The Elephants in the Room

As we are approaching the 2012 presidential election, Republican candidates are vying for the G.O.P's nomination.  Here is a run-down of some of the most prominent candidates.

Michele Bachmann
Bachmann's top priorities are to "

• Restore our economy and create millions of new jobs.
• Repeal Obamacare and its unconstitutional mandates.
• Achieve deep cuts in spending to reduce America's debt.
• Strengthen the family and defend marriage.
• Rebuild respect for America as the shining city upon a hill."

She has developed  the "American Jobs: Right Now" plan, which is an eleven- stage plan to create more jobs for American citizens.  This plan includes cutting government spending, cutting taxes, securing the U.S- Mexican border, stimulating innovation, and repeal both Obamacare and the Dodd-Frank Act.

Bachmann is currently ranked 6th in polls for the GOP nomination.

Herman Cain

Herman Cain's focus is primarily on Foreign Policy and the economic situation. 

Cain's plan, the "9-9-9" plan is an economic plan centered around the idea of a 9% flat business tax, a 9% flat individual tax, and a 9% national sales tax.  This plan also includes repealling the death tax, reducing governement regulation on the economy, and works toward the Fair Tax system.

Herman Cain is currently ranked 3rd in polls for the GOP nomination.

*Cain has suspended his campaign.

Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich is focusing on:

• Job Creation
• The Economy
• American Energy
• The Right to Life
• Illegal Immigration

Gingrich's plan is the 21st Century Contract with America.  This plan includes a list of Executive Orders to be issued on Newt's first day in office if he is elected, as well as promises to stengthen the dollar, repeal Obamacare, stop tax increases, create jobs, secure the U.S-Mexico border, be open about military activity, and use military activity "judiciously and with clear, obtainable objectives understood by Congress."

Gingrich is currently ranked 1st in polls for the GOP nomination.


Jon Huntsman Jr.

Jon Huntsman's focuses are:

• The Economy
• National Security
• Energy Security
• Financial Regulatory Reform

Huntsman's plan includes tax reduction, reducing government regulations such as Obamacare and EPA regulations, increasing foreign trade, rebuilding America as an even more dominate military force, and supporting American energy.

Jon Huntsman currently ranks 8th in polls for the GOP nomination

Ron Paul

Ron Paul's focuses are:

• Abortion
• Healthcare
• Taxes
• National Defense
• Right to Work
• Immigration

Ron Paul's plan, the "Plan to Restore America" involves cutting spending, reforming entitlements, abolishing the death tax, extending Bush tax cuts, lowering the corporate tax rate, and repealing Obamacare and Dodd-Frank.

Paul currently ranks 4th in polls for the GOP nomination.


Rick Perry

Perry's focus is on:

• Jobs
• Fiscal Responsibility
• Security
• Healthcare
• Social Issues

Rick Perry plan to cut taxes, reduce regulations, cut spending, "pursue peace through strength", repeal Obamacare, and defend marriage and the 2nd Ammendment.

Rick Perry currently ranks 5th in polls for the GOP nomination.


Mitt Romney


Mitt Romney's campaign focuses include:

• Jobs
• Healthcare
• Foreign Policy

Romney plans to reduce taxes, reduce government regulations, retrain workers, repeal Obamacare, and use military influence internationally.

Mitt Romney currently ranks 2nd in polls for the GOP nomination.

Poll standings are taken from Real Clear Politics.com.

Appeal to the Masses

Currently, the Republican Party is not viewed in a very good light.  It seems as if being conservative makes you racist, stupid redneck who doesn't care about the poor or less fortunate people in the country.  This viewpoint is, of course, inaccurate.  In fact, the conservative positions on issues such as welfare and social security support upward mobility for those who are not financially fortunate at the moment.  This is a point that the Republicans running for office need to be able to articulate so they can stop being falsely accused of supporting oppressive policies.

The current issue with our welfare and unemployment systems is that they can be abused to just pay for people to live in a state where finding a job would cause their net income to decrease.  Without ever finding a job, people simply cannot elevate themselves in society.  They get stuck in a cycle of applying for welfare or unemployment and can never reach their potential by reaching out, finding a job, and being positive contributors to society.  If these social policies were reformed to be more limited and to promote finding employment, people stuck in this ring of poverty could finally escape.  No one wants to "just get by" their entire life.  Everyone has a dream for themselves and their family is they have one.  The conservative stance on our social programs supports the living out of these dreams and aspirations.

The members of the Republican party must learn to be able to articulate this point if they wish to stop being labelled as villains.  If this point can be clearly articulated and shared with the people of America through our mass media, then the GOP will certainly gain voters in a new portion of the population.  This new and added support will greatly contribute to, and maybe even decide, many elections to come.

Economic Darwinism

Capitalism, "an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market," (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) is, in my opinion, the best and most logical economic system.  In 1859, Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species.  Darwin explained how species today came to be through evolution and natural selection, or survival of the fittest, only allowing the "most fit" individuals in the population survive.  In the Kingdom of business and economics, these individuals are the businesses and corporations that belong to the population that makes up the international, national, or local population.  With the capitalist system, the best businesses are naturally selected to survive.  In capitalism, only the hard-working and well-planned businesses survive.  Capitalism is Economic Darwinism.

Within a capitalist society, consumer goods are regulated by private companies.  These companies compete to offer the best goods, the lowest prices, the greatest variety, the most accessibility... well, anything really to maximize profit.  The way the system works is that the companies compete and whoever has the best business plan or battle strategy wins!  They make greater profits, which they can use to further expand and weed out their competition, and they gain a larger consumer base, leading to an increase in future profits as well.  It also causes failing companies, those who have a faulty business plan, who are not reliable, or who can not be trusted by the consumer population quickly fall apart.  So why is this a good thing?  Well, this enables future companies to learn from the mistakes of their ancestors and to be more dependable and have a better business plan in the future.  It also allows the good, hard-working, and trusted companies to grow more and to provide the best environment possible for the consumer population.

Another reason why capitalism is the most healthy economic system is that it allows for upward nobility, the American dream.  In non-free market capitalist systems, that possibility just isn't there.  However, with capitalism, anyone who has a good idea and is willing to work hard can make just about anything out of his or herself.  There is always room for new corporations and small local businesses.  A teenage boy can teach himself computer skills and make hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Without capitalism, life would not have an many golden opportunities just lurking in behind every corner.

In addition to providing opportunity, capitalism provides incentive to have lofty goals (since they are possible to achieve) and to invent incredible new ideas.  Capitalism allows inventions like computers and ipods to take place!  Without a competitive market, all of the old companies would just keep doing what they're doing and not really have to worry about cranking out new services or products.  With capitalism, it is a necessity for businesses to do this.  Therefore, capitalism has, indirectly, allowed for the creation of most of our current American culture and advances in science and technology!

The truth of the matter is that, unless the entire world became a utopia, the international market is a capitalist market and any national market that already operates with the capitalist system is set up to by more fit automatically.  Capitalism is the best system, and it actually can work for an indefinite amount of time, unlike other economic systems such as socialism, which depend on government and politics to continue to function.  The Economic Darwinism type of system will happen regardless of the wishes of politicians, so let the economy flourish as it naturally weeds out the weak businesses and promotes the good, strong ones.

Social Security... Necessary Safety Net or Ponzi Scheme?

Today the government announced that Social Security recipients will begin receiving a 3.6% increase in their benefits beginning next January.  This increase is the result of a mandate that the amount of money in benefits will automatically increase every year based off of the COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) which seems to adjust primarily based on inflation.  As we all know, Social Security has been an object of dispute in U.S government recently.  Governor Perry claims that the system is essentially a Ponzi Scheme, while others claim that Social Security is necessary and perfectly viable.  So is Social Security a safety net or a Ponzi Scheme?

As the system is set up now, the current recipients of the Social Security are being provided their benefits from the working citizens of America who pay Social Security taxes.  In the Ponzi scheme, investors where repaid with a profit based solely on money that the next wave of investors would invest.  The issue is that it relies on the next wave being larger than its preceding wave or the scheme just falls apart.  This can certainly be related to the Social Security system because it also relies on the next wave of people to repay the people that already paid into the system while they were working with the expectation of receiving compensation when they finally retire.  It is similar to the Ponzi scheme because it completely relies on the next wave of working tax-payers to provide them with their promised benefits.  However, it is dissimilar to a Ponzi scheme because the government is not looking to make a profit on this system, but to provide a pension for the retired citizens to live on once they no longer have an income from working.

Logically, we can not just leave the elderly and disabled to fend for themselves.  We live in the greatest nation on the planet and a major reason why we are so great is that we never fail to protect our own.  I would hate to see the day when society foolishly turns its back on our parents and grandparents who helped us all as we grew up and who took care of us when we could not yet take care of ourselves.  After all, we will all hit the the same point eventually and a little boost to what we can spend every month would undeniably be appreciated.  Even our oldest ancestors had systems set up in their very primitive societies to care for their elderly citizens.  They simply became "elders" and "witch-doctors", people with a lot of life experiences and wisdom to share with the rest of the community.  This abundance of knowledge and wisdom was enough for them to be provided for.  Today, our senior citizens can still provide us with marvelous gifts of knowledge and wisdom.... AND they have already paid into the system so that they will receive their pensions in return.  To try to strip these people of the service that they have already paid for and clearly need is just a crime against humanity.

There is just one problem...  Our government has already engaged in deficit spending and has created committees to try to find a solution to this problem.  President Obama is even now considering changing the way that the COLA is calculated so that it will have less of an annual increase.  With the national debt that we have already accumulated and continue to accumulate, we will now be adding approximately $26,000 million dollars to our government's annual expenses.  They are struggling enough to make ends meet already! (number of citizens to receive the increased Social Security Benefits. (55 million) and the average increase in dollars per year (about $467), provided by fox news and CNN)

To answer my question that was the reason for this article, I believe that Social Security is a necessary safety net and is NOT a Ponzi scheme because it does not have selfish intentions.  However, it does have the same failing strategy that the Ponzi scheme had, which is bad news for everyone retiring in thirty years or more since they will have been paying into the fund through their taxes, only to find nothing in the jar for them later on.  Something needs to change about this system and the answer is NOT to increase taxes on the working American citizens who are already being burdened by the downtrodden economy.  Instead my challenge to the people who run our government is to find a way to reform the Social Security system so that people are not getting screwed (for lack of a better term).  So to those who want to keep Social Security, what other government services or agencies are less important and that we can do without so that we can fund Social Security?  We are going to have to make some sacrifices.  To those who believe that Social Security needs to be discontinued, is there something else that we can remove to trim the fat off our countries deficit spending without throwing our seniors into the lion's den?