This article is a quick view of policy ideas I support and the main political philosophy that could claim these ideas. This list isn’t exhaustive and some of the policies would only work in conjunction with other policies. I have detail thoughts on all of these ideas that may not be conveyed here; however, I wanted to be sure that they were all listed in one place. As I write detailed explanations for the details of these policies and their possible effects I will link to them.
Nationalistic Policy (Make America Build Big and Smart Things)
- 2% export tariffs on raw and intermediate goods
- Reduces the ability government subsidized large landowners to directly enrich themselves without improving American industry
- 25% tariffs on consumer and capital goods in general
- This allows us to support local industry and encourages us to make trade deals with countries who we actually want to do business with
- 25% tariffs on consumer and capital goods over $300 for certain countries
- Exemptions on a case by case basis like Samsung from Korea
- Or cars from Mexico via NAFTA
- This allows us to pick our trade partners and still keep the cheap goods Americans are used to
- But protects the industry that builds big and smart things
- HVAC systems, EVs, Wind Turbines, 5G systems, computers
- Subsidies that cover the difference between commodity price and production price on critical raw and intermediate materials
- Allows for a local supply chain of critical materials even if the US production price is not globally competitive
- Subsidies for capital costs of new manufacturing plants
- Encourages onshoring of manufacturing
- Subsidies for transition from older, non-profitable or environmentally unfriendly land uses
- Give money to convert old coal mines, coal plants to something new
- Supports and appreciates the workers of dying but historically important industries like coal and gives them the money to transition to something new
- Push for 20% of working population to be in good producing or construction sectors
- Meaning expand domestic manufacturing capacity dramatically
- Allows for increasing returns and the possibility of innovation and GDP growth that the service industry doesn’t provide
- Encourage Strategic Developing Countries to Protect Their Industry
- Gives the US other possibly more friendly options to get cheap goods
- Allow them to put a 2% export tariff on their raw and intermediate goods
- Depending on our mood, might want those raw materials for ourselves
- Allow them to protect their non durable good industry with a 25% tariff
- We want non durable goods to be cheap and they can use their cheap labor to produce them
- Also it allows them to industrialize locally
Liberal Policy
- Reform Taxes
- Eliminate special rate for capital gains
- Extend cap for payroll taxes
- Create a tax rate for income $1MM – $10MM at 45%
- Create a tax rate for income above $10MM at 50%
- Eliminate favorable tax Treatment for Stock Buybacks
- Repeal rule 10B-18
- Reduce tax deductability of corporate debt
- Repeal stepped-up basis and tax unrealized capital gains at death.
- Claw back the benefits of deferral from high-net-worth taxpayers.
- Reform EITC as a 1 to 1 match of income up to ⅕ the poverty rate for 2 adults
- Phase begins at median wage ends around ~$100k
- ⅕ the poverty rate is about $3,000 currently
- States can increase
- Nonprofits can give “wages” in the form of rent or other services
- Meaning homeless shelters can pay homeless people in rent so that the government matches immediately raising them out of poverty and homelessness
- Child Tax credit for children different between the poverty rate of 2 adults and 2 adults and 1 child
- No phase in
- Phase out at around $100k
- The difference is around $3,000 currently
- States can increase
- Federal SNAP benefits 1/10 federal poverty rate
- Phase in and phase out same as EITC
- States can increase
- This would currently be about $1200 / year or $100 / month
- Public Option for Medical Care
- $6,000 single adult
- $15,000 for family
- Actuarial adjustments to ensure 80/20 outpatient pay
- Includes dental, vision, etc.
- Generic Drugs are free
- Other drugs are 50/50 with exceptions
- Subsidy is [Cost of Plan – 10% of your yearly income]
- Subsidy doesn’t have to be used on public option
- Public Option for Key Utilities
- Make sure all Americans have access to energy, water, sewage, and high speed internet
- Either through private or public means
- Subsidize the cost of these utilities to ensure that for basic access no family pays more than 6% of their income
- Examples of basic 10 kWh / day, 10 gallons / day, 10 MBs
- Make sure all Americans have access to energy, water, sewage, and high speed internet
- Education Subsidies
- K-12 federal government gives a certain amount of $ / pupil to each state
- Makes American Opportunity Credit fully refundable and expands the 4 year max to the average cost of attending a public college for 2 years.
- That is about $20,000 , $10,000 / year
- Allow that money to be spent in 2 years
- You get the full credit regardless of how much you spent out of pocket on education
- Expanded to include community colleges, trade schools, and other registered schools
- Employer Labor Laws
- Minimum wage increase to $15
- Unless negotiated down by a collective bargaining group
- Classified as Full Time Employee if your work over 1000 hours / year
- About 20 hours / week
- Update overtime rules to reflect the new median wage
- Full Time Employee Benefits
- Employer must provide at least $3,000 for health insurance
- Does not have to provide plan
- Reduces costs for employers
- But combined with federal subsidy should make health care costs cheaper, give people more options, and be more transparent
- Employer must provide at least $1,500 for retirement regardless of employer contribution
- Ensures even when people don’t invest their own money in 401k they have some savings,
- Earned 1 day paid off for every 20 hours work
- This covers vacations
- Would be about 100 hours of vacation time or 2.5 weeks
- Earned 1 day of 25% pay (or other number) off for every 4 hours worked
- This gives 3 months for maternity leave per year
- Also can be used as paid sick leave
- Employer must provide at least $3,000 for health insurance
- Minimum wage increase to $15
- Modern Monetary Theory and Needed Investments
- Print money to pay down debt up to 10% of last years debt
- Debt is around $25 trillion so that would be a max of $2.5 trillion
- However, stop printing when inflation rises above 0.5% of expected inflation
- This allows the government to issue debt to pay for things and pay it down by printing money while making sure inflation was limited
- This would allow investment in infrastructure, green new deal investments, entitlement deficits, and more with debt
- However, that debt would be reduced as long as inflation was under control
Conservative Policy
- Small Business Exempt for Regulation Oversight and Labor Laws Rules
- Under $1 MM in profit
- Under $5 MM in revenue
- Note not exempt from damages caused by skirting the rules just not investigated directly
- Change the agriculture subsidy from insurance against loss for certain crops to a general subsidy per acre no matter the agricultural activity
- Subjects farm to market forces rather than distorting them and should diversify the types of products that are produced
- Eliminate 10% Ethanol Requirement
- Reduces the market distortion for excess corn production
- Reduce the Payroll Tax to 10% (5% for employees and 5% for employers)
- Change Social Security from partial income replacement to poverty protection program
- If you earn between 30-35 years of credits before you withdraw you are guaranteed payments equaling the poverty line for seniors
- If you earn 10 years of credits before withdrawal you are guaranteed half the poverty line
- It is prorated between 10 and 30 where 30 gives the full poverty line
- Any years worked above 35 years before earn a 2% increase in payment
- Change Medicare as subsidy supplement based on cost of public option
- Extra money to reduce hospital costs (like originally intended)
- Also subsidy for nursing care and nursing homes
- Reduce deductible and cost of outpatient surgeries as well
- Change Social Security from partial income replacement to poverty protection program
- Reduce federal spending on military below $500 MM
- Including Overseas Contingency Fund
- Consolidate budget request from branches into 2 groups
- Army, Air Force and Space Force
- Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard
- Focus on Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance
- Also Have quick strike and humanitarian capabilities
- Make sure American presence in foreign countries are in foreign bases where Americans are a minority of the population
- Also no rent paid but operating expenses are
- Some exceptions as needed like Djibouti base in Africa
- Allow for the closing of Domestic Bases
- Provide the land and additional money to the localities to reduce resistance
- This money does not come from military budget
- Provide the land and additional money to the localities to reduce resistance
- Replace Welfare State Except SNAP, Health Care Subsidies, Utility Subsidies, and the new EITC mentioned above
- Restrict benefits to legal residents
- Exceptions for K-12 funding and school lunches for kids
- Also allow parents to get SNAP benefits for kids who are citizens
- Possibly create fund to pay for health bills of citizen children with illegal parents
- School Choice
- The federal subsidies for K-12 education or college education can be used for private or charter schools
- Consolidate some federal agencies
- DEA, FBI, ATF, Homeland Security, Border Patrol
- FDA, USDA
- Restrict the Power of Public Unions to negotiate wages and work schedule only
- Cannot organize politically or endorse candidates
- Cannot negotiate increases in budget
- Simply lays out the minimum compensations and work schedule of its members
- Federal Government Split Cost of Buying out Public Pensions with State Governments
- Also buyout federal and military pensions
- Only provide funds if they transfer their retirement packages from Defined Benefit plans to Defined Contribution Plans
Libertarian Policy
- Immediately Decriminalize all Vice
- Stop Military Exercises aimed at reducing drug trafficking
- Eliminate bail for misdemeanors and low level felonies
- Set the max amount of all combined civil penalties on one individual at $500
- Cities could restrict access to public amenities if they didn’t pay the $500 but couldn’t add to amount due
- Reduce civil crimes such as loitering, vagrancy, public intoxication, and more into one crime for instance: disturbing the peace
- This crime would be a civil penalty and not subject to arrest
- Have 4 different levels of cops
- Traffic Enforcers: Heavily reduce and de-arm traffic stops
- Civil Disturbances: Also unarmed respond to civil disturbances and can only issue fines or call other police or public workers like mental health interventionists
- Security: These police are armed but can only respond to things in which they are called. Must be informed of what to expect from other cops
- Property Crime Detectives: These detectives investigate the main property crimes — larceny-theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Specifically work on solving these cases, may or may not be armed hopefully worked up from other divisions
- Violent Crime Detectives: These detectives are the best of the best and have risen from the property crime ranks. They investigate murder and manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Given wide discretion to their methods.
- End Qualified Immunity
- Allow money produced by unclaimed means to be deposited in banks and claimed on taxes up to the median wage
- This allows people to protect their assets using legal rather than extralegal means
- It also helps them gain eligibility for income related government benefits
- It also the government to gain income tax revenue
- Issue licenses for the selling of vice
- Encourage states to have this as the only tax but leave other taxes subject to state
- Licensed Drug Retailers must buy from Licensed Drug Wholesalers
- Licensed Drug Wholesalers can either produce their own product or buy from other Licensed Wholesalers
- They are subject periodic inspection by FDA
- License certain foreign importers for drugs that have limited domestic production
- The license for sex work can be contingent on a class
- The class could teach protection, business sense, and alternatives
- Gambling Licenses are already working pretty well some tweaks maybe