Let Go, Let's Go!

So much to do. So little time to do it in. So many ideas to process and test out for feasibility. And then to process the few ideas selected to see which will be chosen and implemented.

Yet we are caught in a dog fight about:

-          The ‘fiscal cliff’ badly named and defined even worse

-          Raising revenues or raising taxes; in this case they are the same thing!

-          CIA Chief Petreaus; was it an extra marital affair? A sex scandal? A conspiracy to hide national security weakness?

-          Lame duck session or golden opportunity to get something good accomplished?

-          You say tomayto, we say tomahto. Which is it, really?

-          I think it’s up and you think it down; who cares? Which one is fact-based?

I had hoped the election was over. Guess I had hoped too high for good sense and civility to keep us on the straight and narrow. So very disappointing.

Public agencies and officials have a job to do. Let’s let them do it until they have come to conclusions they can report with candor and accuracy. Until then we only make matters worse and cheapen reputations of good people who are or may be guilty of nothing!

OK. Let’s pretend that’s settled. Now what will we do with our time and resources?

Here’s my take on all of this:

First, face the facts on the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ and do the following:

-          Let the tax rates on households above $250,000 go back to the previous levels that were the law before Bush’s tax cut

-          Keep tax deductions the same until we learn what the previous step accomplishes

-          Cut the budget for the Defense Department by 15% for ten years. This will not affect research and development or acquisition of needed weaponry considered highly strategic. There is much waste in the DoD and both parties know this. The waste has been a major bargaining tool for generations so the armed services get what they want.

-          Calculate the savings from both the Iraq War and the ebbing actions in Afghanistan; add these savings to our solution for reducing the national debt

-          Set a reasonable size for the national debt based on a percent of Gross Domestic Product of our economy; push to get there and then further reduce the debt so it is back to where Clinton left it in 2000

Second, recognize that investing in our nation makes good business sense and actually produces new revenues, new taxes, and a growing economy. Infrastructure replacement or renewal and improvement allows our nation to operate better, more safely, and more cost effectively. That benefits corporations and government as well as all of we taxpayers. There is at least $1 trillion of infrastructure investment needed to be done. Just observe what Hurricane Sandy did to New Jersey and New York recently. Much of the damage was to shabby and crumbling infrastructure which was long overdue for replacement. Every city and town has the same situation. Fix it now! With major federal investment dollars appropriated.

Third, provide each state with a federal subsidy for one year to rehire police, fire and teaching personnel. These are the hardest hit public sector jobs which has driven down the employment data for the last several years. Size of subsidy? Probably $50 billion per month.

Fourth, leave Social Security and Medicare alone for now. Fix Medicaid instead. That’s the leaking bucket that needs to be repaired. Later, when Medicaid is clearly out of the woods, enact tweaks and small fixes that will allow both Social Security and Medicare to survive by living within their means of the taxes they collect to pay for these two programs. HINT: both of these programs do not receive federal budget dollars; they are self funding trusts. Of course, Congress continually borrows the idle funds from both trusts to fund their other escapades!

Fifth, ask the Department of Energy to seek new energy sources to replace our current reliance on petroleum, domestic or foreign, so we can move forward to the next millennium without fear of running out of energy. This task is to be accomplished by 2020. Meeting this goal will strengthen the US Dollar and redefine foreign affairs exponentially.

Five steps to fix current problems. And to build a secure long term future. We can do this. We have the resolve. But only if we are willing and have our eyes wide open.

Which America do you dream about? One that cowers to internal bickering, or one which seeks new, self sustaining pathways.

I think the choice is simple. Let us leave the past behind and get moving with the things that really matter.

November 14, 2012