What change would you like to see in America in 2009?
The best answer will get $25 big Mahalo dollars and I will twitter your answer to my ~50k followers on twitter with your name!
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M$32 Answers
Also, putting protections back into the financial system would be great.
Obama has the highest ethics requirements of any Administration, but that's not saying much, since the bar has always been exceedingly low. I'd like to see some of mechanisms that are perceived to be rife with corruption cleaned up -- earmarks, campaign finance, etc.
Shifting our resources with the intention of getting the U.S. out of Iraq and finally getting the job done with Bin Laden so that all of the troops can GTFO of the Middle East would be great.
Getting the ball rolling with his public works plan to rebuild our infrastructure, and start a Green "New Deal" is also something I'm interested in seeing. Also, it'll be good to finally have a President that will likely get the US onboard with the international Global Warming initiatives.
Speaking of international accords, it'll be good if Obama can quickly salvage the country's diplomatic standing, and remove some of the damage done in our alliances.
Finally, I'd like to see more investment into Education and basic academic research.
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But, I repeat that the decline of the middle-class is troubling to me. So, I'd like to see that addressed, first and foremost. Here are the numbers on that for those who are interested.
This data from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows how much people were making when adjusted for inflation:
http://www.workinglife.org/wiki/Wages+and+Benefits:+Real+Wages+(1964-2004)
1964 . . $632.00 per week
1974 . . $657.95 per week
1984 . . $583.00 per week
1994 . . $543.11 per week
2004 . . $579.88 per week
( http://www.bls.gov/cpi/#tables )
This graph also shows a similar downward trend...
Keep in mind that this lower average pay is even WITH the huge increases in the productive capability of the average worker.
http://www.swivel.com/data_sets/spreadsheet/1004852
Year | GDP per capita index
1974 | 80.5
1984 | 98.2
1994 | 118.6
2004 | 145.6
So, according to these per capita figures, Americans have gotten 48% more productive since 1984, but are still not making as much money as people in 1984, when adjusted for inflation.
Beyond these individual declines, it looks like the erosion is catching up to entire families now, since even family income has decline for the first time since it started being recorded ..... I guess we don't have anymore wives or children to send into the workplace and we're topped out on signing up for overtime....
Trickle down:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickle-down_economics
Tax evasion:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/21/taxes-irs-wealth-biz-beltway-cz_jn_1021bel...
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0224-05.htm
http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1014219.shtml
Low US corporate taxes:
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/taxes_pop/index.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=5561455
http://www.oecd.org/document/58/0,3343,en_2649_34533_39498298_1_1_1_1,00.ht...
Ethics:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/11/obama_lays_out_ethics_rules...
Green Policy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotax
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-greenjobs4-2009jan04,0...
Education:
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080924/full/455446a.html
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Like the rest of my generation, I have learned the true meaning behind our political system from history class rather than life experience and I think that is what makes us so complacent with the current state of politics, what enables us to just sit back and accept whatever is tossed our way.
I honestly believe our founding fathers would flee this country and start over if they were alive today. However, let me say that while I believe we are in fact, the best country, we have not reached our heights and over the past eight years, we have reached an all time low.
As a country we have regressed from what our founding fathers dreamed of and instituted. Somewhere along the way we have lost the desire, will and demand to uphold what should be our unalienable rights.
In the past eight years we have slipped into the lowest ranks in history. Yet, our sheepish society accepts this and even goes as far to think it treasonous to complain.
What happened to…
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
— President Abraham Lincoln
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president… is morally treasonable to the American public.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
That we have accepted…
“I am the president, see? And I do not have to explain myself to anyone.”
— George Bush
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” “It’s just a god damned piece of paper!”
— George Bush
America is much more than its elected leaders. It is an ethical and moral fact; it is the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government and human equality.
This must never be forgotten and “We the People” must start holding feet over the flames when things go bad. We must remember our collective sins of the past, and have the guts to make the hard decisions going forward.
We owe it to America and ourselves to not only wave the flag but to remember the obligations that it imposes, to strive for justice, equality and liberty for all.
We as citizens must require of our leaders, honesty, integrity, and a moral compass and we must accept nothing less. We must say to them that if they are unable to resist the temptations of power, be it lust for the flesh, lust for gold, or lust for more power, then they will be removed from both their office and our party.
We must have zero tolerance for corruption, zero tolerance for behavior unbecoming to the office of which they are the stewards. We can no longer afford to defend such behavior simply for political expediency, for if we do we not only compromise our own integrity but we lose all hope of ever finding leaders of the highest caliber.
Once this happens, and the "weeding out" has been done, I feel that we will be in a far better place for change to happen. We desperately need fiscal reform, health reform, foreign policy reform, SEC reform, and on and on...
I honestly believe that President Elect Obama has already started this movement I long for... To many others and me, he is a combination of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. He has a gift as an orator and easily motivates his listeners.
We have a second chance in 2009, one we may not have again, so my desire for change is in the hearts and minds of the people. When the citizens of this country stand up and demand an end of the cycle of corruption. Once enough citizens decide to demand more, the politician’s games of deception and corruption are over. Then and only then can we truly sit down and find solutions to our current crises.
Partial article "The Blind Leading The Blind" written by me in July 08
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M$
We need jobs people, pink slips are going out a rate so fast that the paper company is running out of pink ink.
Job losses are so high, the unemployment agencies are looking for help.
What would I like to see ??
A Green Industrial Revolution.
First we had the agricultural age.
Then came the industrial age.
Then the telecommunications age. (or "The Information Age")
Do I dare detect a "green" age ?
The only way to stimulate new job growth is to encourage new markets in green technologies and manufacturing of energy efficient everything.
If its green its for me.
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M$
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M$
McCain has definitely suffered physical hardship, but I believe the answerer is clearly referring to "financial" struggle.
I would like to point out that if anyone knows what struggle is, it's McCain, who spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.
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M$
MarkCarrras.com
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M$
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M$personal opinion, this question asks for an opinion, not an authoritative source.
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M$
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M$
America is now divided by the problems, but is the chance to start working as a nation.
Is the time for left behind the differences (religious, political, cultural, sexual, origin) and look in retrospective what we have done to conserve the status as the most powerful nation in the world.
Is the time to work for a goal, we can try to do it this 2009:
+Return confidence to Americans, by showing the great interest we have in our neighbors, show the great interest we have in the problems that arise each day (economical & social).
+ Return to the world the meaning of "The American Dream", Be that Lighthouse, not being prepotent to the other nations, being an example of Unity, hard work & commitment to success;
America must show to the world that is capable of restoring from the problems and continue to be the Magnet for talent, business & projects.
The change we need in 2009 is the support of all the americans living in the country or overseas to the proposals of our Best minds and the government to achieve the desirable results.
+America image overseas, America need to restore to be inspirational and collaborative to the world.
Thats what we need, to wake up from the paradigm of the differences and start working as ONE right now.
twitter: pachoseed
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M$
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M$
Just my own quick thought about Jason's question from twitter...
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M$Almost all of the problems that our country faces can be traced back to a lack of the people's understand of or access to information about what's actually going on.
Obama is already on the right track. I hope he continues efforts to get his message out there and to invite feedback on his ideas. More importantly, I hope that he puts measures in place (or at least sets the bar) that will require future leaders to be more transparent and accessible.
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M$
I believe this would lead to many benefits:
A) Lower energy consumption, less traffic, less smog
B) Less trash and less environmental impact due to the production of packaging
C) More linkage between the creators and the end-products. If you are closer to the result of your work, you will value it more and do a better job
D) Those products that are created and distributed physically would be crafted better, and those involved in the distribution would be far more service oriented
E) I can't prove it, but I believe this type of economy would be less vulnerable to downturns. The barriers to quickly redeploying economic assets would be lower, and the vast pool of creativity would be more directly linked to any questions that arise in the economic stream
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M$
I would like to see a return of the freedoms US citizens had formally enjoyed. Too many people are spending their life fighting to give themselves a comfortable existence, being taught a selfish focus. They don't have time, energy, or care to pay attention to the slow erosion of their civic freedoms and economic power. (The laws are getting more oppressive, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer ..self-interest, political corruption, and unchecked power of the corporation over the individual and even the society IMHO being the primary factors.)
Powerful though she is, I don't think the US can afford to police the world. Nor should it have to do so. More focus at home, rather than foreign wars we can't afford. Make the people care about their country and countrymen again. Give the kids an education: all of them. That's the best kind of freedom they can ever have.
Inflammatory closing statement: Dictating, invading, in the name of freedom? Oppression in the form of 'patriot' laws? This wasn't what this country was meant to be.
My own head. (Seems a more dangerous place than I had realised.) ;)
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M$-Carrie
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M$
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M$
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M$
The print more money device has again spiked gas prices..someone needs to freaking heed that market warning.
The stimius package I like wouldinclude:
-percentage education loan debt cut of %15 across board to everyone
-tax rate decrease at all rates with no favours to anyone
-banks to get baile dout have to just like autoworkers cut bonuses and fire some executives
-states that ask for bailouts have to decrease their excessive tax rates
and pork barrel projects
-funding increase revenue stream of a 1% federal sales tax on internet purchases.
-to cap military spending all new war deployments must be coupled
with a real declaration of war by congress, not by presidential fiat.
-to finance war on terror, %1 import tax on all oil imported..this will not only help fund the war but also drive oil companies to invest in green technology at the same time.
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M$
Anyone think it's time to shut down the military? I mean close to bases in other countries, close the embassies, shore up border security with the troops that can finally come home to families who they have been away from for up to SIX tours of duty!
Let failing corporations fail, the corporations are heartless greedy creations of the last 100 years. Corporations would never bail out the government. Ever. Let innovation and individual work ethic grow again, and financial vultures twist in the wind.
Open your immigration like it was when your grandparents came to America.
Follow up with real controls on criminal activity across the board, including kicking immigrants out who don't contribute (most work harder than the natural residents, so not much of a threat there).
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M$Sure, there are a lot of other problems, but if we switch to non-interventionist policies, it will fix a lot of them. All the money we spend on foreign aid, and war, would not be spent. We would become a much more respected nation overall as well.
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M$
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M$