are y'all better off than you were 4 years ago ?

[hemet dennis]

I think the solution to our economic problems is to move away from the income tax as our nation's primary source of revenue. We need to eliminate the double taxation of dividends. Make interest earned on savings tax free. Eliminate the death tax and capital gains tax. This will allow us to rebuild our investment capital and re industrialize our nation.

We need to go back to tariffs to support our government. Free trade is a great idea, but a bad reality. The good news is that we found you a job; the bad news is that it is in a rice paddy in Thailand.

Nations like China cheat and dump goods at low prices on our market until they have destroyed our native industry.

A twenty per cent tariff on all imported goods would do the trick. If someone wants to buy a fancy imported car, let then pay for it. But if they can settle for a US made car, they can save the difference.

We need to build things here and employ our own people. If this sets off a trade war, well so be it. Just what do the Chinese buy from us anyway? They bought into Chesapeake and Devon, so now they have a say so in how we develop our newly discovered shale gas.

As far as federal taxes goes I think everyone should pay 10% of all earnings.

As far as a 20% tariff on all imports are you ready to pay 10% or so more for gas and other oil products ? Just a tariff on the oil we import will raise prices on all goods. Also exports will go down putting more people on unemployment.

"They bought into Chesapeake and Devon, so now they have a say so in how we develop our newly discovered shale gas."
Just because someone buys 10 or 20% of a business doesn't mean they have much of a say in what the business does.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I think the solution to our economic problems is to move away from the income tax as our nation's primary source of revenue. We need to eliminate the double taxation of dividends. Make interest earned on savings tax free. Eliminate the death tax and capital gains tax. This will allow us to rebuild our investment capital and re industrialize our nation.

We need to go back to tariffs to support our government. Free trade is a great idea, but a bad reality. The good news is that we found you a job; the bad news is that it is in a rice paddy in Thailand.

Nations like China cheat and dump goods at low prices on our market until they have destroyed our native industry.

A twenty per cent tariff on all imported goods would do the trick. If someone wants to buy a fancy imported car, let then pay for it. But if they can settle for a US made car, they can save the difference.

We need to build things here and employ our own people. If this sets off a trade war, well so be it. Just what do the Chinese buy from us anyway? They bought into Chesapeake and Devon, so now they have a say so in how we develop our newly discovered shale gas.

Been saying that for years. Free trade is great. A minimum wage is great. A minimum wage an free trade with a country that does not have one is financial suicide. We need to tax imports relative to how much lower there minimum wage is compared to ours. If they pay the same, free trade...

I think the cost of oil will level things out eventually though once it gets to costing to much to ship stuff to us from the other side of the world. Its already that way for cars. VW just built there first US plant in years.


Oh, we are a net exporter of scrap & recycled metal an used clothing to china. Thats about it.

 

[Matthew3590]

Been saying that for years. Free trade is great. A minimum wage is great. A minimum wage an free trade with a country that does not have one is financial suicide. We need to tax imports relative to how much lower there minimum wage is compared to ours. If they pay the same, free trade...

I think the cost of oil will level things out eventually though once it gets to costing to much to ship stuff to us from the other side of the world. Its already that way for cars. VW just built there first US plant in years.


Oh, we are a net exporter of scrap & recycled metal an used clothing to china. Thats about it.

We ship wheat and rice to china. Around 1.5 million people are alive right now in China thanks to USA rice.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote: We subsidize 14% of the price to do that though. We subsidize 35% of the price of corn to export corn to Mexico cheaper than they can grow it. So really, we (the US tax payer) are paying them to take it.

 

[oldrooster]

I gotta say, the past four years have been brutal for many big and small scale farmers. Can't sell or gift raw milk from your own animals, can't raise rabbits, and even selling chicken eggs can get you in hot water with the FDA. I can understand the need for laws that are in place to truly protect consumers...but raiding farms for selling fresh milk and such is horrid. Nobody benefits when our basic rights are violated in the name of "protection". I mean, lets think about this logically. Would you rather drink milk that came from a well-loved and well cared for cow, that isn't hooked up to machines its entire life, who gets to graze on grass in the sunshine, and isn't constantly impregnated to keep the milk flowing, or one that is just a number on a bovine conveyor belt, hooked up to machines darn near 24 hours a day, fed feed laced with all kinds of terrible things, and whose ultimate fate is the butcher shop when they begin to fail?

How is that industrialized kind of milk better for you, than from the cow that is actually treated humanely? I was told not long ago, that the milk you buy at stores has pus and blood in it from the cows abused teats, but the pasteurization process kills the germs and effectively makes it "safe" to drink. I just don't understand how that kind of milk is better for you. The blood and pus aren't even present in milk from animals raised right.

In some aspects, we've moved forward as a country, but in many others, we have taken some monumental steps back.

My thought is if they are really concerned about public health then make up a dozen different warning labels for home made goods so people can't claim they weren't warned.....

 

[RunningRabbit]

My thought is if they are really concerned about public health then make up a dozen different warning labels for home made goods so people can't claim they weren't warned.....

My thoughts exactly. As it stands, the amount of paperwork and other crap a person has to go through, just to make the FDA happy, is also a massive problem. God forbid a farmer says his chicken eggs are better to eat, because they are raised in a manner that promotes higher quality eggs, without paying thousands of dollars for the FDA to approve something that is already backed by accepted science...When did our nation become so dependent on whether or not an organization approves or disapproves about our food?

I'd honestly go with warning labels EVERYWHERE. Want that drink of water? Warning labels about how over consumption of water can kill you. Want to eat that burger? Warning label that too much beef can gunk up your colon. Warning labels as far as the eye can see! Because common sense is darn near extinct.

 

[mom'sfolly]

And yet, we have compounding pharmacies killing people because the industry is under regulated. I think that most people forget that regulation works in their favor, until it doesn't. Don't want your burger cooked well done, then the cafe must warn you so they won't get sued; same thing with sunny side up egg,s sushi, raw oysters and other things.

Lack of common sense is just part of it. How many people don't let their kids trick or treat because there was once a poisoned candy bar? People can't risk assess, so they ask that all risk is made to go away. And when there is risk, and they take it, and the consequences aren't what they wanted, they want revenge so they sue.

As for destroying native industry. In a nation of over a billion people, China can afford low wages. The reason they ship there stuff here is that there is a market for it. Then American demand for low cost goods destroyed native industry. Ask yourself this, would you rather have a car that lasts 20-25 years, or would you rather replace a car every five to ten years? How about having a few basic, well-made, classic garments that will last a lifetime? Would you rather spend $150 on a cashmere sweater you can wear for the rest of your life, or buy 15 $10 t-shirts and sweaters? How many sofas did Grandma own in her lifetime? How many have you owned?

In this country, the NASDAQ is soaring, and so is the Dow. There don't seem to be huge numbers of new jobs going along with this stock recovery. American productivity is up, but wages are down. The wealthy, fueled by tax cuts, have a higher percentage of the entire nations wealth than any time in decades, but they are not creating new jo

 

[RunningRabbit]

And yet, we have compounding pharmacies killing people because the industry is under regulated. I think that most people forget that regulation works in their favor, until it doesn't. Don't want your burger cooked well done, then the cafe must warn you so they won't get sued; same thing with sunny side up egg,s sushi, raw oysters and other things.

Lack of common sense is just part of it. How many people don't let their kids trick or treat because there was once a poisoned candy bar? People can't risk assess, so they ask that all risk is made to go away. And when there is risk, and they take it, and the consequences aren't what they wanted, they want revenge so they sue.

Oh, I'm not denying that regulations don't work in peoples favor, it's just that so much of it is taken to the extreme. Raiding farms over fresh milk, rabbits, eggs and what else have you, is overstepping basic human rights. Risk is an unfortunate part of life. Every second you live, there are literally thousands, if not millions of things that could go wrong at any given time, hence my comment for labeling every thing. The food we eat, the water we drink, even the air we breathe could kill us. Labels everywhere, people can't sue over the stupidest things. If anything, I wouldn't mind there being limitations on what people can sue for. Good example: The person who orders a hot coffee from, McDonalds and is surprised that the coffee is actually hot, when they spill it on their lap! You would think that the concept of hot was well understood, and a lawsuit would be completely frivolous, as anyone who has ever had a hot coffee knows that hot means HOT. The revenge suing is also a large part of the problem. Over regulation, under regulation, petty lawsuits...The system needs a major overhauling.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

The way I see it is that if I make, grow or produce a product I would be able to sell it to someone face to face unmolested. If my product does not hold up to what I claim or it makes the person sick then they know who to sue. It is a civil matter that does not need regulating. (IE Gate sales or farmers markets) On the other hand, if I sell my product wholesale or in any manner that means the end user an I never see each other, that's when the government should have some power to regulate.


If I want to eat horse poo an ask someone to give me a plate of it, we should be able to make that deal. That person should not be able to then go sell horse poo to Food Lion as food though.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

The hot coffee incident is actually a bad example of a frivilous lawsuit, but an excellent example of the amount of power corporations have in our society, and how much control they have within the media.

http://www.hotcoffeethemovie.com/

Or just google the burn photos...