Just an editor's note: I watched about seventeen-minutes of this video and didn't hear a damn thing about any revolution. Actually seventeen minutes before I started writing about this video and continued to watch it while I was blogging.
I'm getting tired of hearing these bold predictions about ending unemployment in a year or two, as in Dr. Ravi Batra's case, or even ten years. These predictions are worth as much as a paper cup of creek water. You would only drink that if you were dying of thirst and had nothing else to drink. We need to be talking about bringing unemployment down to historic levels, between 5-6 percent, since the late 1980s and getting back to the size of workforce that we had back in 2006-07.
To do that we need Congressional action. We need to finally get back to rebuilding our infrastructure. We moved away from that in the early 2000s and have fallen deeply behind as a result. We need more access to job training and education for our low-skilled, low-income adult population. We need to get companies to invest in those communities. We need a real national energy policy built around producing American natural resources which create jobs inside of the United States.
We need, as well, to lower taxes on all investments and profits made inside of the United States, along with eliminating corporate welfare, so that more companies, domestic and foreign, would be encouraged to invest and make money in America. This would get us back to strong economic growth of three-percent or more and create 200-300 thousand jobs a month with a falling unemployment rate, debt, and deficit. Our economy would be headed back to full strength.
America is a democracy in the form of a Federal Republic. We have a Federal system with fifty-states and three levels of government. Federal, state and local. In contrast, the United Kingdom has a unitary system where most of the power resides in London, with the national government. We are not a democracy in the pure majoritarian sense where the majority can always rule over the minority. This is a damn good thing that I'll get into later.
Majority will can not violate the First Amendment or any of the other amendments in the Bill of Rights. Overturning these provisions requires agreement by two-thirds of the fifty states and two-thirds of the members of Congress. As the Far-Right is learning in the Federal court system, government can't treat gays as second-class citizens simply because of their sexuality even if the the popular will is in favor of that.
The Far-Left and Far-Right statists are learning that just because they have the so-called popular will on their side and their ideas seem good to them, they may not hold up as law if they are unconstitutional. The nanny statists in New York learned this in 2012 with their efforts to prohibit the sale of jumbo soft drinksfff.
I view America as a liberal democracy in the form of a federal republic. That is we elect our own leaders but also have freedom in own lives. Our democracy needs to be guarded better to see that people with a lot of money don't have undo influence at everyone's else's expense. The recent campaign finance rulings of U.S. Supreme Court are making this very difficult.
Thom Hartmann says that he makes his living by producing services for the general public through his talk shows and writings, whereas investors like Mitt Romney make their money by investing in other companies. When those companies do well, so does Mitt. When they lose, so does Mitt, the differences between producing and investing.
I wouldn't go as far as Mr. Hartmann here and tax all rich people at ninety-percent. If you want people, to be doctors, lawyers, accountants, mechanics, business people etc., to be productive and successful then you shouldn't discourage them from being successful. You shouldn't tax the hell out of them simply because they are successful. I prefer taxation by the income you spend rather than the income you earn.
Like marijuana decriminalization in Maryland, this is a step in the right direction. I would go even further with the six main FBS conference champions in college football automatically making the playoffs and have a six team playoff. Perhaps that will be the next step, five years from now, having a real playoff tournament to decide the FBS national college football champion of 12-13 teams, with the major conference champions and six wildcards. This first step is better than the current system of just two teams.
Sam Seder is basically right here. Neo-Liberals, and I guess I'm one of them according to Sammy, believe that government has a role to play in helping the less-fortunate help themselves by providing childcare, education, help finding a good job, etc, They also believe that government should help people when they are down with income assistance so that they can pay their bills in the short-term while they are improving themselves and preparing to go to work so that they can take care of themselves.
Libertarians call that big government and say that government has no role here. They say that the market will take care of these people through private charities and privately funded foundations that deal with food assistance, health care, housing, education, job training, job placement, etc. If government would just get out of the way, more Americans and business's would have the resources needed to help the less-fortunate and we would have fewer people in poverty.
