The Catholic Church is one of the most conservative bodies in the world. This is the church that for hundreds of years suppressed scientific discovery and free speech during the Dark Ages. Now, the Catholic Church is having another problem: young people. Unlike their parents, the youth of today are much less religious and much more progressive. They dislike how the Catholic Church has denounced abortions and gay marriage, along with a number of other controversial social issues. The youth of today are very much socially liberal. The church is very much socially conservative. Now, a gap has emerged, one that will be very difficult for the Catholic Church to close. Many people believe that in order for the Catholic Church to reestablish itself among youth voters, it needs to move away from preaching about abortion and gay marriage and how those are disgraces to Jesus, and instead move towards preaching about kindness and social equality. The Catholic Church needs to start changing and adapting to the new, more progressive climate of America, or it may cease to exist.
As the fiscal cliff draws near, a potential deal seems less and less likely to happen. If a deal happens at all, it looks like it will most likely happen in 2013. However, that doesn't mean we can't speculate on what could or should be in the deal. Here are just a few compromises that could be made in order to reach a deal:
1. Close Tax Loopholes Most likely, the first thing you thought when reading this is that rich people pay absurdly low taxes. That is actually misleading. No matter what people say, our tax code is actually very progressive. A lot of people seem to forget that it is not only rich people who get deductions. The middle class gets them too! In reality, while the average effective tax rate for the rich is a little bit above 20%, they pay many times what the middle class pays. That doesn't mean that this isn't a problem. We need to limit deductions. There is a proposal to cap deductions that is being discussed for the budget deal, but I believe that almost all deductions should be done away with. The only ones that should be kept, should be the ones that are necessary, will help the middle class, and will help our country in the future. Ex: A family has 2 kids. They should get a small tax deduction for each kid they have, so that they can provide for their children. Another example, is that there should be tax deductions for corporations that use renewable energy, but the deductions for Big Oil should be eliminated. All in all, if we could close just half of the deductions we have now, we could increase revenue by a whole lot. 2. Raise Some Taxes It may not seem legit, but we are currently paying some of the lowest tax rates in history. It may not seem that way, and many people will claim, "well, we are in a recession and we need every dime we can get". Okay, but what about the rich people, who just keep getting richer? How about them? Do they need low taxes? No, but they complain every time their taxes go up, and for good reason. Nobody wants to have to pay more and many rich people invest in new businesses and help spark innovation and creativity that makes our nation a better place. However, do you think it could be possible that we experienced bigger economic growth while we had higher taxes on the rich? In the 1960's, tax rates on the rich were nearly 70%. During those years, we experienced much better economic growth. It seems counter-intuitive, but it's true. Meaning what? It means that even though we may not like it, we should be paying higher taxes. Raise the taxes on rich people by a lot, raise the ones on the middle class by a little (maybe 2-3%), and raise the taxes on the lower class by about 1%. Also, raise the tax on capitol gains. The current proposal is to raise the tax from 15% to 20%. Anywhere from 20-25% would work, but a higher tax in that range would probably do better. Especially since the primary gainers from capitol gains are those in the upper and upper middle classes. However, the tax on dividends in the current deal would be hiked all the way up to 43%. That needs to be lower since many people rely on dividends for their retirement, especially those in the middle class, and they should not have to pay so much. I believe a tax around 20% would work. It's not much higher and the dividend tax NEEDS to remain low, unlike the tax on capitol gains. Next, raise taxes on corporations. After all this, revenue will be much higher. 3.Cut Military Spending There are two main types of military spending: R&D, and costs relating to the actual deployment of troops (including supplies and all the actual costs of maintaining fleets and an army and everything else). Our military is what protects us. Therefore, we need to make sure that our military is the best in the world. How do we do that? By researching and developing new technologies and weapons. However, we are in a massive amount of debt. So, how will we pay for an increase in R&D? By cutting deployment costs drastically. How, end the war in Afghanistan immediately. We aren't winning and we probably never will win. We marched in when we were not welcome and if we continue to fight we will be there for another 10+ years before we complete our mission. Also, reduce troop deployment EVERYWHERE. Remove some troops from the Korean border and from other hotspots around the globe, especially where allies also maintain a presence. By reducing troop deployment, we can save money to put towards R&D. Also, reduce the amount of active U.S. fleets. Keep one in the Pacific and one in the Middle East, but do we need one in the Atlantic? Probably not. Maybe a small one near Cuba, but let's be honest, Cuba is not a big threat. But if the current deal gets by, we will cut a lot of programs, including the F-22, the most advanced fighter in the world! Why? Because we want to keep way too much spending. Nice, Washington. 4.Cut Entitlement Programs We need to adopt a much more Republican approach. Limit benefits, higher co-pay, and people paying more into their plans. I personally think a "privatize with lots of regulations" approach would be best. Think about it. The private market generally can do things cheaper than the government, and as long as they are strictly regulated, the government can let the private market shoulder some of the costs. By cutting Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. government will save lots of money. We need to cut these entitlement programs or we will be in a very bad position soon. 5.Unemployment and Jobs Contrary to popular belief, there is a massive shortage of jobs in the United States. It may not seem that way, but there is. Although we have an under-employment problem, where people with Master's degrees in science and math are being forced to work at places like Starbucks and at grocery stores. It is not good, but at the same time, we need to get as many people into jobs. Then, we can focus on under-employment. I think we should employ two programs: work for welfare and a 3 strikes your out policy. In work-for-welfare, people on welfare would need to do jobs, like cleaning up highways or volunteering somewhere, and in the 3 strikes your out policy, if you are presented with 3 jobs while on welfare and you turn down all 3, you are off welfare. Finally, bonuses should be outlawed for anyone making over $250,000. I don't care what anyone says, you are making a ton of money anyways, and that money could be invested into the company, distributed to stockholders, or used to pay for new hires. If you deserve a bonus, you should get a pay raise. But if you are already making over $250,000, you probably don't need a pay raise anyways. That is the way that we could cut some programs and reduce the deficit. I personally think that we should increase taxes in a way that we get another $600-700 billion a year. I know it sounds crazy, but we have a $1 trillion budget deficit and a deficit of over $16 trillion and we need to save money. I also think we need at least a half trillion dollars in spending cuts per year. Take these out of certain programs that are not necessary. By doing this, we may suffer some pain now, but it will be a hell of a lot worse if we have to do this when we have a $2 trillion budget deficit and a $40 trillion deficit. Trust me, the pain now may hurt a lot, but it will be excruciating if we wait any longer. |