Conservatives in the "political party of great ideas" ~ such as tax cuts for the wealthiest, tax cuts for the aristocracy, tax cuts for the investing class, and tax cuts for the corporations ~ are proposing more tax cuts for the well-off and tax breaks for corporations to make investments in equipment to stave off another George W. Bush-induced recession.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a native Michigander, said that he would bring back to Michigan many of the jobs lost during the conservative reign of destruction. He didn't say how other than giving Detroit $20 billion for "research." But, industry wouldn't spend that money on anything having to do with production if there is no improvement in demand for what industry produces. We all should know corporations only make production investments when there is a need to keep up with demand. If the federal government bought a fleet of autos from Detroit it would do more to bring back jobs than would an "incentive tax break" the GOP always propose, claiming that would spur commercial investment.
Those in the "political party of great ideas" say we on the left have no ideas. They lie.
There is a solution to the myriad economic problems caused by the conservative revolution. It's called Democratic Capitalism, and works like this:
Eliminate both the income tax and payroll tax ~ they have been so distorted by special-interest exemptions that they are no longer useful or fair ~ and institute a profits tax. No profits, no taxation. Every employed person gets a base income ~ tax free ~ to meet housing and sustenance requirements and profit sharing from their employer. When employees create profit, they should share in the distribution of that profit.
If more than half a person's income came from profit sharing, each and every one of them would keep an alert eye on the shenanigans of the executives to keep them honest. That would reduce the need for government to do so. Shortchanging employees on profits would be considered theft and tax subversion by the employer since a employee receiving less than legally entitled would not be taxed on the stolen money.
There was a recent news story saying that about $350 billion of uncollected taxes annually escape the nation. Collecting those taxes would eliminate the conservative-created deficit, allowing the rest of us to pay less or, at least, nibble away at the national debt. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could collect those unpaid taxes, if allowed to do so. Guess what agency Republican libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul proposes eliminating.
The profits are taxed according to this formula:
Individual taxes pay for Social Security and health insurance for all. When we can match other advanced countries with universal health coverage spending only 10% of GDP on health, we will free up hundreds of billions of dollars to circulate in the economy. That will create growth. Those who hate the idea of healthcare for all can easily not participate. George Bush has a "No fly list" to keep people off aircraft. We could have a "No admittance list" to keep people who hate universal healthcare out of the hospitals.
One of the stupidest idea to come out of the present presidential campaign is the proposal that Americans be required by government to buy health insurance from a private-sector insurance company or that employers be required to offer health coverage. That does little to cover all persons, because the main reason nearly 50 million Americans don't have coverage now is the prohibitive costs. And our businesses are less able to compete in the global market because healthcare costs are too cumbersome.
Requiring individuals to buy health insurance is also unconstitutional because government doesn't have the constitutional authority to dictate that to any American. Government can tax and spend to provide the coverage as "general welfare" and that's the only method government can use for universal healthcare. The only solid solution is a universal sharing of the costs, and that isn't being discussed other than some people proposing Medicare for all. Better, but not ideal.
And if insurance companies suffer some financial setbacks, so be it; that would be minor compared to the hardships they have inflicted on Americans for far too many years. If people in the health-insurance industry lose their jobs, they can always find work in the areas that factory workers relied on when their jobs were "outsourced."
When we eliminate the income and payroll tax, we free up hundreds of billions of dollars that states can tap into to enroll all their residents in basic HMO program in which some insurance companies can participate by opening HMO clinics, leaving hospitalization and recuperative expenses at the federal level.
The only idea more ridiculous than mandates is to leave the situation as it is.
Opponents of universal heath coverage claim "we can't afford it." But paying more than 15% of the nation's wealth for healthcare to cover only 85% of the population is ludicrous when other advanced nations spend 10% of their wealth to cover 100% of their population. We can't afford to keep the present system.
Righties are in a (pseudo) panic over Social Security's shortfall of 15-20% of promised benefits three or four decades in the future ~ if the economy grows at 50% of its historical average ~ but aren't concerned about a debt approaching $10 trillion today because "deficit don't matter." They claim Ronald Reagan single handedly destroyed the Soviet Union by driving it into bankruptcy. Apparently they want to do the same with the US.
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Thomas Bonsell is a former newspaper editor (in Oregon, New York and Colorado) United States Air Force cryptanalyst and National Security Agency intelligence agent. He became one of American journalism's leading constitutional experts through years of study at Georgetown University Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C., and tries (without much success) to be patient with people who argue endlessly on subjects they have never studied. He is the author of "The Un-Americans: Trashing of the United States Constitution in the American Press", a critique of the mainstream media for ignorance of, or disdain for, our constitutional principles of self-government. He left newspaper work years ago, disgusted at the direction the Fourth Estate ~ under the mismanagement of ineffectual, out-of-touch, can't-do executives ~ was taking away from honest responsible journalism and the observation that there was no place in the mainstream media for a progressive, or liberal, constitutional "expert". Bonsell is an honors graduate of Woodbury College (Los Angeles, California) with a bachelor of business administration degree. He is profiled in Marquis Who's Who in America. (Self-portrait, above, was handled to make author/artist appear prettier than he actually is.)
Personal motto: Have brain; will use.
