The Site > Old Forums > It Is The Economy, Stupid > Politics aside, does any aspect of the Ryan plan make sense?

Politics aside, does any aspect of the Ryan plan make sense?

I agree that Ryan is one of the few congress people that realize we can't spend ourselves out of this mess.

But anytime you increase taxes on investment you're going to cripple investment. IE; increases on Medicare, Social Security (payroll taxes) along with Income Taxes cripples investment.

Investment by the private sector is what builds wealth and creates jobs, not investment by the government.
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I was Anti-Obama before it was cool!
Will Rodgers never met Harry Reid..

I think he has that covered under the jobs tab.

reply to pandora
I see your point about raising taxes. I am opposed to it, especially social security.

But there is PLENTY that the government can cut before it has to start increasing its income. There is no reason why the government should be as big as it is now.
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What smells like blue?

reply to pandora
Productivity is the key to a strong economy. It would be great to have a chart comparing productivity of private sector vs. public sector. But, is it possible to track public sector productivity, since there is very little?
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I was Anti-Obama before it was cool!
Will Rodgers never met Harry Reid..

reply to macsierra
I would argue productivity is the key to strong corporate profits.

reply to pandora
What I'm getting at is that we are not producing enough material assets to be competitive in the real world.

For instance, we should be producing enough energy for our own needs along with with excess for our neighbors. We're currently doing just the opposite. I can go on and on.

Our congress did nothing for the last 8 years or so to increase our productivity. All they have done is to decrease productivity with foolish laws..

First thing we need to do is cut government to save our country, but sadly most folks don't see that..
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I was Anti-Obama before it was cool!
Will Rodgers never met Harry Reid..

Just cut taxes on the rich and it will all work out. [sorry sometimes I just cant help myself]

One way out is free health care for all [green card a must]
A vat and save the money that people pay into social security.
OH and slash the Defence budget by 50%.
$1.00 tax on gas paid to social security.
Tax anything over $250,000.00 at 60%

Those policies would destroy the economy.
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What smells like blue?

That is what Canada does. Dont forget the huge benefits[cost savings] to business with the vat and no health care costs.

Lemmie ask you a question;
Are the citizens in Canada as self destructive, -health wise- as the citizens of the U.S. in your opinion?

This is somewhat rhetorical since obesity is thee #1 cause of illness and premature death.
Of course the U.S is #1 per capita at 31% FAT-Asses. (Twice that of Canada, 10x that of Japan) Obesity is the leading preventable causes of health problems and death.

Almost 1 in 10 Americans has preventable Type-2 Diabetes. The cost of this preventable disease is roughly about $250 Billion/Year.

Interestingly, Canada's rate isn't much lower, about 7.5%.

»www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_o···-obesity

I would be all over free health care for all...if it required a citizen to meet very stringent, yet simple prevention standards. As a matter of fact, just ONE standard: you can not be over a certain weight/body mass/fat ratio index. Which must be tested annually (this mandatory visit to the doctor will also help prevent, or diagnose early, other potentially catastrophic diseases and illnesses). If one doesn't meet this criteria, they pay much more in taxes.

Unfortunately, Like it's twin sister Medicare Part D, the Health Care reform act wasn't written to get Americans Healthier, it was written to enrich a specific industry by forcibly transferring wealth from taxpayers.

We spend almost 3x what Japan spends for Health care per person.
»www.visualeconomics.com/healthca···0-03-01/
The only real difference as I see it, people in Japan ain't FAT. Gluttony is not ingrained in their culture.

Just get government out of healthcare, retirement funding, and everything that's not down to the basic moral purpose of government, which is to Protect Individual Rights.
To do the above, we only need a military (with a non-suicidal foreign policy), a court system to adjudicate matters of contract and differences, and a police force to protect individuals from violating eachother's rights.
That cuts about 90% of the cost of government. No more deficit. Heck, no more need for taxes--we could return to the pre 1863 levels of taxation.

So, which countries currently only provide those services, and would you really want to live there?

reply to dogma

reply to horsemouth