How to make things better?

[alexey]

So many problems with our government and our economy on so many levels... What is going to happen? How can we make things better?

Smaller government? Bigger government? Campaign finance reform? Domestic drilling? Energy investment? Public transport?

Problems (short list)

Income inequality - smaller middle class means people buying less things. People buying less things means bad stuff. How could this change?

Education - unions are too powerful, or maybe not enough money? We don't have the culture of math and science... how do you establish one? Smart people go to finance rather than engineering...

Energy - our whole system is built around cheap gas. The way we live, the way we shop, everything. There is no way for us to undo the sprawl... but electric cars/trucks/etc cannot come soon enough... and we dont have enough time or willingness to adapt. We will run out of gas, or cheap gas, and then what?

Political climate - don't even get me started.

Please feel free to add problems and/or solutions...

[The Brave Little Toaster Oven]

forced castration of stupid people so they dont procreate...which would then lessen the burden they place on governmental services

that should fix a lot of problems.

close thread please.

[DRSmith]

forced castration of stupid people so they dont procreate...which would then lessen the burden they place on governmental services

that should fix a lot of problems.

close thread please.

Who is going to vote for Bachman, Palin, Greyson and Trump then

[skinfan2k]

comeon why not vote for Barackstar!

[Burgold]

double blind voting.

No one is allowed to mention party in a campaign ad or on a ballot. Illegalize conventions. Illegalize party primaries. Vote based strictly on platform and record. Make it idea based versus ideology based. That's my solution.

(... and then he woke up.)

[PokerPacker]

put me in office for a week and I'll have it fixed before day 6 is finished. I will then rest the next day and bask in my glory.

[mardi gras skin]

Smart people go to finance rather than engineering...

Somehow, we need to get back to the idea that the finance industry exists simply to serve industries that are productive. The business of finance, in itself, doesn't produce goods but they exist to serve people and companies as they work to add real value to the economy.

If we valued the production of clever engineers above the cleverness of innovative financial products, salaries and student interest would follow.

[The Brave Little Toaster Oven]

double blind voting.

No one is allowed to mention party in a campaign ad or on a ballot. Illegalize conventions. Illegalize party primaries. Vote based strictly on platform and record. Make it idea based versus ideology based. That's my solution.

(... and then he woke up.)

I like that a lot...it would get rid of the issues we currently are facing where people vote along party lines instead of their own views...that's how it should be

[Burgold]

I like that a lot...it would get rid of the issues we currently are facing where people vote along party lines instead of their own views...that's how it should be

Yeah, maybe not even allow an author's name on proposed Bills.

[Stadium-Armory]

Something traumatic. Great depression, WWII - something that shocks the system and changes the culture. Something that changes the way we view the world and each other. It has to be a grass roots movement. Today's government is merely a reflection of the culture.

Edit: After reading what I wrote, I realize that I didn't provide a "how to" road map type suggestion. Rather, this is how I see it happening. We won't do anything, rather, something will happen.

[mardi gras skin]

Income inequality - smaller middle class means people buying less things. People buying less things means bad stuff. How could this change?

My guess is that income inequality has a lot to do with the size and effencies of corporations. If we had 10 smaller Microsofts rather than just one massive Microsoft, the gap between the top earner in the company and the lowest wage earner would be significantly less.

I'd like us to look at tax laws that incentivize more competition and hinder the formation of "too big to fail" sized corporations.

[twa]

My guess is that income inequality has a lot to do with the size and effencies of corporations. If we had 10 smaller Microsofts rather than just one massive Microsoft, the gap between the top earner in the company and the lowest wage earner would be significantly less.

I'd like us to look at tax laws that incentivize more competition and hinder the formation of "too big to fail" sized corporations.

Yet to compete in a global economy it is claimed the mega corps are the only way.

I agree with you,but it ain't happening

Perhaps when we are rebuilding after the coming worldwide crash and wars Stadium-Armory will get his wish....not feeling real optimistic

[CrypticVillain]

Don't you get?? Things will never get better. If you do one thing to help one person, another 100 people have a problem with it. The human race as a whole has messed things up. The only way to make things better is to push the reset button........

[December90]

Just tax the rich more. that solves all problems of the world.

p.s. don't lower the definition of "rich" enough that you start taxing me more... I can't afford it.

[mardi gras skin]

Yet to compete in a global economy it is claimed the mega corps are the only way.

Right. This is where I honestly hit a wall. I do think that the mega-corporations are essential for us to be players on the global economy.

Perhaps income inequality is a fundamental reality of the global economy.

[Teller]

Something traumatic. Great depression, WWII - something that shocks the system and changes the culture. Something that changes the way we view the world and each other. It has to be a grass roots movement. Today's government is merely a reflection of the culture.

Edit: After reading what I wrote, I realize that I didn't provide a "how to" road map type suggestion. Rather, this is how I see it happening. We won't do anything, rather, something will happen.

First of all, I agree. It has to be radical, hard-hitting, and personal. The most important part being "personal."

9/11 fulfilled the first two of those, but there were a lot of people who weren't personally affected, per se. (Yes, as Americans we were ALL affected, and dramatically so, but I mean like losing a loved one or something like that.)

One of the things that frustrates me most about us Americans, is that we have such a ridiculously short attention span. Remember the patriotism after 9/11? Remember that feeling of "we're all in this together?" How long did that last. Meh. Till it was convenient for us to go back to living the way we always have. And sadly, to keep our attention longer, I think the next event has to be even more of a wake up call. I mean, Good Lord, the heart of NYC was destroyed, and a decade later, we're on a message board screaming "**** yous" at each other.

Now, here's a few things I'd like to see happen.

1) Meaningfully reduce spending. Balance the budget. This will be painful. Some things we all like are going to face cuts and/or elimination. But to me, the way the federal government is spending OUR dollars is like a lung cancer patient on his last legs chain smoking.

2) Very modest tax increases across the board. Eliminate the loopholes at the top, but ensure that EVERYONE is contributing SOMETHING to righting the ship. It's only when they have a vested interest, that some people BECOME interested.

3) I don't know if this can even be done, but earmark (hate that word, but the right one escapes me right now) those extra tax dollars to go toward paying down the debt. DO NOT issue Congress a blank check. We've been down that road before. It ain't pretty.

4) Do whatever we have to do to reduce gas prices. And if possible, set aside half of the federal tax on gas to create a temporary Department of Alternative Energy. (Yep, I know, increasing the size of government. And once the government gets something [in this case a new agency] they don't usually get it back. Set it to sunset in 5 or 10 years. Then we can reassess, and decide if we still need it.) The DAE would involve the oil companies in formulating alternative energy strategy, so that they won't fight it.

Just a few quick ideas off the top of my head. Hopefully I'll get some good hate from both sides; republicans because I'm raising taxes and increasing the size of government, democrats because I'm likely going to end up cutting some social programs to balance the budget. But ya know what? If I end up getting **** from both sides, I'll know I'm on the right track.

[mardi gras skin]

Energy - our whole system is built around cheap gas. The way we live, the way we shop, everything. There is no way for us to undo the sprawl... but electric cars/trucks/etc cannot come soon enough... and we dont have enough time or willingness to adapt. We will run out of gas, or cheap gas, and then what?

Shale oil and natural gas are there if and when we need it at prices lower than we're paying now. Its dirty, but its there if more environmentally friendly options don't become more cost effective.

[mjah]

4) Do whatever we have to do to reduce gas prices.

How about restoring the full regulatory power of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which was created over 35 years ago specifically to prevent the kind of speculation-driven commodity price spikes we've seen in oil over the past decade?

While we're at it, I don't know about the feasibility of dropping American commodity futures from the Intercontinental Exchange. But that would have to be part of any real solution, methinks.

Let the price of a barrel of oil once again be set by, well, you know -- the actual VALUE of a barrel of oil. Not disconnected from that value in pursuit of massive windfalls for very small groups at the expense of literally everyone else. Oil, and its availability at the economy-boosting low price we would otherwise enjoy in this country, is FAR too critical to our national interest to be speculated on as it is today.

But don't tell that to certain speculator-friendly legislators in Congress, nor to the voters who stupidly put them there...

[mardi gras skin]

I would like to add that I think things are better...for our household at least. We make almost exactly the same amount of money we did 10 years ago but that same amount of money affords us a better lifestyle. The cost of many luxury items are spiraling downward and the outlets for massively discounted goods and services has exploded such that we are able to live much more comfortably on less money than we could a decade ago.

[thebluefood]

The only way one can make things better is by improving him/herself as an individual. You can't force people to be nicer or more responsible. You have to just set an example.

[Koolblue13]

So many problems with our government and our economy on so many levels... What is going to happen? How can we make things better?

I've been trying to make similar threads lately, I like it.

Smaller government? Bigger government? Campaign finance reform? Domestic drilling? Energy investment? Public transport?

I think the size of government is fine. I think they should all dress in racing suites like a NASCAR driver, so we can see who their corporate sponsors are though.

Only way I back increased domestic drilling, is if it was done in an extremely efficient manor and all profits went into sustainable energy tech investments. Public transportation needs a major overhaul. In the cities, to the suburbs, to across the country.

Problems (short list)

Income inequality - smaller middle class means people buying less things. People buying less things means bad stuff. How could this change?

Tax code simplifications. Understanding that putting an equal burden on everybody, is the best way to right the ship.

The poorest of the country, working together to help each other and not rely on major corporations and watching where their small amount of money is being spent. Instead of the individual household buying things for themselves, if they worked together and shared their possessions, it would reduce the need for more of them, hence keeping more money in their pockets and reducing what is going into the pockets of the greedy.

Education - unions are too powerful, or maybe not enough money? We don't have the culture of math and science... how do you establish one? Smart people go to finance rather than engineering...

I would love to see the kind of money and attention that is spent of sports, spent on education. We need to try and have schools become smaller and safer in the cities and suburbs. It would be great if we celebrated Pulitzers and Nobels the way we celebrate the March Madness. We seem to care more for the tangibles of fashion and immediate success, over the intangibles of a brighter future.

Energy - our whole system is built around cheap gas. The way we live, the way we shop, everything. There is no way for us to undo the sprawl... but electric cars/trucks/etc cannot come soon enough... and we dont have enough time or willingness to adapt. We will run out of gas, or cheap gas, and then what?

The cities need to be aggressively invested in, to become safer for families and more sustainable and dependent on outside goods. With improved public transportation, advances in farming and solar/geothermal energy and along with good healthy conservation with things like rain water collection, the cities can become much less dependent on outside sources.

If you could improve the conditions inside the city and move people closer together, while cleaning it up, it would also open up space around the city (buildings, general warehouses) for companies to make their widgets, specifically for that city. The more you make, without the need to ship things, the cheaper they should be.

Political climate - don't even get me started..

A nation of sheep, begets a government of wolves. Ron Paul

---------- Post added April-19th-2011 at 09:25 AM ----------

Shale oil and natural gas are there if and when we need it at prices lower than we're paying now. Its dirty, but its there if more environmentally friendly options don't become more cost effective.

Fracking will have us trading the problem of oil, for water.

[Koolblue13]

http://inhabitat.com/grassy-green-vertical-farm-designed-to-raise-happy-cows-and-chickens/

This could be the future of farming for inner cities and urban areas.

[DCsportsfan53]

Something traumatic. Great depression, WWII - something that shocks the system and changes the culture. Something that changes the way we view the world and each other. It has to be a grass roots movement. Today's government is merely a reflection of the culture.

Edit: After reading what I wrote, I realize that I didn't provide a "how to" road map type suggestion. Rather, this is how I see it happening. We won't do anything, rather, something will happen.

I pretty much agree with you. From where I'm sitting there really isn't a difference between dems and repubs and the country has been on a fairly linear course, benifitting few at the cost of many, for several decades now. At some point a rock bottom will be reached or some drastic event will jolt people back to reality and break the brain lock the political parties seem to have on the public as a whole. Imho we're in for a down generation.

[rictus58]

Maybe more people should take responsibility for themselves and their decisions.

Gas prices too high? Why should the government help? You are the one who bought a vehicle based on looks that gets 15-20mpg. That's on you.

Hard time paying your mortage? Cut off the cable. Cut the cell phone. Own up to your spending decisions. It's not the banks fault you can't pay.

Sick of the politicians? Look in the mirror. You're the one who keeps voting one of two parties. Newsflash, there are other parties who might meet your needs.

Sick of jobs being out-sourced? Reward companies that manufacture in this country and buy their products. Yes, that might put a dent into your weekly Wal-Mart trip.

If you feel taxes should be increased, do you part and send the IRS an unexpected gift.

[DjTj]

One of the things that frustrates me most about us Americans, is that we have such a ridiculously short attention span. Remember the patriotism after 9/11? Remember that feeling of "we're all in this together?" How long did that last. Meh. Till it was convenient for us to go back to living the way we always have. And sadly, to keep our attention longer, I think the next event has to be even more of a wake up call. I mean, Good Lord, the heart of NYC was destroyed, and a decade later, we're on a message board screaming "**** yous" at each other.

There really aren't many events that could be more traumatic than 9/11, and the patriotism should have lasted a lot longer. I actually place a lot of the blame on President Bush for squandering it.

He could have said that we are all in this war together, that we have to make shared sacrifices, and that we need to change the way we live. He could have delayed his tax cut to make sure he could pay for war, asked Americans to conserve energy and lower our dependence on Middle East oil, and maybe encouraged young people to join in the War on Terror by doing things like learn Arabic, research alternative energy, or just volunteering more. If there is something really worth fighting for, institute a draft.

Instead, the message we got was that most patriotic thing we could do was to go about our daily lives, take out bigger loans to buy bigger houses, drive bigger cars, and tie yellow ribbons to trees. The President gave us an easy way out, and we took it.

America went through tremendous changes through the Civil War, through World War II, and through Vietnam. But with the War on Terror, we had a President (Bush) who was not interested in making big changes, and we have a President (Obama) who is only interested in taking incremental steps. In many ways, our politics is far more tame than it was in the past, and we don't really have leaders that are willing to take bold action like we may have in the past in major wars and crises.