Dakota Beacon

The recent Republican Senate victory in the bluest of any of the fifty by Scott Brown, in my opinion, had little to do with the failing Obama Care plan. The frustration in Massachusetts simply mirrored the frustration throughout the country. 

And it is evident that neither the White House nor the majority in Congress recognizes what all this frustration is about. They are still placing the blame after 365 days of being in power on GWB, though I agree that W deserves his share of the blame. But blame is NOT the solution to what ails this nation today. From a government viewpoint all one has to do is to look at the past when the economy went into a recession or stood on the brink of a depression.

The way to stimulate a depressed economy is to reduce taxes to the business community (especially the small ones), as well as individuals. This puts more money into the economy, and in a capitalistic system, money is what drives the economy. It creates jobs because consumers have more income to spend, placing a demand on production of products the consumers want and need. This increase in consumer activity is a boon to the government due to more workers earning more wages and thereby paying taxes. If one is out of work they pay NO taxes, and this hurts not only the feds but also the state and local communities.

Here are my suggestions to really stimulate the economy:

1. Immediately get HR-25 and S-296, The Fair Tax Act, out of committee and onto the floor for debate, and get it passed. The bill has been “stuck” in committee since 1999. I recommend that everyone go to the Library of Congress website and click on THOMAS, and download HR-25 and study the bill. Instead of over 60,000 pages, like the current IRS Tax Code, it has ONLY 79 pages. One can also learn about the Fair Tax at http://www.fairtax.org.
2. Require a Balanced Budget, except in time of war or a national emergency, requiring a two-thirds vote of both houses to adjust a budget.
3. Reduce unnecessary federal spending in any bill up for vote by requiring that a bill contain only one expenditure item, with zero amendments, which would increase spending on unrelated items. This would prevent all “add-ons” or “pork”. If a member of Congress desires to seek a special expenditure for his/her state or district, then introduce a separate bill for that request.
4. We The People must insist on a Term Limit amendment to the Constitution. I suggest a four-year term for the House of Representatives, with only one reelection, which could give up to eight years maximum. The Senate should be limited to one eight year term with no second term. This would effectively limit members of both houses to eight years in Congress. which would effectively limit the ridiculous cost of elections and encourage more citizens to become candidates.. Of course this item would require a repeal of Amendment XVII, and return the appointment of Senators by the state legislatures, strengthening the sovereignty of each state.
5. Reevaluate the Federal Reserve System and the entire banking community to insure that there are sufficient regulations in place to prevent irresponsible mismanagement. Risky type loans to businesses and/or individuals must not be allowed, nor should a mortgage be sold and resold, but remain with the loan institution who originated it.
6. Discontinue the philosophy that a corporation is “too big” to fail! Failure is NOT a bad thing. Failure is a learning process. IF failure is due to poor management or under capitalization then let the corporation either file for bankruptcy or close its doors. Let the FREE MARKET process work! This will encourage more small businesses, which is the backbone of our economy.

I am sure there are readers who will not agree with some or all of the above, but it is a fact that the current group in Congress, be they Democrat or Republican, apparently have no concept of how to fix “the trouble” we’re in!

As I stated above, the problem is the ECONOMY STUPID, and the people of Massachusetts understood this and they sent a strong message to Obama, Pelosi and Reid (and Republicans) to get their heads out of the sand and LISTEN to the AMERICAN PEOPLE!

James B. Plair, Lt. Col. USAR-Ret