You've Been Elected President

Discussion in 'About the Members' started by darksidZz, Aug 10, 2007.

  1. darksidZz Valued Senior Member

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    4,924
    I have just off'd that rather terrible fellow named Bush. He is now in a gutter somewhere and I've given myself up to you, being smart you turn me in and collect the reward... and the reward is... tada... you're made president of the United States.

    This is your chance, you have choices to make, things to change, but what will you do? The power of making lasting change is in your hands! Tell everyone what things you'd begin implimenting and the type of service you would offer us.

    Some things I'd like changed are:

    1. Immigration reform, we must begin letting these people come in and attain ID's for our nation, only then can we put them in jail when they break the law.

    2. There must be a complete restructuring of the congress along with the decision making process, states are running themselves but barely.

    3. There should be a financial restructuring of this nation, the USA doesn't even have universal healthcare?! Immediately this should be offered to people along with an increase in minimum wage from whatever it is to a universal 10.95 an hour!

    4. I'd like you to look into the way police give tickets for speeding, this is wrong and evil because everyone speeds, everyone knows it, but the police just give the unlucky ones tickets. It's unfair and must be changed!
     
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  3. draqon Banned Banned

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    5. space reform, invest in space exploration many many times more than now
     
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  5. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I'd delegate all responsibility to the vice president and go on a long extended vacation.

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  7. draqon Banned Banned

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    that's what Sarkozy is doing

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  8. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

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    You'd like ???

    You're off to "Gitmo", baby !

    As Commander~In~Chief, I'm re-calling up Ol' Lynndie England, making her a Three Star General, and charging her with the task of smokin' butts and chuckling at your Johnson while you're paraded around the joint nekkid with a black plastic bag over yo' haid and 'lectric wires hooked up to you like a right proper Bozotsky...

    After all - you kilt the prez' dint, kiddo...

    Oh, they gonna be some changes, baby !

    Where's mah football ?!?!?!

    Ah got me a Balloon to send up !!!

    :mufc::mufc::mufc:
     
  9. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    Heh ... heh-heh.

    The first thing, of course, would be to commute your sentence as a part of a general commutation. I will not sign a death warrant.

    Presuming, then, that I had a Congress that would pass the laws:

    Executive Power - Rescind necessary Bush-era executive orders (x/o) inappropriately expanding executive power; research history, request Congress rescind any legislative grants of inappropriate executive power.

    Defense - Eliminate extraneous, obsolete, and otherwise inappropriate defense spending.

    Drug War - Sign a series of x/o effectively ending the federal war on drugs; develop legislative agenda to propose to Congress making drug addiction a health problem instead of a criminal issue. Legalize marijuana, fight imported drugs. (Why send our drug money abroad when we can keep it in our domestic economy.)

    Minimum Wage - Request Congress to pass law establishing minimum wage according to poverty considerations; after taxes and other withholding, minimum wage should still equal a number greater than poverty line for a full-time job. Establish formula for revisiting this value every two years.

    Labor - Depending on necessity, sign order instructing Dept. of Labor to revisit the term "flex-time"; while companies are reporting their employees work 37.5 hours a week, many flex employees work upwards of 80-100. If this situation requires Congressional action, request that appropriate laws are passed.

    Labor - Request Congress empower workers to unionize, and bind labor union organizations to good faith in all dealings.

    Constitutional Law: All U.S. attorneys will be given memorandum explaining my position on constitutional issues, and expected to abide thereby. Any judges appointed will be considered for their merits according to my understanding of the U.S. Constitution and my oath to protect and defend it.

    Education: This is a huge mess. However, we need to do away with the logic that says, "We'll pay teachers what they're worth and fund classes according to need once it is demonstrated that teachers and classrooms don't need the money."

    International Relations: Do away with all notions of a "War on Terror", establish U.S. as neighbor and partner in world community and not ambitious overlord. (How vague is that?)

    Human Rights: Seek Congressional help in bringing U.S. into accord with human rights standards; join ICC; hold all nations and peoples to human rights standards.

    Personal Missions: Would seek to refocus American attention on social sciences and arts; sponsor various artistic exhibitions weekly. Advocate the "American community".

    Public Relations: Would welcome and encourage demonstrations outside White House; this is the People's country, and they're welcome to make whatever statements--even if foolish--they want.

    First Amendment: Hold religious-political activism, journalism, and other influential, protected functions to good faith, else I will ignore them. This administration would make no open demonstration of religious affiliation.

    Social Relations: Encourage all Americans to quit fighting over skin color, religion, original heritage, &c.

    Gay Marriage: Send me the law to allow gays to get married, and I'll sign it. Otherwise, my Attorney General is marching down to the Supreme Court to make an Equal Protection argument.​

    This is what pops into mind at first consideration.

    Oh, yes ... one other thing. I would go to my party (Democrat) and tell them to be the people's party or watch me abandon them and bring the Communists and Socialists to prestige.
     
  10. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349
    Woww... many of you know lots of stuffs in lots of field..

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    I've heard once that minimum wage also have negative impact, like the
    increase of unemployment in low skilled labor class, but dont really understand
    though. . . What is your opinion about it? And whether the benefit of applying
    minimum wage could off-set the loss?
     
  11. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349

    if you be president of French Rep maybe you'd have lots of chance to do so,
    but if you be president of USA, I doubt you can even sleep a bit...!?
     
  12. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349
    I mean, for one, you have so many enemies, I wonder whether you could
    sleep well! If I am the one, I'll start building healthy relationship (showing
    good will / good intention and doing so) with other nations.
     
  13. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    37,884
    Economic theory is always convoluted, but I'll give you my take. First, an analogy:

    In the late 1990s, Washington state had the opportunity to vote on an "any willing provider" law that would have allowed patients to choose their doctor under any health plan as long as the doctor met that plan's standards. The press response was that this law would raise health care costs for patients. But when you followed the press reports back to their source, it was an advisory committee of health insurance executives who put out a statement that said, essentially, "If you pass this law, we will raise your health care insurance rates." The people buckled and decided they didn't want a say in their health care, after all.​

    Likewise, when I hear people say that raising the minimum wage will have a negative impact on employment, it's generally the same threat: "If you raise the minimum wage and reduce the disparity between top and bottom, we'll go elsewhere." In the end, it's not that "businesses can't survive", but that the business owners and investors are unwilling to give up a relatively minor portion of their profits.

    Now, in either case, it could be more complicated than that, but the business owners usually aren't willing to open their books and prove the case. The problem with that, of course, is that in a structure where morality is defined by the bottom line, there is an obvious conflict of interest. We're supposed to take on honor the idea that a business will go under because the minimum wage is raised

    But the reality is that even in businesses where employers pay above the minimum wage, employees can end up making less. When I worked for a Pizza Hut in Oregon, the tip-reporting structure was a common fight between labor and management. The waitresses had to report 100% of their tips, which number was deducted from their checks in taxes, even though they also had to split tips. In some states, the law has allowed management to deduct those tips from the hourly wage.

    What I would propose is simple:

    • if the minimum hourly wage is defined as m and
    • taxes and other withholding is defined as t and
    • the poverty line is defined as p, then

    (40m x 48) - tp

    Now, when I was younger, I always wondered about a strange contradiction. If "taxes" or "wages" put a "mom & pop business" under, it was a sin against society, but if a corporation devastated a "mom & pop", it was good, and it's the fault of the "mom & pop" for not running a better business. (The long-running Wal-Mart controversy seems to have done away with that particular discussion; the longer I heard about WM, the less I heard the contradictory regard for mom & pop.

    So my take is that if paying workers a livable wage is bad for the economy, then there's something wrong with our economic priorities. So if a business can't handle treating its workers with dignity and making sure its full-time employees don't need a second job in order to survive, they're like the poor "mom & pop" who should have just run a better business.

    We must remember that our American luxury depends on maintaining and growing a large poverty class at home and abroad. This needs to change. Given some of the disparities in earnings between a CEO and the entry-level worker, there is a lot of room to work, and it's a matter of whether the folks at the top are willing to be decent about it. Hearing the arguments, what it comes down to is that the bourgeoisie refuses to afford dignity for the proletariat. It's not a matter of can't, but rather of won't.

    A measure of activism I don't even undertake: look at the labels on our products (e.g. shirts, underwear) and then go find out what the per capita income is in those countries, and what those workers (e.g. textile) make per capita, and what that buys them. Many people don't do it because it's tough to find out. It's tough to find out because the ownership class doesn't want anyone to know. The owners don't want anyone to know because the truth would make us cringe.

    I have, in fact, heard someone say--in relation to the 1990s "Kathy Lee" child-labor scandal--"Those kids should be thankful for the opportunity to support their families." I always wanted a good answer for why those kids weren't in school, but I already knew the answer and nobody wanted to admit it: Because the companies won't pay a decent enough wage to support a family, much less pay taxes to support schools.

    Someone I know well once told me, at a time when the assets included two houses, four cars, two boats (and computers, VCRs, &c.) that they were poor. I know what the statement meant, that liquid assets were in short supply, but I laughed so that I didn't scream.

    This has to change. At home and abroad. We can do more at home, and gain influence in that quest abroad by doing so.
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2007
  14. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349
    Oh my God, I have read ur reply twice and slowly, and still dont understand. :runaway:
    Actually I have a degree in (chemical) engineering and now doing master in
    water management, but that dont help at all, I had no single clue what you
    explained..! But thanks for your effort and time you spent to explain to me
    about this elaborately, I will re-read and comeback on it a bit later ya?!
    Because Im interested to understand it further!
     
  15. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349
    Ok, I'd like to understand this one first. I suppose that 40 comes
    from 40 hours per week, and 48 comes from 48 weeks per year,
    well ur equation looks ideal. But first I'd like to know, how much is
    current P? I heard already poverty line, it something about 1$ per
    day, but Im not sure how much is it due to standard in USA, is it
    the same?
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2007
  16. lucifers angel same shit, differant day!! Registered Senior Member

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    7,590
    i will change the driving laws, i will make sure that you ahve to re sit your test every two years afetr you have an accident.

    i would make sure that people have enough money/food to live.

    i would NOT allow gay marrage.

    I would NOT allow gays to adopt or foster children
     
  17. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,349

    Ok, I have checked that according to world bank, here, it is $1 per day in developing
    countries, but in US of course refers to other treshold, such as federal poverty
    guidelines, which, said for example here, seems to be vary with family size.
    Maybe you could define your own P?

    And if you would apply (or has it already been applied) minimum wage in US,
    whether it is going to be a fixed minimum wage or vary within region to
    region, as living cost and consumption pattern also vary (I suppose).

    I know one thing for sure, to be president is surely a job that will make one
    catactonic :crazy:
     
  18. orcot Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,488
    1/ increase the prize of fuel (not as much as european levels)
    2/ invest in cleaner energy
    3/ overal increase in taxes that are more felt by the rich and make fines depended on the persons income
    4/ make sure the commen people see the effects in welthcare
    5/ Have a better overall foreign police considering Europe
    6/ Support civilian space flight and try coorperating with other nations
    7/ allow stem cell rechearge and rechearge in taboo technology like nuclair propulsion (with good laws around it [in space only])
    8/ bomb canada
    9/ Try to upgrade the electric net especially california
    10/ have better coorperation with mexico and try to put american factories in mexico where a lot of imigrants can settle in return mexico gets ... whatever a little money and a lot of workforce and working oppertunity
     
  19. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    33,264
    Perhaps I'd let the Congress write up all the bills they wanted but they could only be written at a 8th grade level and no more than 2000 words long. Then I'd let the rest of America decide , by internet, phone or maij just which of those bills should pass by voting on them. This way no jobs are lost and everyone is involved with what is going on. It may not be the greatest way to help but it sure will let people know just what is really happening in Congress.
     
  20. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    37,884
    Must ... sleep

    I knew there was a reason people thought Bush was so qualified at the outset ....

    (Sorry, couldn't resist that one.)

    The poverty level for my household, for instance, is $13,690/per year (HHS). Rent on my apartment is $11,820 per year ($985/mo). According to the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle:

    The Housing Wage in King County is $18.94. This is the amount a full-time (40 hours per week) worker must earn per hour in order to afford an average two-bedroom/2-bathroom apartment rent of $985 ....

    .... A worker earning the minimum wage ($7.93) in King County must work 96 hours per week in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the average $985 rent (fall 2006)..
    (HDCS)​

    I've never made that in my life.

    The law requires that children have a separate bedroom from adults, so, while a 2x2 apartment may be "luxurious", it gives us something to consider.

    At present, the poverty level is set too low. The poverty level for my household is less than 1/3 the (2004) median income nationwide. In 2003, the poverty numbers climbed 0.4% to 12.5% living below the poverty line. The minimum wage in Washington, at 40 hours a week by 52 weeks comes to $16,494 before taxes and other withholding.

    I can't think anymore, though. Must get some sleep. The first thing I see is that the poverty level is a joke compared to the demands of living in or around Seattle. The second thing I can see is that it's all a disaster. And that's about all I can figure out right now.
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2007
  21. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    4,349

    Hi, I think you are very knowledgeable & informative. I couldnt absorb too
    many number at the same time, but I got what u say, thanx! and, have a
    good sleep!
     
  22. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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  23. orcot Valued Senior Member

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    Shut up and sing, where's your patriotic spirit

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