Here are some highlights of the GOP Plan (read full proposal here):

Require congressional review and approval of any government regulations that have a significant impact on the economy or burden small businesses.

Audit existing and pending regulations to identify and address those that hinder economic growth.

The Republicans, since Reagan, have been whittling down any regulations – which includes any green incentives, bank, and hedge funds. What the government needs is actual ethical CEO’s and ethical Government officials. Since that has not been the case regulation is needed.  Regulations do not hurt the general public it creates a dependable economy.  Deregulating for the sake of the economy is like deregulating banks for the sake of selling homes.

Lowering the tax rate for businesses

The US is debt because of spending support for multiple wars, not because honest people working and paying taxes. Corporate taxes are a local tax, not a federal focus.  Walmart and the big corporation do not pay taxes (legal loop holes don’t make it ethical) and it hinders the infrastructure of the state and local.  Let the local tax determine the commercial tax, not the federal government.

Reform the tax code to allow American businesses to bring back their overseas profits without having to pay a tax penalty so they can invest in our economy and create American jobs.

What? The GOP wants those make reward profiteering utilizing cheap labor overseas?

• A simple tax penalty for any company that exports products that only return to the US for greater profit.
• A simple tax penalty for any company for each employee not a US citizen $3.00/hour.
  • That would not only bring jobs back to the US but it would eliminate illegal Alien hiring practices.  The US already has a social security system and all employers must work within that system for tax purposes.
• A simple tax penalty for any company for each 1099 employee – $25,000 year.

Pass the three pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea to create up to 250,000 jobs.

The United States has 11 (free trade agreements) FTAs in force with 17 countries. In addition, the United States has negotiated FTAs with Korea,Panama and Colombia, but these agreements have not yet entered into force. The United States is also in the process of negotiating a regional FTA, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

U.S. FTA Partner Countries

• Australia
• Bahrain
• Chile
• DR-CAFTA: Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, & Nicaragua
• Israel
• Jordan
• Morocco
• NAFTA: Canada & Mexico
• Oman
• Peru
• Singapore

Many of these countries have a FTA with China . . . so turn your labels over . . .when was the last time you saw “Made in the USA”.  China monopolizes our countries with their products.

Continue to open new markets to American made products

What does the US actually make? If you must know . . . food that is processed overseas and returned to us in form of “Hamburger Helper” (read here . . .).

Modernize our patent system to protect our nation’s innovators, discourage frivolous lawsuits, and expedite patent reviews.

That doesn’t create jobs. Remember the US don’t actually make anything anymore. Things are cheaper coming from China.  There is not one product that was invented in the US that isn’t made overseas (better and cheaper I might add).  This patent issue isn’t a domestic one, it is an international one.  Since the US isn’t part of a global economy this is a time-waster and only looks good on paper.

Re-Authorize and improve federal programs and approval processes to streamline development of new products

Again, I have to ask . . . what new products?

Remove barriers to building a first class workforce so that the United States can compete in the global marketplace and lead the way in technological development and growth.

Barriers = Regulations — deregulating is the reason the US economy failed.

Build upon the House Republicans’ Budget by enacting significant spending cuts.

Without tax increases this is just the same old song.  The GOP fails the average american time and time again with magical words of wealth – but only the richer get richer.

Final Thoughts

The GOP platform stands on the concept that wealth is universal and that with the right plan every US Citizen will be the wealthiest in the world.  The problem is History tells us differently.  The failure of the US economy is due to:

• Corporate friendly tax codes,
• Rewarding through our low import tariffs overseas job creation,
• Putting hope into a “trickle down economy”
• Deregulation,
• Lobby Run Government
• Unethical Government Officials.
  • Yes unethical. Just because you can doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do.  Just because a Fortune 500 Company can, legally, through loop holes and creative accounting – doesn’t mean it is ethical.

The only solution for true job creation is force job creation on the US by doing the following:

• Raise Import Tax
• Tax Penalty for Employers that
  • Exports products that only returns to the US.
  • Each employee not a US citizen $3.00/hour.
  • Each 1099 employee – $25,000 year.
• Regulate and Enforce Corporations, Government Agencies and Local Government
• Rebuild a strong US Infrastructure (roads, utilities, water supply . . .)
• Mandatory National Broadband
  • The future is cottage industries.

The solutions to job creation is not the responsibility of Corporations (it is profit focused) – it is in our Government. We must demand the Government to stop looking towards Corporations without demanding regulation, tax increases and tax penalties in oversea jobs.Similar Posts:

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The FindLaw.com survey found that people between the ages of 35 and 54 are 50 percent more likely to have considered filing for bankruptcy than people ages 18-34 or 55 and older. People of retirement age (65 and older) are the least likely to have considered filing for bankruptcy (7 percent).

More than 1.5 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy last year, according to the National Bankruptcy Research Center. That’s the highest level since 2005, which saw a wave of bankruptcy filings just ahead of major bankruptcy law reforms.

Note: The FindLaw survey was conducted using a telephone survey of a demographically balanced group of 1,000 American adults and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percent.Similar Posts:

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The research, forthcoming in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (Richard A. Easterlin. â’Lost in Transition: Life Satisfaction on the Road to Capitalism,â’), expands our understanding of the correlation between happiness and democracy â” and whether economic concerns outweigh political reforms in their impact on subjective well-being.

â’Although one might suppose these questions are of interest â” some might even say fundamental interest, considering that they involve comparing capitalism and socialism â” they have received little attention in the voluminous literature on transition economies,â’ says Richard Easterlin, USC University Professor and professor of economics in the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences.

Easterlin examines life satisfaction in thirteen countries in the so-called communist-bloc using self-reported data from a range of sources, particularly the World Values Survey. Communist-bloc countries first appeared in the large-scale Survey in 1989, when a representative population in each country was asked to rate â’life these days, as a wholeâ’ on a scale of 1 (dissatisfied) to 10 (satisfied).

Other surveys before and after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 asked similar questions about specific aspects of life â” such as work, health, and standard of living â” and about â’the way democracy works in (your country).â’

â’The dissolution of the police states and increase in political and civil rights in many of the transition countries might have been expected to increase life satisfaction,â’ Easterlin says. â’The sharp decline that initially occurred suggests that adverse economic and social conditions trumped the political in their impact on subjective well-being.â’

Indeed, the study finds that the trend in overall satisfaction with democracy is actually slightly negatively correlated to the trend in reported happiness after the fall of the Iron Curtain. This correlation is not statistically significant, according to Easterlin, but undermines the assertion by some scholars that democratization in these countries significantly increased happiness.

â’There is evidence that, when asked about their sources of well-being, people rarely mention political circumstances,” Easterlin explains. “Rather, they put foremost those concerns that principally occupy their time, most notably making a living, family life and health.â’

Satisfaction with work, childcare and health all decreased significantly during the transition from socialism to capitalism, reflecting a marked rise in symptoms of social stress such as divorce rates, suicide rates, domestic violence and increased alcoholism and drug use, Easterlin finds.

However, people were much more satisfied with one particular aspect of their lives after the fall of the Soviet Union: their material circumstances, including standard of living, goods availability and the environment.

â’The positive contribution of life satisfaction to improved material living was outweighed by losses in employment security, health and child care, and provision for old age,â’ Easterlin says.

Disparities in life satisfaction also increased after the fall of the Soviet Union, particularly along the lines of age and education. Those older than 30, who had already established careers under the socialist system, were far more likely to be dissatisfied with life under capitalism than younger adults. Older people also faced the deterioration of old-age pension support and rising unemployment rates.

Men and women had about equal declines in life satisfaction, Easterlin finds.

â’The human cost of the transition was enormous, with the lives of millions turned upside down,â’ Easterlin says. â’The impact of these changes on peopleâ’s personal lives and their well-being is almost totally missed by GDP per capita.â’

While life satisfaction had rebounded somewhat by 1999, there is evidence to suggest that even by 2005 it had not yet reach pre-transition levels, according to the study. By this time, GDP in the countries studied had increased 25 percent on average since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

â’The life satisfaction measure, which reflects not only material well-being, but the everyday concerns and worries of women and men about work, health and family, is more indicative of the far-reaching changes that were taking place,â’ Easterlin says.

He continues: â’Life satisfaction is not an exhaustive measure of well-being. But if, in formulating transition policy, some consideration had been given to this measure, perhaps there would have been fewer â’˜lost in transition.â’â’

Bottom Line

It all comes down to materials and money.  If you profit from being within a socialistic or capitalistic economy then you will not be happy if you have to change to the other.   But that is selfish reasoning and not forward thinking. Each generation is responsible for the previous and the next generation.  If you only think of yourself and your status in life then you have failed.

“While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

“The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

“We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.

“Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.

“Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight.

“The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we’re taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.

“In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America – as a blueprint for our future.

“My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited – a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.

“Given these realities, everyone in this chamber – Democrats and Republicans – will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.

“But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.

“Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.

“In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.

“I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.

“But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary.

“I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn’t tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ‘I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn’t feel right getting the money myself.’

“I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community – how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. ‘The tragedy was terrible,’ said one of the men who helped them rebuild. ‘”But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity.’

“And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, ‘We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.’”

• First-time homebuyers purchasing a home before Dec. 1 will receive a US$8,000 tax credit. While this would in theory support the housing industry now, the tax benefit will not be realized until 2010, making it likely that potential homebuyers will wait until the last minute before making a purchasing decision.
• The US$1,000 child tax credit will be extended to more taxpayers who typically do not earn enough to pay taxes, and so normally would not benefit from the credit.
• College students or their parents will receive a tax credit of up to US$2,500 on tuition and related expenses in 2009 and 2010.
• Tax credits will be distributed on a weekly basis, at about US$13 a week per wage earner starting in June. Over the course of 2009, single tax payers will receive US$400 and couples US$800.
• Americans drawing unemployment checks will receive an extra US$25 per check.
• A temporary assistance emergency fund for needy families will be set up in the amount of US$3 billion.
• The first US$2,400 of unemployment benefits received in 2009 will not be taxable.
• The Department of the Interior will receive US$735 million for road repair in national parks.
• The Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will receive US$9.2 billion for projects ranging from energy efficiency improvements to visitor centers to the cleanup of abandoned mine sites on public lands.
• The plan makes US$25 billion available for teachersâ’ salaries.
• Early education and childcare programs will receive a US$4 billion package.
• The EPA will receive US$800 million to clean up hazardous waste sites and gasoline storage tanks.
• The plan sets aside US$3.7 billion for the hiring of new police officers and US$1 billion for the hiring of local officers under the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
• Law enforcement on the Mexican border and in rural areas, Indian tribe law enforcement, programs that help crime victims, youth-mentoring programs and efforts to fight Internet child predators will receive US$765 million.
• States facing budget deficits will receive an injection of US$87 billion for Medicaid.
• The government will pump in US$90 billion for highway repaving, new water lines and old bridge reinforcement.
• The stimulus plan sets aside US$20 billion for â’green jobs,â’ which include everything from the energy efficiency remodeling of federal buildings and schools to building renewable energy installations such as wind turbines and solar panels. If this works, it would contribute to the formation of an entirely new and beneficial economic sector â” the very definition of effective stimulus spending.
• Americans drawing on supplemental security income would receive a one-time payment of US$250. This benefit goes primarily to those on limited income and so is likely to be spent shortly after being awarded.
• Homeowners will receive a tax credit to cover as much as 30 percent of the cost (up to US$1,500) of remodeling their homes for energy efficiency (adding energy-efficient windows, furnaces and air conditioners). This is the sort of activity that normally only takes place in times of extreme economic growth, so a tax credit that would not be earned until 2010 is unlikely to affect spending decisions. (Note that green remodeling of government buildings is in the â’immediate stimulusâ’ category, because the federal government has direct control over how the money is spent, as opposed to this program which encourages the private sector to follow suit.)
• The government will help pay health insurance premiums up to 65 percent of the total cost for laid-off taxpayers, defraying costs under the current Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) program which allows fired employees to keep their coverage for 18 months but at the full cost of the premium. The COBRA program only applies to companies employing a minimum of 20 employees. Employees laid off but not eligible for COBRA will be allowed to sign up in 60 days.
• The government will offer direct grants to producers of wind turbines and will inject US$2 billion into next-generation batteries to stimulate technology innovation.
• The plan will give US$300 in rebates for the purchase of new, efficient appliances and US$5 billion for energy improvements for low-income homeowners.
• The stimulus will get an extra 800,000 students into the Pell Grant program, which allows low-income students to attend college, and will increase the grant US$4,731 to US$5,350 for 2009 and US$5,550 for 2010-2011.
• Tuition tax credits will be increased to US$2,500 and will be 40 percent refundable for those families who do not earn enough to have to pay taxes and thus take advantage of the credit.
• Scientific research will be supported with US$15 billion, with the National Institute of Health distributing US$1.5 billion to university research facilities.
• There will be an injection of US$2 billion for prisoner rehabilitation programs under the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant.

Personal Thoughts

I want to be stimulated, not teased. Some of these wouldn’t even count as foreplay.