Fix the government to revive the US. Assume you have complete contol for 1 year

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Yeah, Pakistan is a problem since it is full of raving loons.

It won't be after President Obama bombs them all.

[Riesstiu IV]

Originally posted by SlowwHand

I don't know if you're drunk or on peyote.

Both.

[Zkribbler]

Let me take a crack:

1) Declare any interest rate over 12%/year usurious and therefore criminal.

2) Institute government-paid healthcare.

3) Encourage green-energy -- including that new solar ink (which is more efficient, lighter, more flexibile, and less costly than solar panels), helix-shaped wind generators in cities; ocean-current-&-tide powered generators, and celulous-based ethanol.

4) Tax gas guzzlers.

5) Break up monopolies and cartels (including Microsoft, movie-studio distribution, big banks, and oil refineries).

6) Outlaw cities and other local governments granting property tax and sales tax breaks to corporations to build in their communities; end government subsidies to professional sports teams.

7) Give Colin Powell any position in my administration that he wants.

8) Permit the International Court of Justice to try Americans for war crimes, including (and especially) former government officials.

[Kuciwalker]

7) Give Colin Powell any position in my administration that he wants.

Hopefully the part where he gets to undo all the dumb things you just did?

[Kidlicious]

Invade Canada and make all the people in the red states colonize it.

[Victor Galis]

Originally posted by Wezil



Texas is Quebec with oil.

I suspect Texas is more like Alberta

I suspect my plan would somehow involve adoption of the Reinheitsgebot.

[Asher]

5) Break up monopolies and cartels (including Microsoft, movie-studio distribution, big banks, and oil refineries).

So you'd break up Microsoft but you wouldn't break up the unions causing the US airline and automotive industries to self-destruct?



The fact that Apple is so successful should be a massive indicator to you that MS doesn't have a monopoly that they are illegaly enforcing today. People have choice.

[Kuciwalker]

That's the only thing you found hilarious in his post?

[Asher]

It's the only one I cared about.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Asher

5) Break up monopolies and cartels (including Microsoft, movie-studio distribution, big banks, and oil refineries).

So you'd break up Microsoft but you wouldn't break up the unions causing the US airline and automotive industries to self-destruct?

Why do you blame unions for what is management's fault.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Kidicious
Why do you blame unions for what is management's fault.

It's both, but the unions shoulder most of the blame.

Look at the insane costs the unions incur to the companies that non-unionized companies don't.

In Canada, check out Westjet vs Air Canada...
In the USA, check out Toyota vs Ford...

Unions suck TONS of money out of a company and then also make ridiculous demands such as guaranteeing production lines stay open for X many years even if the public ain't buying.

No, you can't absolve unions from blame when a very simple analysis of cost structures show the unions are the #1 reasons why the American airlines and auto manufacturers are not competitive.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


1) Declare any interest rate over 12%/year usurious and therefore criminal.

And therefore eliminate anyone who has had past credit problems from ever getting a loan. 40% of the US population falls into so called "subprime" lending. This is a clear path to economic depression.

Rate=Risk. There is enough competition to set rates at competitive levels. In fact, the current crisis is, in part, because many people got rates below their risk levels due to so much capital competiting for their business.

No one likes high rates, but they serve a real and necessary purpose.

[Asher]

PLATO: I'm not sure he understands basic economics. Earlier he was arguing that unions drive up everyone's wages, and this was a good thing. No nuances.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by PLATO


And therefore eliminate anyone who has had past credit problems from ever getting a loan. 40% of the US population falls into so called "subprime" lending. This is a clear path to economic depression.

Rate=Risk. There is enough competition to set rates at competitive levels. In fact, the current crisis is, in part, because many people got rates below their risk levels due to so much capital competiting for their business.

No one likes high rates, but they serve a real and necessary purpose.

Not true. It is criminal to permit institutional lenders to write loans with interest rates which ensure either (a) that the loan cannot be paid back or (b) that the borrower may be able to pay in back but by doing do will never be able to save enough money to climb out of proverty.

There is a reason why, until the last few years, usury was a crime.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Not true. It is criminal to permit institutional lenders to write loans with interest rates which ensure either (a) that the loan cannot be paid back or (b) that the borrower may be able to pay in back but by doing do will never be able to save enough money to climb out of proverty.

There is a reason why, until the last few years, usury was a crime.

a.) Interest rate does not necessarily mean that a loan cannot be repaid. Rather it is the proper analysis of a borrower's capacity to repay. Now, if you want to say that "stated" income loans should be illegal then we might have some area of agreement, but if you are implying that interest rate determines capacity to repay then you are just wrong.

b.) Borrowers can improve their credit risk over time by the wise use of credit and the making of timely payments. What you are actually talking about is people living beyond their means and therefore unable to save money. Interest rate, in and of itself, does not materially limit a borrower's ability to achieve long term savings.

What you are stating are very common misconceptions that are absolutely incorrect.

What will a struggling family do if they need to buy a new refrigerator, but no lender will lend to them due to the fact that their risk exceeds the rate that they can be legally charged? That will do far more to cause that family to stay in or fall back into poverty.

As far as usury laws are concerned...the reason that so many have been repealed is due to new laws against things like "steering". Steering is, among other things, guiding a borrower toward a loan that is a higher rate loan than the borrower should be able to obtain based on their level of risk. This is actually a much more borrower friendly type law than a simple usury law.