Can’t blame Trump the impending recession. But he took the bait and credit for the “trump rally” when he should have kept a more realistic tone. He already had won the presidency. But the media and the left will make sure he owns it.
There are many hard decisions that must be made. Repeal Obamacare, lower taxes, reduce regulations. Curtail the EPA. Not any one piece of legislation can cure what ails us.
The US is like a patient that has been given a prescription for every little ailment. Some politician complained and a “prescription” was written into law. And now all the “solutions” are interacting to make the patient sick.
Instead of getting off all of the political solutions, the government wants to just prescribe a different solution. That is not what we need.
We will never recover with this approach. How would repealing Obamacare and replacing with Ryancare do anything for America? Who is going to be there to repeal Ryancare? No one. We’ll be stuck with a law that is economically destructive. Congress would rather be seen doing something even if it bad rather than doing the right thing, even if it takes more time.
It’s clear to me and it should be clear to more Americans each and every day that there are Republicans in Congress that actually DO NOT WANT the government out of the health care business. Why would that be?
This single issue shows that Congress is NOT a failure because of who is in charge-Democrats versus Republicans. Instead it is a failure because of who we have sent to DC:
People who want to micromanage our individual lives.
We need to send them ALL home. As I have said on many occasions: After 3 terms you are part of the problem, and not part of the solution.
Voters, put away your party affiliation, find candidates that will do just and only what government at the Federal Level is supposed to do, and send the others home.
If we have not yet passed the point of no return, then we certainly can see that point on the horizon.
After three terms in which house of Congress? The House of Representatives? That’s six years. The Senate? Eighteen. When the Framers came up with these terms, the United States was a very agricultural, and travel from district to New York (now Washington) was a matter of days rather than hours. Also, the House of Representatives were elected by the People who they represent, whereas the Senate were elected by the Legislative components of the States. The implementation of the seventeenth Amendment turned Senators into de facto at-large representatives, no longer truly representing the interests of the States.
I digress, however. The true problem lies not only with stale politics due to long-term Representatives/Senators, but with the mechanism by which they remain in power.
You bring up health care as a major facet of the failure of our politicians in serving the interests of the American People. We call it ObamaCare, because Barack Obama was simply the President who signed it into Law. It might be much better defined as PelosiCare, or ReidCare (Speaker/Majority Leader, respectively, at the time), as they were the legislators who approved the ACA’s text ultimately passed.
American healthcare needs to be fixed. Repealing ObamaCare won’t fix it. Repealing and replacing with RyanCare/McConnellCare/TrumpCare/WhoeverCare won’t fix it.
You mention that “Republicans in Congress that actually DO NOT WANT the government out of the health care business.” This is true. And yes, we all know the answer to the rhetorical “Why?”. It’s the same reason that Republicans/Democrats/many Independents don’t want the government out of the telecommunications business, the oil/coal/solar/wind business, the accounting business, the manufacturing business, or for that matter, even the fast food business.
No, Congress, and therefore the President is not a failure because of who is in charge. Nor are Congress or the President failures because of who we have placed into Office. No. The real problem with the American political system is that extremely large entities (aka Big Business), such as Comcast and AT&T, Merck and Pfizer, Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, Exxon and BP (need I go on?) have so much political capital and their corresponding SuperPACs, that it’s honestly difficult to get rid of the virus infecting our government. The scary thing is, if you were to remove the amount of money these companies spend on getting their “people” elected, I guarantee that, instead of 30-35% profit margins, they would have profit margins well in excess of 50% of gross revenue, and their EPS would be much greater as well.
Don’t get me wrong. The companies I used as exemplars are all FOR the reduction of regulations…, FROM THEIR RESPECTIVE INDUSTRIES. They have not a care in the world for the impact that has on the American People. But they will certainly contribute millions upon millions to the PAC that attacks the candidate(s) opposed to their political objectives.
Want to fix health care? Get rid of Merck and Bayer. Get rid of United Healthcare and Aetna. Want to fix the FCC? Get rid of Comcast and AT&T. Want to fix the government? Get rid of Boeing and Lockheed-Martin.
I’m not “for” cutting major corporations down to size, per se. If you eliminate “Corporate America,” you effectively kill hundreds of thousands upon millions of jobs. No. What I’m in favor of, rather, is curtailing the ability of Corporate America and the extremely wealthy to have a significant influence on who we as ordinary citizens elect into office.
You mentioned earlier that we need to fix each state’s ballot system (make it easier to get third party persons on the ballot). I agree. But in addition to that, we need to lessen the control that not only the Big Two but also the major corporations/organizations that support them, have on the overall election system.
You want to fix government such that it’s more streamlined and less costly? Fix the political influence system.
You want to fix the issues? Fix that which controls the issues. And believe me on this one. It’s not government that controls the issues.
But if you want to fix America, we need to fix Americans… I said this before. Too many people vote a single party – period (Republicans/Democrats/some Independents). The ones that vote issues are un- or mis-informed on those very issues. Finally, of the remaining 5% (arbitrary number) who are well-enough-informed, a great many of those care more about themselves and will vote for the candidate that benefits themselves over the one who might have a more significant impact on the issues plaguing our society.