What would you do?
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What would you do?
:)
Free healthcare. More jobs. Cheaper cost of living and higher minimum wage. And to make porn illegal. Tighten up jails. Make the death sentence applicable to anyone that has committed more than three violent crimes. If you are on death row for more than a year you're gone. We waste too much money on people in jails that don't deserve it.
Abolish the death penalty (even though I think it is a state issue), tighten gun laws significantly even to the point that they were completely banned, make a law that anyone called Bush can never be the President of the US of A again :)
Id also like to change many Americans opinion that they are the only people who inhabit this world. There are a helluva lot of other people and cultures out there that can be learned from but a lot of americans I know don't know anything outside they state they live in. Present company here at AMHD being the exception. Well some of them anyway! And that's not their fault. Its just the environment they have grown up in and the media they are subject to!
But I wasn't born in America so I can never become pres. I think with my policies above most people would be glad of that! :)
Why would you want to abolish the death penalty? You think that murders and dangerous criminals should be running around freely? Or do you think they should just sit in ajil for the rest of their lives sucking up the taxes you pay out of every paycheck.
There are more than likely more people in the state they live in than in all of Aussieland even though Aussieland is roughly the size of the U.S. Therefore, more stupid people per capita. The really intelligent Americans haven't found this site yet since they are busy. Busy setting the trends in the nice things you Aussies will be using next year... like the computer you are using. Even if you were born here, we wouldn't vote for you since you sound like a sissy socialistic wanker dude. Really!Quote:
Originally Posted by Skell
For the most part I would try not to spend it unless the provisions are mandatory or, [if my discression allows],if the spending is really necessary . Beyond that the executives job is to make the system and the spending as efficient as he has latitude to decide.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicespringgirl
Well if I had the funds, first thing is to deport the moochers and anti-American US citizens that take their freedom for granted. Secondly anyone that spends anytime at all on these boards knows that we need to devote funds to international education just in case they want back in.
Bobby
Hello girl:Quote:
Originally Posted by nicespringgirl
I'd give it back to the people I stole it from.
excon
Gun Facts - Your guide for debunking gun control mythQuote:
Originally Posted by Skell
I would establish affordable health care. Making taking care of your health a greater priority than fixing what you didn't take care of.
I would completely restructure Congress and establish term limits.
Abolish frivolous law suits and rewrite insurance laws.
Create a national driver's license instead of individual states complicating matters.
Increase funding small business start-ups. They are crucial to economic success.
And on the second day...
First of all, NSG, your question makes an assumption that is in error.
The president does NOT control the money. Congress does. The power of the purse was specifically left to Congress so that the President would never become powerful enough to do the stupid things suggested above, like banning guns and creating "free" healthcare. The idea was that while the President has the power over the military and police in the USA, if he doesn't have control of the purse strings, he can never finance a coup. And in Congress has the power of the purse, but no control of the military, they will never be able to stage a coup for lack of military power. It is a checks-and-balances system.
Now, to some of the suggestions that I have seen above:
Ban guns? Are you nuts? Do you WANT to give away all your rights and freedoms? Do you enjoy the idea that the government will be able to do anything they want to you and you will never be able to stop them because they are armed and you aren't? That's what happened in Hitler's Nazi Germany. The first thing he did was eliminate guns in the hands of civilians. The second thing he did was eliminate their rights. And they couldn't do a damn thing about it because they weren't armed.
If you are so afraid of Bush becoming a dictator (a ridiculous thought, but I've heard people say it), why would you deliberately play into that by calling for disarmament of the civilian population? Why would you give away the power to stop the threat of this person you see as a military tyrant?
As for "free" healthcare, do you mean free government-run health care? Because if you do, how are you going to fund it. Even the billions that are in the treasury wouldn't cover the costs for more than a year or so. Which means you would have to tax the country to keep such a system going. Which just means that it isn't really "free" is it.
And while you are spending all this money on "free" healthcare, who is going to pay for the upkeep of interstate highways, our telecommunications infrastructure, our energy infrastructure, our police, fire and other emergency services, our military, the intelligence services, our federally-funded education system, our overburdened court system, etc. Where is the money for all that boring but necessary stuff going to come from?
People make these huge, grandios pledges that have no basis in reality because they have never actually read a copy of the national budget and have no understanding of how our government really works or what its job really is. Not the politicians in Congress... we already know they don't do anything. I'm talking about the various agencies that atually keep the government running, and that take care of the stuff that you and I take for granted.
Simply put, most people who make "big" suggestions about how they would change things don't really bother to look at how they would fund it, and what they will be affecting by using those dollars for their "big idea" as opposed to something else that really needs to be funded to keep the country working.
Elliot
Abolish Congress and the Supreme Court and establish myself as Supreme Benevolent Ruler for Life.
Just kidding.
I have to echo ex's statement though, and remember that it's not MY money--it's the taxpayer's money and they expect US (executive and legislative branches) to use it responsibly.
I'd cut foreign aid to those who oppose us, and raise it for those who are our friends.
I'd invest in the research of alternative forms of energy.
I'd invest in medical research. I find it appalling that we can track a dung beetle across the Mojave desert from 40 miles in space, but can't cure cancer.
But it's still a fun question and her hearts in the right place. Also I agree with you on the guns and health-care issues. I had a very long day at work. Have a good shabbos.Quote:
Originally Posted by ETWolverine
Bobby
The Congress doesn't control SH1T! The private bankers do.Quote:
Originally Posted by ETWolverine
This is an interesting question and I see this thread going far. Unfortunately I am too tired right now to comment on said things. So it will remain in my inbox until tomorrow where I will have ample time to answer!
All right. In the interest of hypothetical questions, here goes:Quote:
Originally Posted by BABRAM
1) I would make the Bush tax cuts permanent. As it turns out, lowering taxes has actually increased government income significantly, because more people are earning money, and therefore more are paying taxes. Everybody benefits from the tax cuts.
2) I would secure the border, using military and police assets at my disposal. One thing I would do is initiate a program wherein every National Guard unit would rotate through the various border states to practice military operations in desert settings. While there, those units would also be responsible for border patrol and monitoring. This will have the dual effect of lowering illegal immigration and training these units in border control operations in case they are ever sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or any other place where terrorists leaking across borders is a problem. This is a low-cost but effective means of using military assets to secure the borders. (I would also initiate a bonus program, wherein units that actually catch illegals coming across the border using approved methods are given a bonus for each illegal aprehended. That will result in the soldiers being MOTIVATED to do their jobs properly.)
3) I would push for progress in the "Future Warrior" weapons programs in order to get our soldiers in the field the best and most effective equipment available to the US arsenal. This would include new generation body armor, advanced infantry weapons, new tanks and armor composites, etc. I would also push for improvements in training methods in our military, including a bonus program for every additional skill learned by soldiers. The more a soldier knows, the more survivable he becomes while in the military, and the better the jobs he can find once he exits the service. If an infantry guy also learns logistics, combat engineering and demolition, basic combat medicine, earns his jump-tabs, and becomes a sharpshooter, shouldn't he be earning more than an infantry guy with no other special skills? And don't we want our soldiers to cross train in as many skills as possible so that they are able to take the fight to the enemy in as many ways as possible? (I would also make sure that every administrative specialist is also combat ready, just like in the Israeli military. In the US military, roughly 1 of every ten soldiers is a combat soldier. In Israel, 10 soldiers means 10 combat-trained, highly effective killers. That's what our military should be. They can specialize in administrative stuff, but let them be fully trained and ready for combat at any moment.)
4) I would fight against pork-barrel spending in Congress. I would veto anything that has pork attached to it, even if the main bill is something I support. I'm Jewish, I don't do pork.
5) I would reform the State Department by either firing or giving "an office with a window to the world" to any State Department official that doesn't tow the official line when it comes to government policy. If someone at Foggy Bottom decides to push for an Arabist solution to the Israel/Palestinian conflict when I am pushing for a pro-Israel solution, his foggy bottom will be gone from my State Department.
6) I will initiate investigations into any and every "anonymous leak" by government officials. And I will fire the of anyone caught leaking anything to the press or to any source outside of the Executive branch. It may be the job of the press to find out information and report it, but it is the job of the President to prevent them from doing so. That is the adversarial relationship between the media and the government, and that is the way I wish my government to operate.
7) HUMINT, HUMINT, HUMINT. And need I mention HUMINT? I would spend huge amounts of money to develop human intelligence sources against our enemies. While we have the best ELINT (electronic intelligence) capabilities in the world, our HUMINT sources are very lacking. We need to turn bad guys, establish spies, whatever. The CIA has never been quite as good as the Kremlin at doing HUMINT. Post Cold War documentary evidence showed that the USSR won the humint espionage war... they had the highest levels of the US government tied up in knots, while we barely got a few gadeners and custodians into the Kremlin. We did better on ELINT and SIGINT, but they destroyed us in HUMINT. I would spend huge amounts of money to change that fact, especially since the War on Terror is going to be won mostly at the clandestine level. Most counter-terrorism takes place at the HUMINT level.
8) I would enforce the employment laws regarding illegal immigrants. Even if a few illegals manage to trickle across the border past the National Guard units that are guarding the border, I will make the environment for them to find employment in the USA very hostile to them. If you want a job in the USA, come here legally.
9) Any University that doesn't allow ROTC or military recruiting on campus will not get federal funding. Period. You want to live off the government trough, you follow the government's rules. Don't like it? Get your money elsewhere.
10) Any foreign government or agency that gets foreign aid should support the US in the pursuit of its interests. If they actively stand against us, they can try to find their aid elswhere. NO YOU DO NOT GET A CHOICE IN THE MATTER IF YOU ARE TAKING MY MONEY. If you want the "right to choose", get your money from someone else. Kind of like how it is when you live in your parents' home... they make the rules. If you don't like it, get an apartment, get a job and you can make your own decisions.
That's how I would spend my time (and your money) as President.
Elliot
Nah... too much baggage. I'm an easy "swiftboat" target. I'll never hold public office. Besides, I don't think the country is quite ready for an Orthodox Jewish President who refuses to take off his yarmulka for anyone, including foreign heads of state.
And if they dislike Bush for "his" war in Iraq, they'll absolutely DESPISE me. (Which would just prove I was doing a good job.)
And somehow, I just can't see Bashar Assad or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sitting down with me at the negotiating table (even when not negotiating in good faith), can you?
Elliot
I follow European trends. And I am fond of the odd pull of my . But I do it for enjoyment. What's wrong with that!Quote:
Originally Posted by magprob
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I don't know. I wouldn't mind getting some obese kids out to a boot camp and spend at least a few years doing that every 6 months. Hopefully obesity would decrease during those years. OR if that doesn't work, then I wouldn't mind sending a certain amount of money to different countries or places around the world who are in poverty.
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