- Avoid isolationism and nationalism
- Rebuild international trust and relationships, support allies and seek to expand them
- Build a working Congress that minimizes partisanship and promotes workable solutions. Bring civility into government
- Develop a coherent strategy to deal with China and its global ambitions
- Lower the deficit, bring spending and taxes into alignment
- Address the solvency of Social Security and Medicare with long-term solutions
- Develop a universal plan for health care expense coverage
- Implement a viable immigration policy that recognizes the needs of the United States and those seeking to live in this Country
- Maintain a strong military deterrent
We can’t control what others do and we can’t stop misfortune from striking. But we can control our own actions. Those who are financially prudent will most likely enjoy success, even if events don’t always go their way.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Sorry, the beltway pigs have increased spending from $2+ Trillion to $7+ Trillion in less than 20 years. The right answer is to reduce federal spending to match our $5+ Trillion in general revenues.
However, if you want to increase taxation, let’s reverse all those Republican tax cuts (Reagan, Bush, Bush II, etc.) that have occurred over the past 40 years and return to where we were in, say 1979, President Jimmy Carter:
Comparing AVERAGE individual income tax rates over the past 40 years, 1979 vs 2019:
1979 2019 #CH
Lowest quintile 1.0% -5.8% 100+% Decline
Second quintile 4.8% -1.1% 100+% Decline
Third quintile 7.7% 2.3% 70+% Decline
Fourth quintile 10.1% 5.8% 53+% Decline
Fifth quintile 15.6% 15.2% 2+% Decline
Top 1% 21.7% 23.0% 6% INCREASE
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Sorry, this collapsed my numbers, lowest quintile should be read as: 1979 1.0%, 2019 -5.8% reduction in excess of 100%, while top 1% of taxpayers should be read as 1979 21.7%, 2019 23.0% a 6% increase.
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Average Total Federal Tax Rate
Top 1 percent
1979… 35.1
2019… 30.2
13.9% decrease
Top 1% of Earners. $819,324 average income
$42,000 tax savings. Not bad.
—————————–
1982… 26.8 a 23.6% decrease
1982 was a very good year. For the one percent
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Thank you for posting that.
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I’m glad to know that you don’t want much!
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No more than what every American should want.
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While certainly admirable goals, all but three of your bullet points depend on an opposition that is willing to make deals and compromises. The only way to fix this is to fix the system itself, which currently allows gerrymandering that protects most of the extremists in both parties from a competent open election. You want a better Congress – then start working toward a system that will give it to you. Vote for open primaries, ranked choice voting, the end of gerrymandering, the end of the filibuster, and proportional representation. Otherwise you are just being naive and asking “why can’t we all just do our best”? People make rational choices based on the system they are in
This is why over and over the GOP Congress has shown that they would rather see America burn than make any deal with the President’s party for the good of the country. They are responding to exactly what the primary voters in their districts want. Government shutdowns, cutting spending in exchange for more revenue, the debt ceiling, the recent immigration bill…over and over the House leadership refuses any compromise, the essence of democracy, because they would be primaried out next election.
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If the attitude that only one party is causing the problems then the ability to solve the problems will not be there. I suspect the way problems will be solved is through the crisis method. Once the crisis hits we will come forth with solutions to try and resolve. The illegal immigrant crisis is a good example.
Now there is a crisis because folks have been sent to sanctuary cities and states–legislation proposed in the Senate (HR 2 has been sitting in the Senate for a year or more) for political reasons didn’t make. One party said; “you gave us more than we hoped for but we want this issue for later in the year.” Same reason HR 2 was buried by the Senate Majority Leader who said it was “dead on arrival” Sounds like Maj. Leader Johnson who used those same words. Too bad we play tit for tat.
But the same guy who in his 1st 100 days issued in excess of 90 Executive Orders undoing all sorts of illegal immigration edicts will soon turn on a dime for political reasons and reverse himself. When the crisis hits folks do all sorts things to save themselves. Even try to convince members of both parties to solve a crisis that he told us was not a crisis just a few short months ago.
So we saw many suggestions–all worthy of debate–many very sensible goals and objectives. But wishes only turn to fruition, in my opinion, when we get backed against the wall. I think its true in politics, business, and in our own personal lives.
Hope does spring eternal though.
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very well thought out and I totally agree with your points. Totally… but you left out a not so trivial point: what will it cost? Where is the money going to come from to change present day priorities? Talk is cheap…. how you are going to pay (your taxes on your income) for changing priorities such as universal health care coverage? Supporting (vague concept) our allies (such as they are and when they are inadequately supporting themselves). How about instituting a base universal income to poor people and seniors and immigrants who can’t support themselves?
The bottom line is this: it’s a bottomless pit that you can spend money on. So be it but where’s the money going to come from?
P.S.: I can be just as contrary as Mr. Quinn.
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That’s pretty obvious. Higher taxes. The US is among the lowest taxed countries in the world. IMO we need to rethink how we tax for all we want as a society. To me that means we add some form of consumption tax targeted at luxury spending and exempting basic goods and services especially those needed by low income individuals. Of course, the trick is how do we effectively use those added taxes to pay for what we have already committed to and not just create new liabilities. Both SS and Medicare can be fully funded with rather modest changes over time. It will help if politicians told us the truth.
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Yes, a VAT like tax would be ideal. I don’t understand how so many people are just blind to the fact that we have historically low personal income and corporate income taxes. And minor adjustments to SS and Medicare now would be much better than drastic measures later.
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Mr Quinn: you know you can always donate more money than you owe to the IRS….How about 75% of your income? You can lead the way and start a movement, sir.
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Phil… Wrong answer.
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Great–we pay lower taxes and have more $ in our pockets so we can choose what we wish to buy. Last time I looked we had one the strongest and most vibrant economies in the world–maybe those low taxes contributed to that–oh, a VAT tax–just what we need and then we decide what’s luxury spending and what’s not–is a Tesla luxury spending? don’t we have some sort of tax incentive now for electric cars–I guess we can offset it with a VAT tax.
Remember when Teddy Kennedy worked hard to tax those luxury boats?? Poor Teddy didn’t realize that many of them were made in New England. Guess what put the nail in the coffin of that industry? The hell with the working person!! What was a hoot was seeing John Kerry buying his new boat from an overseas manufacturer.
No new taxes until spending is under control and adding student debt to are otherwise out of control spending/deficit is a great example of how these clowns operate. Sure just give them more money and they will stop spending. Let’s buy votes of the students by November. Don’t 48% or so of taxpayers pay no federal income tax? Now you can make a list of all the taxes they, and the rest of us pay and it won’t be a small list.
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Thank you for this. Right on!
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Concise and very well summarized. Proactive – everything the current Congress is not.
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You mentioned this is the biggest list of priorities, perhaps you could give the second order list now in case of overlap with top order needs. Is there a drop dead date for completion of the entire list.
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There is a drop dead date for some and should be for others. This country can’t survive as we would like without dealing with global and international issues and IMO we are losing ground. I think this list is enough to focus on.
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There is a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes that doesn’t get much press. President Biden bringing Japan and S Korea together to help counter China was historic, as has been the administration’s efforts in Vietnam and the Philippines. Also, European allies have stepped up their contributions significantly. He has reversed a lot the damage from the previous administration already. But all of our allies are nervously awaiting the election, since Trump has basically given the Chinese and the Russians a green light invade if he is elected again. America will never again be seen as a reliable ally in our lifetime if Trump is elected again.
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Sadly you are right. My European friends think Trump is crazy and can’t understand why he is popular.
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It is fascinating that every single one of your bullet points is the exact opposite of what Trump and MAGA want. I strongly agree with you and the way ahead is clear.
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These are very respectable items for our President and Congress to work toward. Maybe we should develop a set of metrics with key deliverables to measure our leaders productivity towards these goals. We could then write them a “We the People” performance review on an annual basis to hold them accountable. 😁
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good point
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Admirable goals … everything missing from this Admin.
Interesting when one sets goals or abjectives we look back our recent poor past performances (i.e. weight, no exercise, poor financial performance, etc. and set goals to improve)
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