Government If I Had My Way

I have too many to mention but here are a few. Military Presence: I'd scale it way back. As of 2011 we were in 150 countries. This doesn't include those at sea. We've been screwing around in Afghanistan and Iraq for 15 years. I'm certain we could do a better job by prioritizing the need for our armed forces to be present.

Medicare For All: Speaking of the military. There is a huge cost involved providing for the medical needs of our vets and so too for the average working family. Saving a 100 billion dollars or more by scaling back our unnecessary military presence would help pay for healthcare without weakening our defense needs. Currently it cost $7,000 per veteran. Next year there is a request for $198.6 billion in funding. This too could go towards care for all. In 2012 the average American spent $9,596 in 2012. This doesn't include employers contributions. I'm certain all employers would be thrilled to rid themselves of this benefit. Throw in some government cost containment provisions and we'll have the beginnings of something workable for everyone's need. So imagine a plan where there are no unexpected deductibles. A plan which would pay 80% of everyone's costs. One which would still allow people to buy (if they wanted to) additional coverage. IT CAN BE DONE.

No Tax Breaks For Anyone: Face reality lots of churches, hospitals, colleges and other organizations are cash cows. I'd have no problem with them taxed at a lower graduated rate, but all of them depend on city and state services one way or the other. This is why I feel they should have to pay their fair share. I would like to see it illegal for any state or city to give tax breaks/incentives of any kind to any company or organization. Right now these companies pit one state or city against the other to get the largest break possible at a huge cost to taxpayers'. Take for example Amazon (worth more then $420 billion) sure as hell doesn't need taxpayers' help for their new headquarters.

Public Education: The property taxes for these are out of control. In 2016 'The Morning Call' published the costs district by district in Pennsylvania. Per student cost in Allentown was $7,533 ($41.85 per day). In Saucon Valley $11,473 ($63.74 per day). The way I'd deal with this is to eliminate any expense that doesn't deal directly with only those things essential to education. Schools today have been saddled with services which extend far beyond those required in the past. So too administration personnel such as those hired exclusively to seek out grants, federal funding and attempting in vain to fulfill endless state and federal unfunded mandates. Others hired for daycare, special counseling and foreign language integration classes. "If I had my way" local school districts (1) would not be forced to pay for private schools. (2) Not be forced to provide social services nor after school programs. All of these should be funded either by parents, civic mind organizations or at the state/federal level. Not on the backs of property owners. Every kid is entitled to basic education. We need to redefine exactly what constitutes a "basic education". So too who is financially responsible. Not just local property owners.

Retirement/Social Security: In each of our lives there should come a time everyone gets a break towards then end of their lives. I don't feel it's a company's nor government's responsibility for their workers' golden years. Nor for people themselves during their working years being forced to dig into their wallets for a IRA, 401 or some other questionable private plan they'd need to supplement a crappy social security check one day. What I'd like to see instead is a realistic guarantee that one day based on a certain age and income local and state taxes would no longer be required. Think of it as someone who paid their dues. The way to pay for this can be divided up by the companies receiving current tax breaks on their matching 401k's, reduced medical costs (see "Medicare for all" above) and the "public education" reductions I mentioned above.

Government Essential Services: "If I had my way" government services would be required to provide these for our basic needs. They would include, water, garbage, prisons, education, senior housing, medical, federal military operations and all the other things we seem to be privatizing these days. I feel government owes this to it's American taxpaying citizens. Companies have a lot of other ways to make a buck. Somehow we've come to believe companies (for profit) can do a better job then government (not for profit). If there comes a time government workers fail to deliver laws can be changed. I'll give you a couple examples where companies made out. States no longer run the lotteries nor E-Zpass. The states only get a cut. Why not all of it? I have so many more things I'd like to discuss but I'm damn sure 90% of my readers never read this far-- nor give two hoots. This is why government gets away with the things it does.