A lot has been said about reform lately in the United States. We are debating comprehensive immigration reform. We have passed comprehensive health care reform, or Obamacare. There is talk of the need for tax reform and social security reform and fiscal reform and entitlement reform.
I am a fan of reform, but I think we need to start with the idea of truly comprehensive reform, namely reforming the entire way we do government. We need comprehensive reform of the entire US Government.
There is a lot of agreement that things are broken, lots of things across the board. The first paragraph above provides only a partial list. I am sad to see us attacking each of these problems separately, without really applying a coherent overall policy to what we are doing and why. One big reason for this is politics. Change in government comes from politicians, who often do what is good for them politically, and then compromise down to what they can get away with. What we end up with is a huge amount of federal structure and legislation that makes no sense.
I have intended to write about what to do about the health care mess on many occasions, and whenever I do I am acutely aware that everything we do is so intertwined with everything else that changing the problems in one area also requires changing another area, and so on with domino-like effect.
Make no mistake; one thing I do not think needs changing is our Constitution. I just think we need to get back to it. I will attempt to lay out what path I think we could take to get back to where we should be, but the subject is larger than I can tackle in any one sitting. And so let me start with a few core principles as step one in beginning this discussion.
Less Federal, More State. Power, that is. We need to take a whole host of issues and give them back to the states to decide. Mainly this means social issues. Those need to be decided at the state level, and the federal government needs to back away from telling states and local governments what they can and cannot do. People can have an effect on what goes on in their state a lot easier than they can at a national level. We need an amendment that tells the Supreme Court it is the will of the people that the Interstate Commerce Clause is only for commerce that crosses state lines.
Balance The Budget. The federal government needs to stop living beyond their means. As soon as our debt is paid off and we have extra cash or gold lying around then we can talk about what to do with it. Otherwise we need an austerity program. We are $17 trillion dollars in debt, the Social Security trust fund is empty, and we are leaving a horrible mess for our children and grandchildren. This is irresponsible and cannot continue. Part of this reform includes not allowing a Federal Reserve to create $85 billion in new dollars every month to prop things up. Another part of this reform involves eliminating automatic spending increases.
Reform Entitlements. Our entitlement programs are all built on a house of cards. We have promised a massive amount of money to people, and we are currently virtually hand to mouth. George Bush tried to reform Social Security and he got blasted for it but he was right, the program is not sustainable. I have in mind one new massive federal program - Social Welfare that would eliminate all other federal programs that send checks to individuals. Yes, that would include Social Security, Welfare, AFDC, Food Stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, and on and on. All of those programs would be gone and would be replaced by the new Social Welfare program. This program would send checks from government to those in need. Note that if you are not in need you would not get a check. Taxes would be taken from these checks, and you would have to prove need. Yes, means testing. Some agency similar to the current IRS (I will get to them in a moment) would look at your application for aid, look at your assets and determine whether you are needy enough to be sent a government check.
We are and always will be a compassionate people and there is no scenario in our future where we will turn a sick child away from getting medical care, or allow old people to starve or freeze to death. So for all of your criticisms of what I am suggesting that are based on lack of compassion, I will direct you to the Social Welfare program, which will alone deal with these issues. All other relevant programs will cease to exist.
Federal Tax Reform. If ever anything needed change, it is our federal tax code. First, let me deal with how to fund the Social Welfare program noted above. This program would be funded by a sales tax on all Americans. There would be no prebate, as suggested by the current Fair Tax proposal. There would be no personal exemptions, no exceptions for anything including food and medicine. Every American would pay the same percentage on everything they buy, period. If someone is buying and someone is selling then there would be a tax to pay, period. Americans could then, either directly or through their elected representatives, decide how large this tax would be, how much they were willing to pay for social welfare. Everyone would have skin in the game, as it were, and so there would be pain for everyone if the tax went up. Once collected, that would be the total amount available to be handed out by the Social Welfare program, and of course there would be much debate about who was most deserving. There should be much debate about that.
The rest of the government could either be funded through a Flat Tax, or additional Sales Tax, or Flat corporate taxes, or a 9-9-9 plan. In any event, there would be no exemptions or exclusions or deductions for anything, period. No real tax code, just a percentage. Whatever great thing we were trying to do with tax codes to promote this or that could either be done at the state level or we could send checks to individuals, but we do not need to social engineer through the tax code.
As for the IRS, it needs to be eliminated but something similar will be needed for means-testing those who want government aid. If you don’t want a government check, there should be nobody looking at your financial affairs. If you want money and need it, someone will have to check out your claim that you don’t have anything of value.
Health Care Reform. Repeal Obamacare. Eliminate subsidies to employers to provide health care and people will buy it on the open market. Allow companies to operate across state lines. Watch free market capitalism drive down prices in the health insurance industry. Provide help to the needy through the Social Welfare program.
Immigration and Borders. The federal government should secure our borders, to control immigration and to provide security. Fix the current legal immigration system and monitor those who come here on visas. Find a way to provide appropriate punishment to those living here who broke our laws and then allow them to go to the back of the citizenship line.
Gay Marriage, Marijuana, Abortion. These are issues to be decided by the states. Refer back to the first point. Vigorous debate and discussion will occur in the states and over time the states themselves will likely reach consensus; or not. Move to another state if you are unhappy.
Retirement. Because some of you may have noticed that I eliminated Social Security, and with it all of the money that you paid in, I hear you screaming “that’s my money!” It would be, if there was any money. As I noted, not only do we not have any of the money that anyone paid in, we also are $17 trillion in debt. The money we all paid in is gone and not coming back.
And so Individual Retirement Accounts are in order. Americans need to regularly save for retirement and that money needs to belong to each of us individually rather than all of us collectively. Back to George Bush and his ideas on reform of Social Security.
Clearly this is not a complete plan but just the beginning of a plan, the start of a discussion. There is much to criticize here, and I hope you will do so. We need to start this debate and get a plan together before our institutions start collapsing on their own. Most people do not wish to think about any of these things. And that is the problem. They expect politicians to figure things out and just give them what they want. They don’t care how and that is why we are in this mess.
I realize I sound like some sort of radical doomsday guy, but some of these facts are inescapable. And the current piecemeal approach is getting us nowhere. We need comprehensive government reform.
I look forward to flushing out some of these ideas with more specificity and welcome your thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment