've seen several stories along these lines, which we can basically summarize as a rapidly-falling, lowest-yet approval rating for Palin. http://www.politico.com/ne…