President for a day

David1967 said:

Yes you did. My apologies. Some good ideas in that one. . I Like the idea of public / private partnerships. That could be promising. I would love to see NASA partner with Space X. Think how quickly we could get to Mars.As far as getting out of the middle east? I'm for that, unfortunately as long as we have an oil based economy, I just don't see it happening. We move to a different hopefully more environmentally friendly energy, and I think it will happen. Thanks for your thoughtful input.

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I think NASA is already partnering with SpaceX.
I think one way to improve schools, infrastructure etc. is to get private groups to invest in them (with government oversight). The local community gets to review various school/other infrastructure performance every 5 years and can vote to throw out the management if they perform poorly.
Regarding oil...notice that India or China has no oil and is wholly dependent on imports of crude. Yet not a single Indian or Chinese soldier can be found anywhere in the Middle East. Yet somehow the US public has come to believe that it, the second largest oil producer in the world, has to continue to fund expensive military adventures in the Middle East for energy security. Its a ridiculous argument.

Armoured said:

Immediately declare war on New Zealand.

That's it. Everything else will fall into place after that.

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New Zealand? What did they do?

sayak83 said:

Are ordinary police in Europe all armed with guns?

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I know where you are coming from. But Europe is very different than the U.S. in that regard. Here you can rest assured that if you (as a police officer) are not armed, the bad guy certainly is. Which would be certain death for the initially responding Police officer. In this case it is hard to compare Europe with the U.S. Two very different societies in this regard.

sayak83 said:

I think NASA is already partnering with SpaceX.

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I didn't know that. That's good news IMO.

sayak83 said:

I think one way to improve schools, infrastructure etc. is to get private groups to invest in them (with government oversight). The local community gets to review various school/other infrastructure performance every 5 years and can vote to throw out the management if they perform poorly.

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Interesting concept, and feasible if you can get private groups to actually make that investment.

sayak83 said:

Regarding oil...notice that India or China has no oil and is wholly dependent on imports of crude. Yet not a single Indian or Chinese soldier can be found anywhere in the Middle East.

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You know, I had never considered that before. Excellent point.

sayak83 said:

Yet somehow the US public has come to believe that it, the second largest oil producer in the world, has to continue to fund expensive military adventures in the Middle East for energy security. Its a ridiculous argument.

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Another excellent point. I think (possibly) that it may have something to do with the money that weapons manufacturers make every time a bomb is dropped. Just a guess, but often the answer lies at the end of the money trail.
Well @sayak83 , you've made some good points. Thanks

David1967 said:

New Zealand? What did they do?

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What didn't they do??!

David1967 said:

Another excellent point. I think (possibly) that it may have something to do with the money that weapons manufacturers make every time a bomb is dropped. Just a guess, but often the answer lies at the end of the money trail.

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When I was in the weapons industry, I didn't see a government which bent public policy
to benefit our profitability. Instead, I saw it driven by politics. The 500 pound gorilla is
Israel, which drives our presence there. Mid-East oil isn't that significant to us, since
we're a major producer ourselves, & buy most imports from the Americas.

Revoltingest said:

When I was in the weapons industry, I didn't see a government which bent public policy
to benefit our profitability. Instead, I saw it driven by politics. The 500 pound gorilla is
Israel, which drives our presence there. Mid-East oil isn't that significant to us, since
we're a major producer ourselves, & buy most imports from the Americas.

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You were in the weapons industry? I knew you were dangerous.

David1967 said:

You were in the weapons industry? I knew you were dangerous.

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Only to Americastan's enemies.
Of course, I recognize that our big problem lies in making enemies.

David1967 said:

There are lots of heated debates about the job our President is doing. Nothing new. Eventually there will be another and the debate will continue in a different flavor. So that being said, if you could be President for a day and implement any new legislation as an executive order, what would you do concerning such things as;
(1) Immigration
(2) Taxes
(3) Jobs
(4) Fair trade
(5) Abortion ( I almost didn't put that one)
(6) Medical care
(7) Education
And any other relevant thing you may think of. Not what you wouldn't do ,but what would you do?

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Jeez, give a guy a tough question, will ya?
1. Completely revamp immigration laws, based upon open dialog with citizenry.
2. Simple flat federal tax but at higher rate, with those at or below poverty line paying no taxes or receiving money, based upon certain criteria.
3. If you focus on the economy, the jobs will be there, but training for the unskilled should be free. It is a means to getting them off the public dole. If you do not participate in training, you do not get monetary assistance.
4. I don't have a ready answer for this one, but trashing trade agreements and starting a trade war are not an answer.
5. None of the government's business.
6. Nationalized health care but with a private healthcare industry to supplement.
7. Free education through 4th year of college. Private institutions would still be viable at student's own expense.