Lets just say hypothetically you were the US dictator for 4 years, and congress and the senate and everyone else had to abid by your rules, bills, and laws. WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Me glad you didnt ask. But my thread so Im gonna tell ya anyway.

1. I would abolish all state and federal income tax.

2. I would raise the federal sales tax across the board to 20% (Their taking that in income tax anyways).

3. State sales tax of 10%.   (thats 30% for you keeping track).

4. Lower the minimum wage. (If you wanta make more, work harder, or get a better job). (also good for capitalism, keeps prices competetive).

5. Impose a progressive tarriff on goods coming into the country, If a country trades with us 50/50 free trade, if not the tax gets higher the farther you get away from 50/50. Bye Bye goods from china.

6. Institute an earnings cap for top executives. Im all for capitalism and the american dream of being a CEO of a company getting paid 300 million per year to do absolutely nothing, But let them do it the way warren buffet did, in stocks if their company does good, they do, if not they make an unfortunate $100 grand a year. Im tired of seeing companies fail and the CEO's get rich. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

7. I would put an end to the buddy buddy favor pulling politics practiced today. Bribes, kickbacks, and lobbyist  that payoff politicians to do their dirty work would be hung on site...

8. Medical care and prescription drugs would be social similar to the U.K.

9. Insurance companies would be required by law to backup at least 50% of their policies by cold hard cash in holding or a federal banking institute.

10. Banks would be required to do the same with mortgages. Also Any banks caught in unfair or preditory lending would be confiscated by the government and sold at auction to the highest bidder.


I KNOW THIS SOUNDS HARSH. But I figure alot of these things would correct alot of issues facing the US today. Not Demoracy, I know that too. This is a fantasy exercise. So if you dont have anything constructive to add please hold your comments. I can already hear all the negative, "This is communism. And you should be shot comments." What ever, I think we need a harsh kick in the @ss right now, and if the dictator choose not to leave office at the end of 4 years they would be assasinated. So let me hear what you all would do. remember congress and the senate couldn't veto anything you would institute. Checks and balances are out the window so to speak.

what's harsh about it ?

sounds good to me. i'd vote for ya (first time in ten years!) if you ran.

ok.......but we can NOT HAVE "the government" running any healthcare. They've destroyed all that they've gotten their hands on.
Government workers are some of the most ignorant lot I've ever seen in my life here in the South. And they will NOT fire them.
All the aforementioned holds true to the educational systems and all social engineering they've ever been involved with. They need to be attacked and whittled down to almost nothing. Then start hiring qualified people. Ignorant dumbasses from colleges that were forced to promote and graduate them by the "government" need not apply. Yes, the Government workers need to be attacked actually secondly. The Congress needs to be wiped clean first. Governors could be forced to take the place of both Senators and Lt. Governors could be forced to take the place of all Representatives. Elections could then be held for all their positions until things "get settled".
Believe me, when you start freezing assets of all Government officials, kicking asses and dragging them out of their homes at 2:30 in the morning...............you WILL have the attention of their "replacements". Then I'll vote for you! 

No real problems with your fantasy based policies.  The things I would add is that the minimum wage only be lowered after the recession and inflation is brought under control.  No sense in lowering the minimum wage when people can barely live off it right now.  First, support the economy and indulge the general worker with the current wage. Then, after we have gotten our feet back under us, lower the wage in direct reflection of the booming economy (assuming the economy has any boom left).  The only other thing is "preditory lending."  I firmly believe that the responsibility lies with the individual.  If a bank authorizes you to borrow $300,000 on a 30 yr, adjustable rate mortgage, it is a small matter to tell the bank "thanks, but I can only really afford $120k, and I would like my rate fixed."  Of course, rates all depend on credit scores and what you can afford, but the buyer has to have a little intestinal fortitude and realize that, while it may be wonderful to own a $300K home, if they can't afford the payments, the taxes, and the insurance, as well as month to month bills, they aren't going to own it for long.  I don't really agree with "preditory lending," just "living beyond your means." 
What about your foreign policy?

Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention a few other problems.

WELFARE.    This was initially a good idea that went bad in a big way. The way I figure it if your in a bad stretch, you can apply for assistance, that would help pay for day care and food stamps as such, however my program would only allow a person to be on welfare for a term no longer than 6 months in any five year period, you lose your job get assistance find another job your time on welfare stops. you used a month so you have 5 months left for the next 5 years.

Disability.      If your disabled you can get assistance for up to three years while being re-educated paid by the government to perform a job within your abilities. If fraudulantly on either program you will be sent to prison, NO FINES, NO GOOD BEHAVIOR FREE-BEES, straigh to federal pound me in the ass prison. Which leads me to my next point.

Prison.        For small offenses and minor violations will be sent to Jail to serve their minimal sentences with two years probabtion minimum. Prison for the more criminally active persons, wouldnt be as nice. We would bring back the chain-gangs of old, with MARINE Scout Snipers as the watch men armed with thermal, night vision, and infrared scopes mounted on 50 cal sniper rifles. "Dont try to run."  These chain-gangs would be used to do the work the Govt. Already pays for. Governmental construction, for Govt. buildings and Interstates. The state roads would be handled by the Jail birds with the same Jar Heads as watch dogs. And since congress says it takes so many millions to keep prisons running and housing inmates, the prisons would be built by the prisoners with max security set up around the perameter tighter than Area 51. Also prisoners would be responsible for growing and raising their own food, if a crop doesnt come in you get really hungry.... Death row inmates. For those unfortunate enough to warrant a death sentence you will still get your day in court to plead your sentence. if found guilty and the death penalty is given, you would recieve two appeals, to be carried out immediately. If all three court appearances find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, then you have three weeks. to get your affairs in order see your loved ones or just think about the next step. When your day comes theres no million dollar lethal injection you get the 25cent  22 bullet right behind the ear, not as messy and it kinda just jingles around in there to make sure.

Drugs. All would still be illegal to import, purchase, posess, and such with one exception Marijuana, although I dont smoke, I have, and its not that bad. Legalize it but use your government scientist to genetically engineer it so that there is a marker in its DNA to ID it as govt. sanctioned. A simple test would reveal it as legal or not. if found to be illeagal see the above paragraph. if legal have a nice day. This Govt weed would be sold in stores with the same restricions as liqor. Except the would be a hefty tax on said weed. This goes to pay for the growth of the said drug and detection and elimination of illegal weeds and the war against other illegal drugs. The weed sold in stores would be processed to screen for seeds so that no one could get there hands on the legal plant and grow for themselves.

Im not so big on foreign policy there for its most probably flawed logic here. My foreign policy would be quite simple. Our country comes first. We will take care of our people hear first with my policies above and reinvest into our own country one of the main reasons we are in the perdicament we are now is be casue the US has shift froma producing country to a service based economy and even that is going over seas now. Which would mostly end when the min. wage lowers and the economy corrects itself. Once all of our needs are met, and there is a surplus in the budget. Then and only then would we offer help to other countries for natural disasters and other events of the unfortunate nature ie famine and oppression and such. As far as these other countries trying to develop nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, There will be nuclear stikes on those facilities trying to manufacture such weapons little bitty baby nukes to show them how they work properly up close and personal. All foreign relations would be resectful when respected, not based on fear. Also for terrorist and those who would come to our country it would be let known when they enter the country, entry is based on your understanding of our laws and language. While diversity is encouraged ( thats what makes us great) you will abide by our laws if found guilty of criminal acts our laws take presidence over any diplomatic immunity or international laws since ours are pretty much on par with international laws. We will assist other countries who maintain a good alliance with us, who maintain a favorable trade agreement, and Who abide by international law.

Marine sniper? seriously?  Let's think about this for a minute...  A cat joins the Marines and goes through regular basic combat trianing, I don't know about marines, but it costs the army about $47k a person for a nine week bct course.  Then your going to send him to advanced trainig, and since he's a sniper, we'll call it infantry school.  For the sake of argument because I dont know how long this course actually is, we'll say it's half as long as bct (Im almost positive it is longer), which comes to another $23,500.  And after that your going to send up to get his additional skill identifier (ASI) as a scout sniper, which God and Colin Powell only know how long and how much.  AND THEN after all this training, your going to put him on a stateside guard duty mission IN CASE someone gets it in their heads to break the chains they are bound in, throw down theiy pick ax/shovel/hammer/whatever, and make a run for it like O Brother Where Art Thou? Not only that, but your going to arm the guards with state of the art equipment that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, that would undoubtedly find better use in say...a combat environment.  I realize this is all hypothetical, but lets at least keep it in the realm of possibility.
P.S.  Do you know how much a 50 cal sniper rifle costs?  The tripod alone is like 3000.  Thank GAWD we're cutting back the minimum wage and will have a little money to throw around, though I will say it's just like the government now, giving all the good shaZam! to the marines and letting us army guys hangout with our dicks in the dirt.

I do like your death penalty idea.  You should check out Markham vs. someone or other.  It entails a special court to expedite the death penalty in extreme capital murder cases.  I think only six or seven states (correct me if Im wrong here), recognize it right now, but as a federal law...yet more money to train our sniper prison guards.

My only addition to your foreign Policy:  RED CHINA!!!   

I'd not bail no one out ... I'd bring back debtors prison, and in exchange for their freedom the people who made bad financial descisions work their ass and pay for it. That is it.
If they are more than 30 days late on 1 payment, it will be treated as if they did commit a felony and they get tossed in jail where they get to be Bubba's girlfriend.
And same with banks and mortgage brokers etc etc ... unless they committed fraud ... in which case they make good on the note ...
Enforce contracts ... dont bail out idiots who enter into idiotic contracts and then expect  a handout.
Yea public beatings etc etc are going to be common ... as will armed police dropping by your house to collect your payments in case of people who need that.
I will not have a financial mess on my hands, I will make sure the Idiot who refied the house for 400K after buying it 2 years ago for 200K will pay 400K even if his house 1s worth150. In fact if we sent a clear signal that that is what will be done, the house values will not be dropping this fast ... or even dropping at all ... when there are no defaults ... there wont be any foreclosures driving down the costs.

Bloody well many many more ... but fundamentally I will enforce all contracts ... I dont care if the Idiot speaks only spanish and the contract is in english ... ask for a spanish one or take it to your daughter who can read in both languages ...

I will also get rid of all "college aid" type programs ... all that does is send a signal to the colleges that they can charge the sheeple anything ...

I will also get rid of medical insurance ... same reason ...
Essentially we have to pay for things at the time we walk out of the store with them ... that is all ... if we agree to pay later, we need to pay for it as agreed upon.

Cool.
Buddha.

Yes Big Lou I do know it cost alot of money to train a marine, I am One. for four years atleast. and Let me tell you another thing, the marine corps is the least funded branch of the military there is, look it up, Our training is quite expensive, and extensive, But these soldiers would need something to do to earn their pay during breaks in missions and between duty stations. To say, instead of giving them a vactaiont they would spend a month and a half near their hometowns on prison duty. not perminantly stationed there.. to be cont. at work...

Quote from: Chanse on October 26, 2008, 02:27:30 PM
4. Lower the minimum wage. (If you wanta make more, work harder, or get a better job). (also good for capitalism, keeps prices competetive).

You do realize most people getting paid minimum wage either have two jobs or work 60+ hours a week?

Oh. Still wanna lower minimum wage? Good luck with that.

In the short term everythign will get shot to hell ...
In the long term everything will get reinitialised with the right value to society attached to it ...
As in ... you get rid of all wage controls, and all insurance ...
In the next 2-3 months there will be chaos as people dont want to pay the doctor 235 bucks he has as his original price for looking in your mouth and taking your temperature ... and companies will try to offer 35 cents to workers ...
Then as companies sit idle, and doctors get tired of playing golf and not making any money ... they both will realise that they can pay the owrker $10, take the item he's made and sell it for 25 and the doctor realises insurance was paying them $20 for looking in the guys mouth and they had to file a mountain of paper work to make that and the $10 deductible ... they will adjust their fees to $25 ... then they take that $25 and buy gold clubs from the guy that is selling them that that other guy that made $10 makes ... and govt collects taxes on all of it ...
Switching from one system to another = pain ... once you get rid of the idiotic middle men = great fun and no paperwork.
Yea consumption based tax ... also hit the import market ... you cannot buy crap in europe/asia and not pay tax ...
Cool.
Buddha.

this thread is idiotic

as idiotic as some un-informed political rants/polls. cmon now frankie. let it be 

Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on October 28, 2008, 04:01:15 AM
let it be 

great song 

and nowadays very profound

Glad to see some like minded people around and some "informed" people (buddha), And then one that doesn't know how to think for themself.. Go take a business course or two frankie. Minimum wage is a decent concept with good intentions, but on papper and realisticly, a very bad thing. The more it goes up the more products cost. the more you have to make etc. etc. got it?

I think this is a fantastic thread, although i don't agree 100% (99.9%) with what Chanse suggests. This thread is a perfect example of what NEEDS to happen. Each country is wrapped up in its own burocracy, each party/person/group vying to be leader/presidant/PM of the country wants nothing else than to get that position and stay there, they may have great ideas but as soon as they come into power they soon realise that if they want to stay there then they are bound by what the people want, and people are fickle. They scream they want better healthcare, so you raise taxes to pay for health care, they scream because they want lower taxes. They don't associate one with the other and think they can have everything for nothing becasue its 'the government' hence the government can't do anything, if they make a significant change at all they become unpopular somewhere so they avoid making any big changes. And what the countries need are BIG CHANGES. Someone to come in who says f%$k it ive got 4 years to sort this shaZam! out and prove myself and just go ahead and go full force doing what needs to be done. Instead of going in there to protect his own arse for his entire term and hopefully get relected he goes in there to achieve something. So yes he might put taxes up to pay for better healthcare and such and instead of going back on his ideas he will tell the people to f%$k off. Eventually they will see that this is much better than everyyear political bulshit going on and nothing significant being achieved just money being lost and debt increasing.

So in that respect Chanse is perfectly right, now is not just a time for radical thinking, but radical actions. Get rid of this stalemate that takes place in governments in the modern world.

Thank you Kasumi. Unlike many polititians out there I know my plan is not 100% perfect, And I know it would piss off alot of people but once they see the changes that it would bring I believe they would begin to look at things in a different light and taking the whole picture in instead of looking for the fine details. After all it is better to be pissed off than pissed on. Im so tired of these polititians making promisses to please the people, then it offends the other half, so they guttlessly flip flop their stories to suit which ever crowd they happen to be in front of, I think these so called "Leaders" should be bound by their words and not politely dismiss them as "well it was a good idea. but im gonna do nothing instead." Make a plan no matter how ugly or offensive, that works, and STICK TO IT. I hope for a day to come where people are elected for their actions and not their words or popularity. Who cares if the people like you. Since when did president become a rockstar status symbol job title. No matter what the initial "approval rating" It will go when the people actually see results not just a person reading from a papper writen by a committee of speach writers, or talking into an ear piece. I think these debates should be unscripted, unrehursed, and unassisted. They need to really tell us whats on their minds and in their plans. I for one would respect that before any promises made.

Quote from: Chanse on October 29, 2008, 02:42:28 AM
Glad to see some like minded people around and some "informed" people (buddha), And then one that doesn't know how to think for themself.. Go take a business course or two frankie. Minimum wage is a decent concept with good intentions, but on papper and realisticly, a very bad thing. The more it goes up the more products cost. the more you have to make etc. etc. got it?

to some wihtout much well, to be blunt, intelligence. they think WHOA im gettin a buck 50 raise. SUWEET. then store has to do one of two things. raise prices to keep employee level the same, whihc for a lil bit works, but afterwards, hours usually will go down. i for one wont pay $5 for a mcdonalds hamburger. which in the minimum wage math, would eventually have to happen.eventually there will be  the proverbial straw which broke the camels back