TML, you make some good points, but your solutions are the exact type of top-down, centrally controlled "reforms" that helped get us into the place we are in now.
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Originally Posted by thatmariolover
What I’d ultimately like to see:
• Money being removed from politics.
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How would you do this? Who pays for the campaigns, who decides who pays? Actually, in this age of free and available information I am very sympathetic to this idea, but a lot of thought needs to be put into it to avoid abuse and further corruption.
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• Corporate lobbying power diminished.
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Only corporate lobbying power? What about other large, powerful organizations that wield large amounts of lobbying power and influence? Should only corporations have their voice silenced?
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• An end to corporate personhood.
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Depends on what you mean by personhood. I would say that if we treat them like a person, we need to treat them no differently than we would an individual, meaning if we bail out a corporation we bail out individuals.
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• Adjust average hourly earnings for inflation (hasn’t increased in 50 years).
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So if we force companies to increase pay, what happens when these companies eliminate the position? Current minimum wage laws have already cost teens and the elderly thousands of jobs. Isn't a wage dictated by the market better than no wage at all?
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• Better hiring incentives and significant consequences for firing workers while raising executive pay.
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Why would a company hire someone they don't need regardless of incentives? A $5,000 tax credit doesn't even sniff at the cost of hiring a new employee.
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• Harsher punishments for white collar crime (with great power comes great responsibility, not impunity).
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Agreed, in principle.
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• Limits on executive bonuses, raises, and incomes.
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Why? Is their raise going to prevent new jobs that companies don't need?
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• A complete audit of the Federal Reserve.
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Agreed.
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• Revelation of the secret interpretation of the Patriot Act and/or its abolishment.
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Please explain the "secret interpretation" part.
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• Legislative/Congressional reform (takes too long to pass important legislation).
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How so? The devil is in the details.
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• Demilitarization of America’s police forces.
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Explain
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• Sensible reforms to the drug war.
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100% agreed.