MY FIRST POST----An Introduction To My General Views
Welcome to my blog--I hope you enjoy it-------Who am I?? well i will not use my name here--But I am a proud patriotic American--I believe in the Constitution as creating the best form of government (although not perfect) and Capitalism as the best form of the economy (although not perfect). I KNOW that we all---American or not---want for us personally and for our family and friends to be HEALTHY, WEALTHY, SAFE AND FREE---AND we all believe in capitalism, wealth and government---to an extent--we like some government and dislike some government, we like some businesses and dislike others.
Where we disagree most and also most furiously is simply HOW MUCH government and HOW MUCH free market business should be in our society.
I believe in Personal Responsibility--everyone should take care of their kids, themselves, look for a job or hopefully a career, pay their bills and live within their means----Live responsibly within their means--and try hard to have NO or Little personal debt.
BUT as a Democrat, American, Jew and Human, I ALSO BELIEVE IN MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY---that is--we as members of a family, community, state and country have a duty to those in need---kids, the permanently disabled, military veterans, Temporarily out of work due to being fired or let go (not those who quit) and the poor--those in the bottom 10 or 20% income level--the bottom of our economy.
I believe in the free market--but the free market--always looking for profits and ways to cut costs--will not by itself regulate itself for safety and quality as effectively as an outside force can make it regulate itself--for the benefit of a company's workers and customers.
IF there was a way to force businesses to publish information on product safety and ingredients--then maybe we would have an informed consumer group and that---providing information to consumers---would be the only regulation needed by government for public safety.
How do we pay for our society?? We all believe in SOME government---military, border security, diplomacy--even if some dislike the UN, government prints our money--even if you disagree with Fed Reserve policies, etc etc
The Private sector is amazing as well--providing innovation, choice, jobs, and the fire of our booming economy.
Taxes--every society created them as a way to pay for government in any form, Kings, religions, and even member organizations have membership dues--taxes---to pay for management and costs of running this group.
So what's the best form of taxes?? a flat tax?? Maybe--yes. For the USA??? we would have to get rid of every other tax and tax credit in order to do so--in order for it to be an actual FLAT tax---10, 20 or 30% as a one flat universal tax.
I would argue that--SINCE we are paid (mostly) through our jobs---and the more we work the more we are paid, either per hour or as we accumulate years on the job we can get better pay and benefits----THEN the same should be with taxes---the MORE you make the MORE you should pay--the top rate---whatever the top percent of income earners is--top 2% right now---should be around 40% ----this is below the Laffer Curve requirement of maximum income for government--at let's say 60 or 70%--but is higher then a level too low for government funding--at say 20%--40% is in the middle, and lower than 50%.
The bottom rate for the lowest income earners should be either 1% or $100--Everyone should pay something AND no one working 40 hours a week should be poor--there has to be a living wage at the bottom.
We will have always government--the only question is how much and what is its role??
This is just a general beginning--an outline of some of my philosophy---there will be more to come in the future.