Obama won, Romney lost; I am not happy but I have learned to accept things in my life.
The next four years will be crucial for the USA and our elected politicians must deal with it and save this country.
The "Fiscal Cliff" is something that Congress and the President created because nobody can make any agreements.
The time has come for action and the action must be taken despite political ideologies. The President needs to stop this idea of "redistribution of wealth" or the "rich must pay their fair share" diatribe. The Republicans in the House of Representatives need to realize that more revenue needs to be raised.
Now, the President and his socialist cronies keep talking about the Federal Government "investing" in things. President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, I have news for you a government never "invests" in anything, governments spend money. If all these previous "investments" were true investments, the Federal Government would be turning a profit, we know that is not the case. Governments provide services that that the market cannot provide such as protecting our borders, enforcing laws with justice and fighting our countries enemies.
To the Republican leaders in Congress, we need to raise revenues to pay for obligations made to people that have paid into various programs such Social Security. If these obligations are not kept, people will suffer serious consequences in their lives because they have no other alternatives.
Spending is the issue followed by revenues. To the President and his socialist cabal, quit spending money on programs that are not covered by the Constitution. Eliminate Obamacare, bailouts, hiring more federal employees and eliminate useless federal programs. To Nancy Pelosi; you had better read and know the Constitution like the back of your hand. Spending at the Federal level should only be for the needs of our country and not continuing give away programs for bribing of voters.
In terms of revenue, John Boehner is on the right track in terms of closing loopholes and deductions for those that can afford the scores of accountants and lawyers to take advantage of them. By, eliminating many of the loopholes we will increase revenues to the Treasury and start to deal with the budget deficit.
Spending is the root cause of the issue and as we borrow more money, we pay more in interest to the lenders. Everyone needs to live within their means and the Federal government needs to be a leader in fiscal responsibility. First, the Federal bureaucracy is way too big and most of the civilian employees are overpaid and under worked which drains the economy. A way to start to cut spending is to what the private sector is forced to do in tough, start reducing salaries and benefits of large numbers of federal employees. Get Federal employee compensation in line with the private sector. The average federal employee compensation exceeds those in the private sector. The cuts in the federal compensation will create billions in cost reductions. I use the term of cost reductions in place of savings, because I have never seen the Federal government save a single penny.
After the spending has been reduced into rational, constitutional requirements and the tax loopholes have been closed, we must begin to rationalize revenues. Deductions must be reviewed to see if they make sense and truly are needed by tax payers. This must be done for both corporate and personal taxing regimens. The tax code at the Federal level requires a complete overhaul, this must be done to reach a goal of having in place of a flat taxation method. Taxes are to raise government revenues not social engineering and supposed "redistribution of wealth". Government is not a wealth generator or a vehicle for growing a market economy, it is a brake for growth and a parasite that sucks wealth from the populace.
Our political leaders and representatives need to get their collective heads screwed on straight and begin to deal with the issues. Spending needs to be lowered and revenue increased in a way to not destroy the economy or our lives. Obligations have been made and need to be kept such as Social Security because many have no other option. The Federal Government has a constitutionally mandated obligation to protect our borders. The states need to step up and get their collective heads screwed on straight and balance their budgets. That means that the public sector unions need to back off on their demands for excessive compensation and deal with reality.
Revenues, taxation rates will need to change and there may be cases where they might have to increase in some circumstances. Increased rates should be considered on sources of income such as interest and dividends and where that income exceeds a level such as $1 million in a year. This will minimize the impact on the individual but allow those in the vast majority such as retirees from not having to pay the higher rate. There is talk of increasing incomes on those making more than $250,000 per year. A person making $250,000 a year in 2012 does not think that they are wealthy and if they live in places like New York City, they believe themselves to be in the middle class. Now, if the income were moved to $1 million dollars, I think you will find people like myself not having a real problem with it.
So, in summary my 2 cents on the Fiscal Cliff is as follows:
1) Cut Spending and rationalize what is necessary
2) Rationalize loopholes and deductions, eliminate those that are not necessary for the creation of wealth.
3) Limit any Federal Government spending to constitutionally or "contractual" obligations (e.g. Social Security).
4) Reduce Federal Government employee compensation to in line with the private sector.
5) Tell the public sector unions to "Go to Hell" , they are a part of the problem and so far not a part of the solution.
