What country would yopu like

[kvnchrist]

I just heard that S&P downgraded the U.S. from triple A to double A+ rating. I was wondering Just:

 

 

(1) What form of government you would like The U.S. to become If it failed and had to be reborn?

 

 

(2) What economic system and what priorities would you place on our budget, so that we could never get into this situation again.?

 

 

(3) Would we allow entitlements, and if so, how would they be administered so that fraud and corruption would be minimized?

 

 

(4) Would the same treaties for the Indians be kept?

 

 

(5) Would we have such a large military industrial complex desiring so much of our revenue?

 

 

(6) What priority would there be to provide us with the energy we need and would the environmental impact be taken into account?

 

 

(7) Would we allow corporate welfare and would there be any limits upon their business practices?

 

 

(-8-) What would be the tax system that we used and would it be used to exclude some members of society, while allowing others loop holes to slip through?

 

 

(9) What would be our foreign policy on friends, enemies and what and how would we handle foreign aid, if any. Would we demand a bang for our buck?.

 

 

(-10) What would our legal system be based upon and would we allow the death penalty?

 

 

(11) How would we handle the border issues and how would we handle immigration.?

 

 

(12) Would we keep our U. N. affiliations and would we remain in NATO?

[HeyYou]

1. Republic. With the correct safeguards, it could be pretty good. (unlike the way it is now....)

 

2. Capitalism. A constitutional directive that they government may NOT make any long term borrowing commitments. Short term (less than five years), OK, but, that's it.

 

3. Entitlements? Depends on your definition there. I think nationalized health care would be a good idea though. Granted, it would royally piss off the insurance companies.

 

4. The current treaties would remain in place, though I would encourage them to integrate into society. It's inevitable anyway....

 

5. Defense spending would most certainly need some reforms..... and MUCH better oversight. The days of projects being years behind schedule, way over budget, and STILL continuing would end. (V-22 anyone?)

 

6. Developing our own oil fields, expanding nuclear power, investing more into research for fusion power.... maybe even going so far as power satellites.... (solar/nuclear?)

 

7. Corporate welfare would be a thing of the past. Yes, there would be restraints. (OSHA rules, EPA rules, etc.)

 

8. Graduated flat tax. That's it. No deductions. (business tax would be after costs. costs would NOT include advertising, and marketing.....)

 

9. Foreign aid? Giving money to countries that either don't need it, or, hate us? Nah, if I want to flush money down the toilet, I can do that right here at home.

 

10. Our current legal system isn't too bad...... I think victims rights need to be better addressed, many other little reforms as well......

 

11. Borders would HAVE to be much better controlled. (at least, our southern border.....) Illegals would be immediately deported to their country of origin. Come back a second time..... well...... I am not real excited about paying for illegals in prisons..... not that I would just whack 'em dead... but, it IS a tempting thought.

 

12. In my view, the UN is a powerless entity, with no credibility, and no authority. We pay damn near 25% of it's budget, but, there are 190 some members. WTH?? I don't see the point really.... NATO? Debatable.

[draconix]

That's a lot of questions. Lemme try my hand at this...

 

Overview of Draconia

 

(1) Monarchy. We need someone with a vested interest in this country to lead it, and try not to f*ck it up for their kids. I would probably add a few safeguards like an elected parliament of sorts that is elected every 10 years with a maximum of 1 term, who's sole job is to impeach the monarch family should they suck at their job, and elect the new monarch.

 

(2) Austrian economics, get rid of this Keynesian BS that got us into this mess to begin with, abolish our central banking system, and rebuild with sound currency backed by precious metals or other valuable items.

 

(3) What do you mean by entitlements in this context? Sounds like something spoiled children feel they have. Edit: I'd do away with it. The country is broke, old people too. Sucks for all.

 

(4) You mean Native Americans? Nah, it's time to move on. The current system has really done terrible things to their remaining population.

 

(5) We wouldn't need it, since we'd immediately change our foreign policy to not stick our business in hornets nests.

 

(6) Energy needs would be handled by the open market. If the market wants clean energy, then that's what it'll get. Eventually the Monarch may have to enforce plans to move onto clean energy by a certain time.

 

(7) Nah, let the churches go back to handling that. When our economy collapses, there will be plenty of jobs available in the production industries, since exporting goods would become a large priority, and just about the only source of income for America overall.

 

(-8-) I like the idea of a fair tax. No individual federal or state income taxes, no property taxes, just sales tax on non-essential items, make it about 30% or so. This way everyone gets taxed based on the money that they have to spare. Yes, rich people pay more taxes when they spend more. That's what happens when you take more money from more people. Deal with it.

 

(9) Foreign policy initially would have to be very modest. Defend ourselves first, later on if we start recovering, we can go on to defend our allies in exchange for their protection.

 

(-10) That would probably be handled at the state level. Personally, I'm a fan of stockades and public humiliation as a deterrent. This would be especially effective when everyone is trying to pull together and pitch in for the recovery effort.

 

(11) Immigration is not a problem. If they want to live here, they can work here, and pay taxes here.

 

(12) I think we'll just start over. If they want us to join, the king or queen will have to make the decision based on what the people want.

 

I'm guessing everyone will move to Canada. :tongue:

Edited August 6, 2011 by draconix

[kvnchrist]

By entitlements I mean social security, Welfare, Medicare, Medicare, anything the government pays out to select groups, including Farm subsidies and the like. I know that some people pay into these, but no one really knows what happens to our money when it hits Washington.

[marharth]

1. Republic. With the correct safeguards, it could be pretty good. (unlike the way it is now....)

 

2. Capitalism. A constitutional directive that they government may NOT make any long term borrowing commitments. Short term (less than five years), OK, but, that's it.

 

3. Entitlements? Depends on your definition there. I think nationalized health care would be a good idea though. Granted, it would royally piss off the insurance companies.

 

4. The current treaties would remain in place, though I would encourage them to integrate into society. It's inevitable anyway....

 

5. Defense spending would most certainly need some reforms..... and MUCH better oversight. The days of projects being years behind schedule, way over budget, and STILL continuing would end. (V-22 anyone?)

 

6. Developing our own oil fields, expanding nuclear power, investing more into research for fusion power.... maybe even going so far as power satellites.... (solar/nuclear?)

 

7. Corporate welfare would be a thing of the past. Yes, there would be restraints. (OSHA rules, EPA rules, etc.)

 

8. Graduated flat tax. That's it. No deductions. (business tax would be after costs. costs would NOT include advertising, and marketing.....)

 

9. Foreign aid? Giving money to countries that either don't need it, or, hate us? Nah, if I want to flush money down the toilet, I can do that right here at home.

 

10. Our current legal system isn't too bad...... I think victims rights need to be better addressed, many other little reforms as well......

 

11. Borders would HAVE to be much better controlled. (at least, our southern border.....) Illegals would be immediately deported to their country of origin. Come back a second time..... well...... I am not real excited about paying for illegals in prisons..... not that I would just whack 'em dead... but, it IS a tempting thought.

 

12. In my view, the UN is a powerless entity, with no credibility, and no authority. We pay damn near 25% of it's budget, but, there are 190 some members. WTH?? I don't see the point really.... NATO? Debatable.

Pretty much this. Few minor things I would like to change.

 

2. It would need to be a more regulated system then what we have now.

 

3. Health insurance companies shouldn't even exist in that sustem imo.

 

8. I wouldn't really support a flat tax, but if the system was completely wiped it might work.

 

10. I think our legal system completely sucks, make it more like the criminal system in Norway.

 

11. Killing them should be off the table. Deporting them is fine, deport them as much as you want. Its understandable that you would want to punish criminals, but you need to look at how well the systems work.

 

12. I find it useless now, but it was made for valid reasons back in WW2.

[HeyYou]

Social security is NOT an entitlement. Folks pay into it all their working lives, to collect a bit of a check when the reach the right age.

[draconix]

Social security is NOT an entitlement. Folks pay into it all their working lives, to collect a bit of a check when the reach the right age.

 

Don't think of it as "taking away something" because in all likelihood, by the time you and I are able to draw from it, it'll be long gone. I still pay into it, but I'd rather be putting that into a personal IRA. The idea of social security as it stands is a pyramid scheme. It requires a constant influx of more people putting into it than are taking out of it, so with each generation we need more and more young people forfeiting their hard-earned money to this scam. I say the sooner we do away with it, the better. We need to cut our losses on this one.

[HeyYou]

Social security is NOT an entitlement. Folks pay into it all their working lives, to collect a bit of a check when the reach the right age.

 

Don't think of it as "taking away something" because in all likelihood, by the time you and I are able to draw from it, it'll be long gone. I still pay into it, but I'd rather be putting that into a personal IRA. The idea of social security as it stands is a pyramid scheme. It requires a constant influx of more people putting into it than are taking out of it, so with each generation we need more and more young people forfeiting their hard-earned money to this scam. I say the sooner we do away with it, the better. We need to cut our losses on this one.

 

:D I am already ON Social Security..... Disability. (I have MS.) 50 years young too. I would MUCH rather go to work every day. (provided there was a job to go to...... not many of those around here. my teenager left the state, because he couldn't get a job here..... less than a week later, he was employed. In Illinois.....)

 

If the government had left it alone, and not left it stuck with a bunch of worthless IOU's, the system would be fine until sometime in the mid 30s. That would give the government plenty of time to come up with a viable alternative. The problem is, a pretty good percentage of folks, if they are not FORCED to contribute to some flavor of retirement, they simply won't, and when the time comes that they can no longer work, they have nothing to survive on. Not an ideal system........

[Saraane]

I'm gonna be honest here, what will probably happen is that Mexico will get Texas (or it will be an independent country) and California (They can HAVE it!) and the South and Midwest will probably split off from the North and let all the Yank Yuppies on Wallstreet take care of/feed themselves. I'm thinking that all the countries will be closely allied and would fight as one country - but failing countries don't tend to hang on to all of their land.

[kvnchrist]

Anybody contemplate what will happen to our nukes