Where are the important initiatives to address the issues we need to deal with? Issues that can’t be solved with a hammer or power saw, but with analysis and planning and consideration of the consequences on all Americans.
- The solvency and ongoing stability of social security.
- The solvency and ongoing stability of Medicare.
- Some form of universal health insurance covering all Americans so aggregate costs are minimized and fairly allocated.
- A immigration system that’s serves the Country’s needs for labor and skilled talent.
- A tax system that is adequate to fund the services and programs the American people need and want.
We need serious planning, not pandering rhetoric and misinformation.
The current obsessive quest to reduce the size of government and lower taxes as part of a flawed far right ideology does not serve the best interests of the American people or our nation…and neither does isolationism in any form.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
I hear that citizens are blaming both parties for the ongoing government shut-down. All the democratic party is doing is holding out to try to protect health care for everyone. This will benefit all citizens. Who can criticize them for that?
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Their health proposal takes money from some, to buy votes by spending it on others. It certainly DOES NOT benefit all citizens, let alone benefit ONLY citizens.
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Not much any government does benefits all citizens and in many instances why would you want it to? I don’t want to need SNAP or housing benefits, but there are people who need them and more. I am not upset paying IRMAA premiums, but some people struggle with just Part B premiums and Medigap.
In a functioning society seems to me there will always be the need for redistribution in some manner. The issue is trying to make fair and efficient and when dealing with 340 million individuals that is not an easy task, maybe not 100% possible.
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I was replying to the comment that said all citizens would benefit.
Redistribution to keep people out of poverty, sure. But, so few Americans live in poverty today. You should read up on income inequality – the recent book by Phil Gramm and others. Between the transfers (that BLS doesn’t count) and taxes (that BLS doesn’t count), the poor ain’t so poor and the rich ain’t so rich. That is, people say the difference between the top quartile and bottom quartile is 16 x – but, that ignores the taxes and transfers, which brings it down to 4.
So much of SNAP, housing assistance, and other spending goes to folks who are not living in poverty. For example, supposedly 42 million people receive SNAP. We don’t have 42 million Americans living in poverty.
With respect to health care, we are taxing people making $40,000 a year in wages who have employer sponsored coverage to fund health care subsidies for a family of four in the exchange where, if their coverage is expensive enough, they can get a taxpayer subsidy even through 4 x poverty for a family of 4 = $514,400 in income.
Where our government cannot properly administer a subsidy or entitlement, they shouldn”t be paying anything … until they can do it correctly.
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I got $128,000 not $500,000 for 4 x poverty level for family of four.
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Sorry, my math error. I meant to also say that the current version of the credits doesn’t stop at the Health Reform limit of 4 x poverty. So, you still have a family of four getting tax credits where the Modified Adjusted Gross Income exceeds 4 x the federal poverty level, where someone earning as little as $40,000 is supposedly paying taxes (general revenue) to fund the credits.
Jack
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The right and left are too far apart to work on the real issues. This divide has been building over the years and is getting larger as time goes on . By the way, the followers of the AI revolution think that labor won’t be a problem once the AI is fully operational. Immigration can be taken off your list.
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Talk about less than serious, consider this Democrat recommendation that they believe belongs in what would become a “dirty” (or less than “clean”) Continuing Resolution to “reopen” our federal government.
Look at the breadth of federal government reach here.
Is it any wonder that our ability to deal with major issues has ground to a halt when the federal government reaches so far into our lives on details – when it should be focused on issues that affect every American (such as you suggest).
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy26_democratic_continuing_resolution_section-by-section.pdf
Get serious, indeed!!!
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