Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity"

420Marine said:

Well personally I'm a registered Moderate however I like to think of myself as an open minded Republican borderline Independent. I Enlisted in the Corps served a year and it took almost 7 years to finally get the VA to acknowledge anything. After I served in the service I got out and was hired by the Govt. to work on the newly formed TSA. I ended up having a panic attack on the job and was let go later on.

Now all that being said...I would think that anyone would (hopefully) think that I am as bi-partisan as one who identifies with any party can be. Although I certainly have no love loss for the Govt what I see happening today to our great country is tragic to say the least.

We are in debt..there's no doubt about that (unless you have EXTREME socialist views and think like Michael Moore and think that private weatlh should be factored in somewhere.) Now the only way to get this massive spending under control....keyword here is SPENDING then I think we can be a great nation within my lifetime again.

What needs to be done, well a few things..first a complete Overhaul of the Tax code as we know. Personally I would love to see a flat tax across the board..based on NET incomes vs Gross. I don't know how many brackets thier should be but thier should be at least a few anyone under X pays such and such between X-Y etc. Yes this is a bit of wealth distribution and I am aware of that ...realistically though the rich will always pay more based on percentages anyway.

The debt is climbing and has been under BOTH Bush and Obummer....Also two wars and a Military action..Libya have not helped matters..and I"m not saying their bad either way one way or another..it's the past and it can't be changed..so we move forward.

I have not read all of Ryans bill yet however I think that serious cuts NEED to happen sooner rather than later...the privatization of medicare I won't comment on b/c I really have to do more research...BUT if we don't change it it won't be around when people my age need it..not to sound greedy in any way...or entitled but I think if I've put money into something I should get it back.

Speaking of entitlement..that leads to the root cause (or at least a big chunk of it) as far as debt. What REALLY needs to have a strong examination of EVERYONE'S entitlement. Before I go any further I would like to say that yes I am on an entitlement program (SSDI and 30% disability from the VA) that does NOT mean I won't sacrifice (to an extent under rational of course) to help out this great land. I think their needs to be a system in place that audits anyone getting any entitlement program. See what they use the money for...if it's drugs (I"m not talking meds this is for people without cards or with that are buying hard core stuff.)

For that matter at least decriminalize Cannabis and tax it...just let people make their own decisions on growing and not try to strip away rights..perhaps a Govt run "Compassion Center" in any and all states that want it..or better still use the money that you were going to give to NPR (and yes I like NPR but I don't want to fund it either) or Planned Parenthood (again this agency needs nothing more than to privatize and will make out great) and put it into the legalization of Cannabis.

Some of you were semi down on the idea of bigger/more/maintaining tax cut. I would rather give money to businesses here in the US in the form of a tax break so that hopefully they can hire more American workers and start the economy at some point. People don't like rich people b/c their rich..personally I could care less as long as he or she pays a fair amount as described by law then more power too them for doing great and showing the world what American Capitalism is all about.

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the privatization of medicare I won't comment on b/c I really have to do more research...

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the privatization of Medicare by moving it over to a voucher program is bad idea. Now, I'm not saying privatization is always bad - just in this particular case. My philosophy on privatization is that it should only be done when the privatized task is easily definable (and therefore easy to measure performance, city trash services and Janatorial duties are good examples) and when the privatized task does not pit the interests of profit against the well being of society.

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420Marine said:

We are in debt..there's no doubt about that ......Now the only way to get this massive spending under control....keyword here is SPENDING then I think we can be a great nation within my lifetime again.

Heres is where we start to disagree. Big time.

The problem is not only spending it is also revenue. The Bush tax cuts were an utter failure in every respect. They had absolutely 0 positive impact on the economy in general or on job creation.
Did companies create more jobs here at home? No
Did personal average wealth increase as it had under EVERY POTUS before him? No

What also happened while the above happened?
Corporate profits jumped as jobs dropped



What needs to be done, well a few things..first a complete Overhaul of the Tax code as we know. Personally I would love to see a flat tax across the board..based on NET incomes vs Gross. I don't know how many brackets thier should be but thier should be at least a few anyone under X pays such and such between X-Y etc. Yes this is a bit of wealth distribution and I am aware of that ...realistically though the rich will always pay more based on percentages anyway.

I disagree completely with your idea of the rich paying more. I own a small business and I paid more in federal taxes than fucking GE, Exxon and others combined. Those companies got a tax REBATE while many of them have cut US jobs.
I'm all for a flat rate tax on business and individuals. I dont mind paying taxes, it would be nice for super large corporations that make billions to pay the same rate as I do.
Also, if the Bush tax cuts were rolled back a significant portion of the deficit would be taken care of.


I have not read all of Ryans bill yet however I think that serious cuts NEED to happen sooner rather than later...the privatization of medicare I won't comment on b/c I really have to do more research...BUT if we don't change it it won't be around when people my age need it..not to sound greedy in any way...or entitled but I think if I've put money into something I should get it back.

Speaking of entitlement..that leads to the root cause (or at least a big chunk of it) as far as debt. What REALLY needs to have a strong examination of EVERYONE'S entitlement. Before I go any further I would like to say that yes I am on an entitlement program (SSDI and 30% disability from the VA) that does NOT mean I won't sacrifice (to an extent under rational of course) to help out this great land. I think their needs to be a system in place that audits anyone getting any entitlement program. See what they use the money for...if it's drugs (I"m not talking meds this is for people without cards or with that are buying hard core stuff.)

For that matter at least decriminalize Cannabis and tax it...just let people make their own decisions on growing and not try to strip away rights..perhaps a Govt run "Compassion Center" in any and all states that want it..or better still use the money that you were going to give to NPR (and yes I like NPR but I don't want to fund it either) or Planned Parenthood (again this agency needs nothing more than to privatize and will make out great) and put it into the legalization of Cannabis.

Another of my problems and the main reason why I am no longer a Republican. Planned parenthood would collapse immediately if federal funding was cut.he social agenda from the far right is a no go for me. The economic reason is simple: they provide important health care for people that have no other outlet. Abortions and abortion counseling is less than 5% of what they do. They offer birth control and many important medical services to poor people.
Being blunt, wanna save some $ help poor people from having children they cant afford through birth control. Pay for the poor woman's cervical cancer screening before it gets more costly for us all in the long run. Pay a nickel now to save a dollar later.

I hate my $ being spent on the drug wars, Iraq, oil subsidies, farm subsidies, corporate welfare. ....to me those are bigger fish to fry. They can also afford to pay a price for this mess as the rest of us do. Why should we ALL pay except them? That iusnt equality in any way shape or from.



Some of you were semi down on the idea of bigger/more/maintaining tax cut. I would rather give money to businesses here in the US in the form of a tax break so that hopefully they can hire more American workers and start the economy at some point. People don't like rich people b/c their rich..personally I could care less as long as he or she pays a fair amount as described by law then more power too them for doing great and showing the world what American Capitalism is all about.

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420Marine said:

Some of you were semi down on the idea of bigger/more/maintaining tax cut. I would rather give money to businesses here in the US in the form of a tax break so that hopefully they can hire more American workers and start the economy at some point. .

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ink the world said:

We have some common ground here, I just think we see one thing differently. I am definitely not against business, but ALL business should have to pay taxes. I just see an inequity in who's is going to have services cut while seeing even more tax breaks to those at the very top. I mean c'mon man, giving an even bigger tax refund to the ultra rich and GE, Exxon? Seriously, we are talking about taking food (food stamps), education (Head Start) away from the poorest in our society and literally handing it over to those that dont need it and do not invest it here.
Above all else were debating Semper Fi brother, I hope your health improves.

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MuyLocoNC said:

You made many points but I want to comment on just the Estate Tax. I think the whole damn thing is robbery, pure and simple. If an individual paid taxes his entire life, why the hell should the government be able to take ANYTHING from his/her survivors? Where it is really atrocious is with our country's farming families. Many of the families are land rich and cash poor. They end up having to sell all or a majority of their family land, just to pay the estate tax bill, even though they've paid property tax on the land their entire lives.

Anyone in favor of property rights is gonna have a hard time justifying this theft. The land just gets taken from a family that should have every right to keep it and gets sold to some corporation or conglomerate.

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mame said:

So, it's available here for all to read here

Clearly, this proposal is quite ambitious... I'll start with what is likely going to end up as one of the most polarizing provisions

First, the privatization of Medicare by moving it over to a voucher program is bad idea. Now, I'm not saying privatization is always bad - just in this particular case. My philosophy on privatization is that it should only be done when the privatized task is easily definable (and therefore easy to measure performance, city trash services and Janatorial duties are good examples) and when the privatized task does not pit the interests of profit against the well being of society.

Not only this, but it includes "a permanent extension for...[the Bush] tax cuts, plus large permanent estate-tax cuts, a new business tax cut and a lower top income tax rate for the richest taxpayers. "

It also cuts energy subsidies for energy sources such as solar and wind but leaves the subsidies for big oil.

It also plans on getting discretionary spending down to ~3.5% of total spending by GDP. that includes cuts to education, scientific research, environmental preservation, investor protection, disease control, food safety, federal law enforcement, etc.

More cuts. $715 billion over 10 years to Federal retirement funds and Food Stamps.

So there is a plethora of cuts to programs that the poor and middle class depend on to varying degrees but there isn't a single increase in revenue..

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