How would I fix the US Economy
Let's suppose I would be elected as US president, what would I do in order to fix the economy and restart it's massive growth, as it was in the 19th century.
It is true that a developed country has little room left to grow because most economic entities are already established, however in a developed country the government is big too, which is a huge burden on the economy.
In a theoretical scenario if I would have all power, this is what I would do in order to fix the economy:
1) Default on the Debt and Eliminate the Personal Income Tax
The only reason why the Income tax exists is to pay down the interest on the debt, it is the collateral for the debt. If there is no debt, there is no income tax. Very simple.
2) Reduce the Military Size and Spending
If there is no big military, it can be easily sustained and there will be no need for debt.
3) Improve Diplomacy
Diplomatic relations has to be improved especially with arab countries. This would decrease the risk of terrorism and the need for a big military. The burden on the economy would be greatly lifted.
4) Reduce Corporate Taxes and Install Import Tariffs
Corporations move all their money to offshore where they are just sitting and are not invested in the economy, due to fear of big taxes. If the taxes are smaller, and imports are discouraged, corporations will be less incentivized to ship jobs overseas. Also the excess capital they will have due to lower taxes will incentivize them to invest in the country, create more jobs, and serve the home country, without moving jobs away. Import tariffs would only be for commercial items paid by corporations, if you want to buy a shirt from Japan, you would pay 0%. I would eliminate custom duties as well, and any other trade restriction.
5) Government reduced to 1800 levels
Government has become too big in the past 200 years, we need to go back to 1800 levels, with low taxes, no or little regulation and a more flexible economic model.
6) Reinstall a Gold Standard, and a Blockchain USD
Reinstall the Gold Standard and make the USD a blockchain, so that the FED will become transparent. All money printing will be visible in the public blockchain and they will be accountable. Possibly later we could use a cryptocurrency standard as well, but for now a Gold one is enough.
7) Ban Fractional Reserve Lending
Fractional Reserves is clearly a ponzi scheme lending system, and ponzi schemes are highly immoral, so is this method. Banks should no longer give out money out of thin air to lend, they will have to loan their capital or their customer's capital, but not money out of thin air.
These are my suggestions, vote for me in the elections, or at least upvote me on Steemit, and let's:
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain
Yes, replace it with blockchain.
In short words : you are proposing downfall of USA. In just few minutes .
No. The transition has to be smooth, I didn't said that I would do this in 1 day. It would take many months or perhaps years to scale the taxes and regulations down.
But it has to be done, huge taxes are always correlated with poverty.
You are confused about cause and effect. Paying the interest on the debt is NOT the purpose of the Income Tax. A few other similar items especially your comment on the military. The most expensive thing that a country can have is a second class military. Second place in a war is a bad thing.
Other than that, by George I think that you are on to something.
Of course it will never happen. When has Government, of any type, ever been reduced in size without the country fragmenting?
But with a debt, you cannot eliminate the Income tax, especially if it's ever escalating. It's easier on the budget if the spending is smaller, not to mention an elimination of income tax, will have immediate effects. Spending and investing would skyrocket, the economy would grow in a massive pace.
The military argument is redundant. You don't need a big military when you have nukes. Land soldiers and tanks are pretty inefficient, when you can launch rockets with the push of a button. So why not cut costs down?
I highly doubt there will be any way between superpowers anymore. The conflict between Russia and the US is just scaremongering. There will be no war . But maybe some military experts can disprove me.
What do you mean the country fragmenting? Getting back personal freedom is fragmenting for you? I don't think in the era of the internet and social media you need an iron fist ruler to keep the tribe together.
Humans are more civilized now than ever before, you won't have Bob next door creating his own tribe, that won't work anymore.
"But with a debt, you cannot eliminate the Income tax " Why? What does it matter where the money needed to pay on the debt came from?
Your military arguement is invalid. You are obviously uninformed. I see no need in discussing it any further.
"What do you mean the country fragmenting?" I mean 'Brexit' and it's looking more and more likely like 'Texit' In my not so humble opinion technology has effectivelly eliminated the need for large states. Using YOUR argument (which is still invalid, but it raises some interesting points about nations) if a powerful military is not needed then what are nations needed? The purpose of a nation is to protect the individuals so that they can 'do things' the purpose of the military is to protect the nation. If the individuals can 'do things' without the need of a military then they don't need the nation either. I suspect (it's already happening) that most, if not all, of the large nations will balkanize like the USSR and the EU. I would suspect that states might not go away but perhaps they will get MUCH smaller, perhaps the size of Monaco or the Vatican?
Humans are NOT more civilized than they ever were. The wetware is unchanged. (See Dunbar's Number, Behavioral sinks and Rat Utopia) The Collective Intelligence of a Group is inversely proportional to the group size. (the bigger they get, the more stupid they are, look at history for examples). To put it bluntly very large Groups (and nations) are insane. Chaos theory rules. There is no predicting what they will do.
Of course we're creating Tribes. The people who 'follow you' are an example of a potential embryonic tribe like structure on steam. There are tribes everywhere. If you are a football fanatic (hook em horns) then you are a member of a tribe. If you belong to any club or organization then you are a member of a tribe. They are created , grow and die daily. The only tribe that's a problem is the ones that are tax supported. They are exempt from the market and grow like cancer.
"But with a debt, you cannot eliminate the Income tax " Actually we could. Imagine the US Economy were to convert to a cryptocurrency and a blockchain. Like Steemit but on a much grander scale. Imagine that the US government were restricted to ONLY the amount of money they could mine?
Yes but if the income tax would be eliminated tomorrow, the budget deficit would become huge and the debt would increase even more.
The economy either outgrows the debt, or we need to default, and the first option is hardly possible anymore.
are you still alive? this is serious stuff you are talking about !
Haha, that is why I am not running for president. Anyone with ideas like this would not be very likened by the establishment.
Great thoughts Mr president. 😃
Haha, thanks, no need to call me that.
Thank you, @larkenrose.
I know about that video, and I agree with Larken.
But somebody has to dismantle the establishment somehow, before we can transition to a free society. Taking it in small increments is better, thus I proposed this method to imporve the economy first (so that less people will be reliant on welfare) and then a transition will be smoother.