Americas 5 step program

Every politician running for President has their campaign/pitch to the country. Well I am no politician, nor am I running for President, but this campaign/pitch is better than any of the ones I have heard so far.

Establish a currency manipulation fee on China and other countries: 

A currency is the local “medium” of exchange. Different countries use different currencies, so to trade there has to be a way to set the exchange rate of the currencies relative to each other. The relative value of things can be different in different countries, and this can fluctuate. Maybe there is a lot of gold,corn,steel or clocks this year here and a scarcity there … so the exchange rate of the currencies used to trade all of these things is (or should be) constantly changing.

When a country is selling more stuff to the world than it is buying (a.k.a. trade surplus) the price of its currency is supposed to go up. People and businesses are buying the currency of that country to get the things from that country, which increases demand for that currency. Increase in demand for something pushes its market price up. A currency is said to be “strong” when its price is up, and it can buy more things.

Similarly a trade deficit should push the value of the currency down. When you are buying more from the world than you are selling to the world, you are flooding the world with your own currency. So world demand for your currency is low, which should push the price down. A currency is said to be “weak” when its price is down, and it can buy fewer things.

This is a tricky and confusing topic that I am in no means an expert on. This, however, effects millions of jobs, and costs billions of dollars.

Raise taxes or impose penalties for offshore tax havens:

The 500 largest American companies(72% of the Fortune 500 companies) hold more than $2 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds. For example, Apple was holding $181 billion, more than any other U.S. company, and would owe an estimated $59 billion(give or take a couple million, but who’s counting) in U.S. taxes if they tried to bring the money back from their overseas tax havens.

*If addressed and reformed a minimum estimate of  $620 billion back in economy

End wasteful Pentagon spending(audit DOD) and cut military spending and avoid unnecessary and costly wars:

I am going to try to keep this as short as possible, but there are so many issues, debates and opinions when it comes to our military. The way I look at it, America has been flexing its military muscles for enough time. War does not equal safety.

For example, this war on terror. This is the most insane war of all time. We are terrorizing and bombing villages, schools, homes and innocent people in fighting terrorism, does that sound logical? That topic alone can go on for hours, but I am trying to keep this short.

The other issue is our foreign presence. Should we allow Russia, Germany, China, the UK and other countries to plant a military base with weapons and soldiers on American soil? Why do we feel we have the right to do so across the globe? We are the self proclaimed peace keepers of the world. Not only are we spreading ourselves thin by doing this in my opinion, but again spending way to much money on our foreign military policies. We can spend $16 billion less then we do and still spend as much as the world combined. $16 billion that can go to education, infrastructure, new energy/technology research, healthcare the list can go on and on. What if we only spent $500 billion on our military, which would still be more than 3 times more than any other country, and would leave us with $211 billion to use to better our great nation. Is that so absurd? Okay done, next topic.

 

*If addressed and reformed a minimum estimate of $211 billion back in economy

Legalize it:

Yes, I said it. I realize there is a stigma attached to this subject but I think it is time for us to evolve as people and a nation. Not only will this create an unprecedented amount of jobs and revenue, but it will open doors on the medicinal field as well which has already seen some great benefits on a small scale.

So in 2014, Colorado retailers sold $386 million in medical marijuana and $313 million in recreational use. These 2 created $63 million in tax revenue, with an additional $13 million collected in legal and licensing fees. With a full year of data to work with now, the state and country has a better idea of what to expect from this market. Total tax revenues are expected to be around $94 million, which equated to about a $1 billion retail market. In one state that is fairly impressive, which leads me to believe if we slowly roll this out state by state it can be a very nice boost to our economy.

The most encouraging news is that this has been successfully implemented without any of the dire, drastic consequences that legalization opponents warned about. Fatal car accidents in the state did not change, and crime is down. I realize that does not necessarily have a direct correlation, but the thing it did not do is go in that direction, which is good. All in all, the first year of legal weed in Colorado went as well as anybody could have doped, I mean hoped.

*If implemented nationwide a minimum estimate of $500 million back into economy

Raise taxes on the 1% or raise the minimum wage:

Yes, I know I sound like the political version of Doc Brown(Bernie Sanders for those who did not get the reference) on this one, but this comes down to a simple quote for me. “You cannot have your cake and eat it too.” Let me break this down for you.

Between 2009 and 2012 the top 1% saw their real income grow by 34.7%, while the bottom 99% only saw a .8% gain. Adjusted average income for the 1%, without capital gains, rose from $871,100 to $968,000. For everyone else, average income actually fell from $44,000 to $43,900. So basically the 1% have been the only ones with income gains in that time period. This leads to many other issues giving it a snowball effect.

A minimum wage equals minimum requirements. Minimum wage still means receiving enough to survive and live without needing assistance, right? With cost of living and products increasing steadily as they always do, the wages have remained the same. This is not rocket science folks. If you complain that government “handouts” such as welfare, food stamps and other government assistance programs are destroying and crippling our economy, than why don’t we supply those people working with the minimum amount of income to not need those programs? Wages stayed the same, but this past year alone average rent nationwide went up 4.6%. Example: Average rent cost $895 in the state of Pennsylvania. Someone who works full-time at $7.25/hour earns$1,256/month(pre-tax). They are expected to pay utilities, buy food, transportation to and form work, you know the bare necessities to keep up with the rat race and stay alive, with $360 a month? This is strictly an example, but also an accurate and very obvious reason in why so many people today are using these government programs that are claiming to ruin our country

People abuse and cheat systems all the time. Unfortunately there is no perfect system, no perfect methods or flawless laws. If there are we just haven’t figured them out yet, and I don’t have confidence we will find one with this logic.