The Nag List

November 18, 2008 by Dave.

On her MSNBC show, Rachel Maddow suggested a “honey do” list for President-elect Barack Obama dealing with things that should be of the highest priority when he takes office on January 20, 2009. This is a bit of that, with some actual suggestions on how to go about it (not that I am ANY kind of expert on governmental budgets or appropriations). My mom referred to my get out the vote email as my “manifesto.” Actually in some ways, this is closer to an actual manifesto. In addition to sending this to friends and such, I’ve already sent a copy to Rachel Maddow and and President-elect Obama (or at least to the transition team). If I am picked up by the CIA, make sure people know this is why.

NAG LIST

Defense Department Reprioritizing: There are ways to efficiently cut the budgets in order to accomplish better goals. First of all, by the Pentagon’s own admission, the DoD is generally 15% over budget, meaning they can cut 15% of their current budget without hurting any of their current operations—though this doesn’t include operations in Iraq. Trim 10% off the DoD budget—until all troops are taken out of Iraq and the financial crisis looks closer to over, then you can extend to the full 15%— to, one, increase the budget to the Veteran’s Administration; and two, give a pay raise for noncom soldiers. Second, responsibly get us out of Iraq.

Health Care Reform: While universal health care is a goal of this administration (although not sure if they actually mean single-payer or not), the extent of the fiscal crisis and the subsequent bailout ensures that this goal is attainable but still a ways off. Until we stop hemorrhaging money, we should at least try to fix existing systems as a stop-gap/on-ramp (the bridge comes later). Extend SCHIP to insure all children in the US. And empower the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for the drug coverage under the Medicaid Part-D, as well as fill in the “donut hole” in the plan, so the elderly and other vulnerable segments of the society is covered. Small steps are better than no steps. (note: also fix the existing laws so that either Viagra is not covered by insurance or that birth control methods are covered—got to go one way or the other). (I know I’m going against two people I respect with this one: my mom and Dr. Paul Krugman. My mom is an activist for universal single-payer health care in America, and pretty much wants it to happen NOW. Krugman is advocating that Obama go big with his new agenda in order to stabilize things in America, including going to universal single-payer health care. Granted it’s not wise to go against the advice of a Nobel Prize winning economist and my mom, but if this is what we can afford, let’s do this and keep the main goal in sight)

Close Corporate Tax Loopholes: If anything is going to happen to the Tax Codes in the first year, this is it. There are too many loopholes that corporations are taking advantage of to pay less taxes or no taxes. I have no problem with deducting whatever you can; I do have a problem when corporations pay less in taxes than the janitors they hire. The most egregious loopholes should be closed up, including the ones that allow jobs to be outsourced overseas, the offshore banking loopholes, and “Made in USA” label loopholes. This will produce the fair share of revenues that America needs to start getting things back on track.

Adjust the AMT and create a Corporate AMT: The Alternative Minimum Tax was created to keep the rich from avoiding paying taxes all together. However since it hasn’t been adjusted for inflation for quite some time, many middle class families are getting caught in it; and the rationale for not adjusting it is the loss of many hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Now is the time to finally adjust the AMT, and then institute an AMT for corporations (again, corporations paying less taxes than their lowest paid wage workers is wrong). The Corporate AMT can (and should) be graduated— rather than the flat corporate tax— to give smaller corporations a break.

Use Capital Gains Tax as a Reward: This goes back to the Paul Tsongas’ economics model— give a capital gains tax cut to companies that do the right thing. For example, a $5,000 capital gains tax cut for each job created (which Obama has already proposed during the campaign); a $25,000 capital gains tax cut for each factory built (which creates jobs and gets you the $5,000 capital gains tax cut for each job for each job to fill the factory). You can also give capital gains tax cuts to companies that partner with schools or local food pantries, who have 100% union employees, and other such measures for the public good.

Infrastructure Investment: Actually this should be named “re-investment” since we’ve let it go for so long. This is pretty much a no-brainer. Unemployment is up; the state of our roads, bridges, electrical grids are down. Invest in rebuilding the infrastructure, fix the state of our roads, bridges, and electrical grids, and get people to work. If it worked in the ’30s, it’ll work now. Expect to see a program for this early in the administration— first six months to a year.

Emergency Auto Industry Loan: I didn’t like the bailout idea, especially when it was finally loaded with pork and had little oversight. If one truly believes in the free market, the financial companies should be left to fail. The auto industry is a bit different in that if one of the auto companies fails, it has a bigger ripple effect; in this case if that industry fails (which it might) at least 2.5 million people are out of work. That’s too extensive to have happen now. We should save the industry with some MAJOR caveats:

1. This is a LOAN, not a giveaway: Chrysler paid back its 1979 bailout loan in four years. These people should do the same as soon as possible.

2. No opposition to raising CAFE standards: The industry has been fighting this for years (it’s one of the bills that McCain was right on). If they want taxpayer help, the CAFE standards go up to 35 miles per gallon, no arguments.

3. More production of green cars: Like infrastructure investment, this will be key. The engine that will drive this industry (and the economy) for the next generation will be environmentally conscious transportation. The rest of the world has a jump on us concerning green cars and we need to catch up. Creating more hybrid cars is a start; creating next generation non-gasoline cars and other new innovations will carry it even further faster.

4. Fire current executive board: Self-explanatory. This board got into this mess, they deserve to lose their jobs.

Green Industry Investment: Being far behind in the green movement and in an economic mess, at least gives us a chance to catch up. Environmentally conscious industries will be the engine that drives the economy— at least says George Soros, billionaire hedge fund manager (who am I to argue with that guy?). It seems like a large expenditure up front, but it pays for itself in the back end, in this case with more revenues streams from a stronger economy and more tax revenue streams due to the increase in employment.

Congressional Accountability: Congress has voted itself a pay raise 18 times in the last 25 years, while in the same time period of time, the minimum wage has been raised only five times—including the most recent in 2008, and the last time before that in 1997. While the minimum wage will increase to $7.25 this summer, Congress needs to resist the temptation to raise its own pay until they get some stuff done for the rest of America. It’s pretty annoying to hear congressmen and women complain about CEO salaries and golden parachutes when they themselves will never be working at below the poverty line— or even close to it. While they’re at it, they should divest themselves from the congressional pension plans, which also adjusts each year to the cost of living and inflation. Maybe then they’ll understand the problems of average workers.

Employee Free Choice Act: While government regulations is a way to keep businesses accountable. Another way to do so is the existence of unions. This act will encourage and allow workers to organize without fear of recrimination (check out Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price for some info). The bill is already working its way through Congress and needs to be passed by the end of next year.

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