Tasks for the 2010 Congress

Hopefully we will see a different attitude when the
new Congress convenes in January. Few Congressmen are
talking about tax reform yet. This is surprising
considering what TEA stands for.
A real stimulus to the economy would have been to
implement the Fair Tax. If the Congress will cut the
corporate tax rate and stop picking winners and losers,
then that will be a good start. Our corporations pay the
second largest tax of the developed nations. Combine
that fact with the regulations for environment and labor,
and it is hard to understand why there are still factories
in the U.S.
Right now the Republicans could agree to "tax the rich"
while exempting and cutting taxes on small businesses who
are part of the "rich" and extending the other "Bush tax
cuts." The problem is that the "rich" are mobile. An
obvious example is the baseball player who plays for a NYC
team but lives in Florida. With decreased freedom in the
U.S. (heritage.org/index), it makes sense to leave the U.S.
Congress needs to get the Federal government out of
Education. Both DOEs have been costly failures. We trail
most developed nations in test scores, and we have no place
to store nuclear waste after spending $14B. We heavily
subsidize uneconomic energy sources while paying billion$
to our enemies each day. We need to cut agricultural
subsidies immediately for farms with a net profit over $1M
and by 10% each year for all other farms. We need to reduce
our overseas military presence in Europe, Japan and Korea by
10% each year. We continue to spend far more for defense as
a percentage of GDP than any other nation - and our GDP is
more than triple that of any other nation. We are broke,
and we can no longer be the world's policeman. That is
supposed to be the function of the United Nations, and we
need to tell it when it fails.
The U.S. should pay no more to the United Nations than
any other member of the Security Council (ex. Gabon). Some
want to get out completely, but that would confirm the false
claims of imperialism and war mongering. The UN is still a
useful tool for political dialogue - however ineffective.
However, to pay over 20% of the entire costs to be constantly
insulted is stupid! The U.S. should suggest to our creditors
whose debt to us has been "forgiven" in the past that they
should forgive our debt now that the "goose laying the golden
eggs" is now broke.
We must remember that the United States of America is the
greatest nation on the planet because of our form of government
and the freedoms that it gives. We must protect it from those
domestic and foreign enemies who would subvert it.