CBS: It's Official: Deal Reached On "Fiscal Cliff"

[Kelvin Mace]

43. Purist nonsense?

Last edited Thu Jan 3, 2013, 04:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Obama started by asking for $1.2 trillion in new taxes. Boehner countered with $800 billion. They settled on $600 billion.

Huh?

That's not purism, that's math.

(I would love to play poker with Obama, I would clean him out and I suck at poker).

As to "governing" myself, will you provide me the millions it takes to win even a house seat, never mind the senate or the White House?

But, you want the economic problems solved?

OK, here you go:

1) Remove caps on FICA at $104,000, allowing ALL wage income to be subject to SS withholding. Boom! That fixes SS shortfall well into the next century at least.

2) Disallow corporate deductions for salaries and benefits for any executive pay that exceeds 50 times the lowest paid employee in the company. Currently all executive compensation is tax deductible by the company as a business expense, which means that the poorest in the nation are subsidizing the outrageous paychecks and benefits of the people contributing least to society.

If you run a pizza chain and pay minimum wage, your lowest paid employee makes $15K a year. So, ANY executive compensation greater than $754K would not be deductible by the company as a business expense. Want to pay your CEO $40 million? Go ahead, but $39.25 million is no longer deducted from taxable income.

3) Cut ALL elected/appointed official pay to 1.25 of the national median income. Provide free public housing in DC (convert some government buildings to apartments) for elected/appointed representatives (1 BR for single reps, 2 BR for married reps, and 3 BR for reps with children). Provide vouchers good for free ground-based mass transit anywhere in the U.S.

4) Elected/appointed officials healthcare benefits are the same as those available to the poorest citizens in the U.S.

5) Set 18% as the minimum corporate tax rate, regardless of deductions.

6) Declare global climate change and energy policy, national security emergencies. Divert 15% of the Pentagon's budget to a "Manhattan Project" to solve both problems.

7) Establish a carbon tax with ALL revenue being used for emissions mitigation or carbon neutral energy research.

8) Establish building codes that require all commercial and domestic structures to obtain 5% of their energy needs from renewable sources starting in 2014. Raise the requirement 1% every two years.

9) Reform copyright law by setting copyrights to expire 25 years after the creation of the work. Copyrights may be renewed in five year increments, but each time they are renewed, a 10% tax on all revenues generated by the work is assessed. Copyrights may be renewed a maximum of five times (50 years total, with the final five year's revenues subject to a 50% tax. Any existing copyright older than 50 years gets an automatic five year extension at the 50% rate, and then it expires, permanently.

10) Set the top tax bracket at 50% for all income over $10 million. Index it to inflation using the same index applied to Social Security.

11) Since the NRA loves talking about how Israel has lots of assault rifles, yet little gun violence as compared to the U.S., adopt the same gun laws that Israel has on the books. Universal registration of firearms, background checks, minimum age requirements, frequent "re-qualification" checks, and limits on ammunition kept.

12) Repeal the NDAA and the "Patriot" Act. Re-establish the draft for military or public service with a 2 year term. In times of war, raise the minimum recruitment age to 35 (and the maximum age to 65) and disallow exemptions for appointed/elected officials.

13) Begin massive infrastructure repair, with a goal of repairing 2% of all roads, bridges, schools, and public facilities per year, ongoing. New road systems must be pedestrian/bike/mass transit friendly.

14) Change the capital gains tax brackets to:

90% - Investments held less than 30 days
75% - Investments held less than 1 year
60% - Investments held less than 5 years
50% - Investments held less than 10 years
25% - Investments held less than 15 years
15% - Investments held less than 20 years
10 % - Investments held less than 30 years
5% - Investments held for more than 30 years

15) Since the finance industry love credit reports and credit scores, turnabout is only fair. The CFPB will begin issuing a "Financial Institute Solvency and Service Score" which will rate banks/S&Ls/investment funds, etc, based on how they treat their customers, employees and stockholders, the fees they charge, and how risky their investments are. The score will have to be posted on the front door of every branch like health department scores for restaurants.

The score methodology will be secret and without recourse until such time that the financial industry reveals its scoring methodology and allows for meaningful correction of errors.

There, that's my STARTING platform. That's what a REAL progressive/liberal policy looks like.