[RD] Your Federal Policy Wishlist

[civvver]

Either way I want to give some relief to those making very little. You can pay zero in income taxes and still pay a lot in fica. It just seems backwards, it's not a very progressive tax.

No, I don't want to penalize the companies. The individual can easily afford it. I admit it's nice at the end of summer and they stop deducting it, but I'd have no issue if it wasn't capped.

Ohhh a little showboating on salary side eh?

No, I don't want to penalize the companies. The individual can easily afford it. I admit it's nice at the end of summer and they stop deducting it, but I'd have no issue if it wasn't capped.

So you're basically telling us you make like $200,000 a year. Nicely done.

 

[rah]

considering the max you're ever going to get back, I'd consider it somewhat progressive if they removed the cap.

 

[civvver]

Yes that's always been the argument against it too, benefits are capped so the taxes should be too.

I really don't worry about the doom and gloom articles about social security going bankrupt though simply because you just raise the cap more and raise full retirement age a year or two. I'm in my 30s mind you, so many people my age convinced it'll expire and we'll get nothing and they just want to get rid of it now so they can invest their own money. I think that's backwards, just tweak it so it's solvent again running a surplus. It's very important for poor and middle class seniors. People forget before this program mom and dad would move in with their children and that was the norm. I don't really want to go back to that.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Universal Basic Income

That would be my choice if we weren't restricted to a single policy change. You'd have to make a lot more modifications to the tax code to make UBI sustainable.

I can't decide between:
Replace health insurance with a TOTAL GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER of healthcare, similar to the British NHS.

Full Marijuana and MDMA legalization, decrimilization for everything else.

"Less realistic": Nationalize the banks.

 

[Lexicus]

I really don't worry about the doom and gloom articles about social security going bankrupt though simply because you just raise the cap more and raise full retirement age a year or two.

Try this: "social security can't go bankrupt because the law mandating benefit payments hasn't been changed, and the trust fund is just a number that can be negative with zero ill consequences."

Full Marijuana and MDMA legalization, decrimilization for everything else.

Hot take: at "normal" doses LSD is way less dangerous than MDMA

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Hot take: at "normal" doses LSD is way less dangerous than MDMA

Ah, yes. Forgot about LSD. Would like to try it, never had the opportunity. DMT too.

 

[rah]

From my younger experimental days, I'm happy I survived. I would not repeat those experiments today.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Voter qualification. If you cannot pass a test on the basics of how government actually works, how the economy actually works, and the facts about current issues, then your vote is likely going to be counterproductive to your own interests along with the interests of everyone else. Provision provided for resolving elections in the deep red states in cases where there are no qualified voters.

 

[Lohrenswald]

Federal refers to the top tier of government that issues upon the lower tiers.

no it doesn't

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/federal

 

[Synobun]

You're wrong, but that's okay. This just isn't the thread for you.

 

[Lexicus]

A "federal" government is different from the "national" or whatever adjective they use for the government in a unitary system.

 

[Lohrenswald]

sod off, goddamnit

smileys together with insults is the worst thing

you could concede that you used a word wrong, but no

same for me obviously, but I'm sick of putting up to rubbish

I don't care if this gets reported

Edit: x-post

 

[Synobun]

A "federal" government is different from the "national" or whatever adjective they use for the government in a unitary system.

By dictionary definitions it is, but in casual conversational English it isn't. Federal is a catch-all term for the central/national/your-selected-word-for-the-top tier of government.

But even assuming that I'm the one who's wrong, it is extremely obvious by the OP what is meant by the question and playing the language police is intentionally being obtuse for no reason.

 

[Lohrenswald]

casual conversational synsensa english is obviously rubbish

you could have ignored me, btw

 

[Timsup2nothin]

casual conversational synsensa english is obviously rubbish

you could have ignored me, btw

My observation is that when you are ignored your tantrums just get worse.

 

[Lohrenswald]

I never tantrate

 

[Synobun]

you could have ignored me, btw

I could, but to be honest I like it when you contribute. You're far more intelligent than you believe. I'd rather give you a hard time until you give in instead of just relegating you to the broom closet.

 

[Berzerker]

Ah, yes. Forgot about LSD. Would like to try it, never had the opportunity. DMT too.

I wouldn't mess around with drugs unless they help a medical condition... and I've done plenty. A new study on LSD says it can have a positive effect on people suffering from certain problems, something having to do with synapses I think. But it can mess you up too, maybe the horror stories were mostly from over doses but one of the original Pink Floyd band members over did the acid and got messed up.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Replace the whole tax code and paternalistic means-tested welfare system with Land Value Taxes/Pigouvian pollution fees paired with a Citizens' Dividend.

Replace First-Past-The-Post Plurality voting with Range Voting, or Reweighted Range Voting wherever multi-member districts make sense.

Allow ballot access to any candidate who submits a summary of his platform and qualifications, along with an affidavit affirming the veracity of any factual claims within, which must be published in advance and made available for review in the ballot booth.

Levy special tax of at least 99% on all speaking fees and book sales from current and former government officials.

Elected officials should not have a set income (nor should former officials have any set pension), but rather should have to make the case to their constituents to approve a requested payment in an annual referendum.

Forbid any elected official from campaigning or fundraising, either for himself or any other candidate, for his or any other office, until his current term is office is complete.

Forbid the payment of any subsidies or any government contracts to any company that has any donated any money to the campaigns of any elected official or cabinet member currently in office. (Military contractors etc might still be required to provide their products, but would not be paid a cent until almost every incumbent is out of office and still would not get anything if they were were found to support their replacements.)

Forbid the sale of any military equipment to any foreign government or militias. (I might allow some equipment to be rented to allies, but only in a legally declared war, and only if the equipment contains tracers to help of keep track of it and preferably a remote kill switch to render it inoperable if it falls into enemy hands.)

Forbid former regulators from taking any paying jobs or any stock in industries they once regulated.

Abolish all the de jure monopolies commonly called intellectual property. Award greater prizes for discoveries that are released into the public domain. Maintain a database to make sure that government funded research is freely available for everyone to review without requiring paid subscriptions to any for profit journals.

Adopt an immigration policy of essentially open borders, with no visa, residency, or work permit requirements but with health screenings and background checks to weed out violent criminals/terrorists. Abolish birthright citizenship. Everyone who desires citizenship, regardless of happenstance of birth, should have to sign a citizenship contract after passing identical tests to ensure that they understand the workings of government well enough to grant informed consent.

Abolish all laws against victimless crimes (including non-violent drug crimes), and pardon everyone convicted under said laws.

 

[Synobun]

I wouldn't mess around with drugs unless they help a medical condition... and I've done plenty. A new study on LSD says it can have a positive effect on people suffering from certain problems, something having to do with synapses I think. But it can mess you up too, maybe the horror stories were mostly from over doses but one of the original Pink Floyd band members over did the acid and got messed up.

The biggest issue with hallucinogens is that you can't control the result, in my opinion. Research is starting to ramp up and it has been promising, but it's mostly been with micro-dosing. That being said, it's largely a subjective experience and what works for one person could be utterly horrible for another. This is also true of normal medication but with those you can at least figure out why and how. With hallucinogens, you can have the same conditions for two trials on the same person and have two wildly different results. That isn't great for determining efficacy and figuring out if it's a viable option for routine mental health care/intervention.

I'm not sure about "messing you up", at least in terms of recognizing it as a legitimate risk factor for acute use. I've known someone who got messed up, and I've of course heard the horror stories, but they were always with people who had a long list of drug abuses and never with people with controlled medicine routines or no medicine routines. Perhaps I am wrong on that. It can make things worse, but I don't think it can do that in the way that antidepressants can. Antidepressants can instill suicide ideation in you if you didn't already have it, while I believe hallucinogens can only solidify a perspective you already possess. Again, perhaps I am wrong on that.