SAVING AMERICA.... My Morning Rant. I like Cory Booker , the New Jersey Senate candidate. I think has done a very good job as Mayor of Newark, helping turn around that troubled city. I’ve been following his campaign, especially the social media elements, and I have to say that while the campaign appears to be deploying a brilliant strategy, and will most likely win the election, there is one thing that has been troubling me. A few times each week, the campaign posts some profound saying: almost always a quote from someone else such as Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mary Anne Radmacher. Reading these quotes is uplifting and the way they are presented almost makes it appear they are from Mr. Booker. But on the whole, they don’t say anything about Mr. Booker’s plans as a US Senator. They are all fluff. Effective fluff, but fluff nonetheless. Even his website is lacking in explaining the ideas he has for the US. He also plays a very fine line between supporting President Obama—a fellow Democrat—and railing against what has happened during the President’s time in office. For instance, on Mr. Booker’s CoryBooker website he states: “ • Occupations in fields such as construction and manufacturing, with median hourly wages of $13.84 to $21.13 – the middle third of the pay scale – accounted for 60 percent of job losses during the worst part of the recession, according to a study by the National Employment Law Project. • As the recovery progressed, however, those jobs didn’t come back. Instead, it was lower-wage occupations – those with median hourly wages of $7.69 to $13.83 – that accounted for 58 percent of all job growth.” He speaks of Congress’ inability to undertake smart spending, then goes on to state: “We must act to empower those who are suffering now, removing roadblocks that prevent them and their families from getting back on their feet. Doing that is about more than simply protecting the most vulnerable or those at risk of falling from the middle class into poverty. It means providing help to people who are likely to spend the extra money they have in their paychecks every month – a hand up that will create benefits throughout the economy.” Again, nice fluff. These words could be used by any candidate from city council to President. My issue is this: where are the plans? Where is the plan to help the middle class not fall into poverty? It’s really quite simple. For instance, I’ll take a crack at it right here. Introducing The Townsend Plan for helping the middle class not fall into poverty. (Mind you, I am writing this right now, top of mind, to show how it is not difficult to put forth plans). Let’s face it; the difference between living in poverty and in middle class isn’t only based on money, but also on resources and knowledge. Poor people don’t have resources, because generational poverty generates no support systems. Poor people don’t know where to turn for help. Let’s help them get out of poverty. Increase training programs. Create development zones like we see China doing go well, where a technology or industry is targeted to an area and training is put in place to support those industries. Let’s try it at least and see what happens. The underemployed rate is 22% in California and 24% in Los Angeles, while the national average is 16.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the rate of unemployed and people, part-time workers, and those outside the official unemployment statistics. Here’s an idea: if you collect unemployment benefits or food stamps, and you are not the primary caretaker of young children who need their mom or dad around, you should be required to spend 8 hours a week working for local government or non-profits. That is only 1 day a week. You will be paid minimum wage and it will not count against any benefits you receive. Put people to work. Even if they are not doing what is in their skill set, the simple act of reporting to a job and working with others will create positive experiences. We have thousands of areas that need able bodied people attending to them: cleaning sidewalks and roadways, helping fix backlogs in city government, etc. Again, let’s try it and see if it helps. 95% of the economic recovery has gone to the top 10% of earners. It is time for the well-to-do to give back in a way that is straightforward and fair. Most of the richest Americans pay lower overall tax rates than middle-class Americans do, largely through the lower rates afforded on capital gains. This is one reason the gap between the wealthy and the rest of the country is widening dramatically. Here’s how to make it fair. Keep the long term capital gains rate at 15% up to total gains of $4,999,999. For anyone making over $5,000,000 a year, a tax rate of 20% on all those earnings, with no possible deductions, should be instituted. It doesn’t matter how you earn the money – investments, salary, stock sales, hedge fund carry, lottery winnings, saving interest – if you earn $5 million or more, 25% is automatically collected and put toward three federal budgets: deficit reduction, education, and poverty abatement. You make $100 million; $95 million is subject to the 25% tax for a total of $25 million paid into these accounts. For example, Lady Gaga made $80 million last year so 25% of $75 million would be due or roughly $18,750,000. Another way to see how this would generate big revenue to the US Government is this: take the 15 top earning celebrities, not including Lady Gaga. The list includes: Madonna $125,000,000 Steven Spielberg $100,000,000 Simon Cowell $95,000,000 E.L. James $95 ,000,000 Howard Stern $95,000,000 James Patterson $91,000,000 Glenn Beck $90,000,000 Michael Bay $81,000,000 Jerry Bruckheimer $80,000,000 Tyler Perry $78,000,000 Tiger Woods $78,000,000 Oprah Winfrey $77,000,000 Robert Downey Jr. $75,000,000 Dr. Phil McGraw $72,000,000 Dick Wolf $70,000,000 That’s $1.32 billion in income. Now take out the first $5 million for each, which is $75 million. That leaves $1.27 billion and a tax bill due of $306,750,000. That is some serious money. But because the wealthy will know that 25% automatically gets collected, they can plan around this tax rate and pay more into the system. For instance, Tyler Perry would pay the 25% flat rate on $73 million or $18.25 million, leaving him a nice $54.75 million (plus what he keeps from his first $5 million earned) to get by on. The key to making this work is NO DEDUCTIONS. NO EXCEPTIONS. Everyone pays. Cut government spending so that deficit reduction occurs. Begin each year with a zero-based budget, meaning don’t start off with this year’s budget and an automatic percentage increase and then add to it. Start at $0.00 and require every department of government to justify their expenses for the coming year. It works well in corporate America, let’s try it with our government. Lower spending means less need for high taxes which can equate to lower tax rates which can spur economic growth. Speaking of spending, let’s have Congress pass a law that does three things: 1. Congress shall not exempt itself from any law it passes; 2. Members of Congress shall submit a balanced budget each year and if they fail to do so, their salaries will be frozen and not paid until such time a balanced budget is submitted and passed; and 3. In order to prevent entrenchment and the formation of stale thinking, committee leadership and party leadership (e.g., Speaker of the House, etc.) shall serve for no more than 4 years and then new Senate, House and committee leaders shall be elected. Reduce corporate tax rates so that small businesses can hire more people and set those tax rates for an extended period of time. This will also help US companies who earn money overseas, bring that money back to the United States instead of keeping it overseas because of high corporate tax rates. More money in the US means more possibility for investing in the US. Speaking of taxes, simplify the tax code. Cut it down so the majority of Americans can do their taxes in under 1 hour: income is what you earned, deductions are limited to a few key areas such as mortgage interest, charitable contributions, education and job training, healthcare, and business costs. You pay tax on the balance. If you make under the “living wage” for your geographic area of residence you don’t pay any Federal taxes. Obamacare is the law, let it pass and let’s move forward. If it isn’t working a year or two from now, our elected officials can write legislation to fix it. We are a week away from seeing how the exchanges will work. Let’s see what happens. Improve education and demand tougher schooling and better results from teachers and parents so that future generations don’t fall into the same trap. Allow teachers to create lesson plans and pursue those plans as needed in order to build young minds that can think and reason. If a student is not ready to move to the next grade, hold them back until they are ready. The shame should not be in failing a class, but in failing to learn how to move on to the next class. Let’s look at new ways to teach: for instance, perhaps the notion of going to school at 8am and getting out at 3:15 is outdated. Perhaps it needs to be 8:30-5:30, more like a work day, and perhaps classes should not be 50 minutes but should be 90 minutes so that more in-depth learning can take place. Maybe instead of one teacher in classroom we need two or at least the addition of a teachers assistant. Perhaps we need to use the National Education Administration to determine the common factors that make great teachers great, then spread those learnings out to schools across America. Why was Amy Fantini a great teacher at Chartiers-Houston but ---CENSORED--- was not? Learn from the best and spread their skills, just like McDonald’s does with products. Keep kids in school. In Los Angeles 44% of kids in the school district don’t graduate. That’s more than one-third of young people who can’t seem to stick out high school. How can that be? Let’s give these kids some repercussions for not sticking it out. No driver’s license until high school graduation or completion of a GED. Bring back truant officers. Enforce attendance. Demand that any dollar spent to “create jobs” or fund public projects like roads, results in either more than $1 created in economic gains or, in the case of public works projects, is guaranteed for 10 years and backed by the contractors that are rewarded with taxpayer funds. If your road starts to decay in 5 years, you fix if at no cost. The U.S. taxpayer, aka the Federal Government, is the largest owner of foreclosed properties with over 248,000 in its possession. It can’t dump them on the market for fear of lowering property values. So what to do? Let’s put these properties into the national housing complex and make them available to low income people to live in at subsidized rates. Then provide the means for these recipients to apply what they pay in rent to eventual ownership of the property, thus giving them resources they previously didn’t have. Think of it as Habitat for Humanity with existing homes. Let’s try it. Prohibit employers from accessing credit reports as a condition of employment. Anyone can lose their job and fall behind on bills in this economy. Did you know that this may keep them from finding new employment? 6 out of 10 employers use credit reports to vet job applicants, yet more than 20 million Americans may have material errors on their credit reports. Where do people often turn when they’ve lost a steady paycheck but still have to keep up with bills such as mortgage payments, student loans, and the basics like rent and food? Many turn to debt—credit cards, home equity loans, etc.—which in turn leads to a lower credit score. When employers review credit reports when they do background checks on prospective employees, and a bad mark due to an unpaid medical bill or lapsed student loan payment appears, this can make the difference in getting the job. One’s ability to pay their bills when unemployed is more often than not a reflection of one’s abilities at work. People need to work in order to get paid in order to pay their bills. I could go on and on, but you get my point. There are lots of ways to help the American citizen, but until all candidates and elected officials start looking at specific programs that can make a dent in the problems, and stop talking about big, vacuous ideas, nothing will get done. There is an old saying, “God is in the detail” which the famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is often attributed to have created. But today it may be better to say, “Truth is in the details,” meaning that whatever one does should be done thoroughly; i.e. details are important, and it is the little details that, when added together, can make big changes. Let’s see the details. P.S. Cory, I don’t mean to pick on you, by starting this off around your campaign. It’s just that I find your social media posts the most vacuous of details. As such, feel free to use any or all of these ideas.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 18:52:12 +0000
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