Freeze The Budget Now

STEP 1.

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STEP 2.

• Freeze the Budget Now! - The elimination of the Federal deficit is critical to the future of our country.  We simply cannot continue to borrow from those whose interests may be hostile to ours, and whose withdrawal from the markets as our banker could trigger a massive recession, depression, or jeopardize our national security.  Therefore, a five-year plan to eliminate the deficit is the critical, immediate first step. This must be a truly bi-partisan plan that freezes all current budgets, eliminates all legislative earmarks, and will not incur the costs of any new programs until we have eliminated the Federal budget deficit  on or before the fifth anniversary of this “Rebuild America” program.
  
  
• Jobs Creation -   Small Business in the U.S. is our greatest engine of jobs creation.  Nearly 70% of all new jobs over the last three decades have come from small business, and any economic plan must start with providing small business immediate access to the operating capital needed to accelerate job growth.  Small businesses don’t need this capital to be outright grants; they need ready access to capital markets to fund their ideas and growth.  We must rapidly expand the SBA loan programs, and expand lending guarantee authority to powerfully prime this job engine with long term loans to fund this historic economic heavyweight.
  
  
• Energy Independence – Rather than paying foreign powers billions of dollars every year for our vital energy needs, we must treat energy as a matter of national security, focusing on the domestic energy resources we already have in abundance in the USA – oil, natural gas, nuclear energy, solar, and wind. However, of these resources, the most immediate and realistic solution to energy independence is nuclear energy. More lives are lost each year in backyard swimming pool accidents than have ever been lost in nuclear power generation in the US, yet we fail to expand on the most economic and realistic method of becoming energy independent. France has harnessed nuclear power, and there is no reason we cannot do this safely and achieve the national peace of mind of true energy independence.  We need to embrace energy independence as a source of national pride and national security, not only for today’s needs but for generations of US citizens to come.
  
  
• A Debt-Free America – In addition to eliminating the deficit, we must run the country as we are taught to run our households.  The American dream of buying a home and paying it off over 15, 20, or 30 years has been a core part of our lives for many generations. Many of our parents and grandparents had “mortgage burning” parties to celebrate their debt-free future after years of discipline in paying off their home. We need a “mortgage burning” plan to pay off our country’s debt in forty years or less, commencing this payoff period after the elimination of the budget deficit.  Just imagine the strength of the United States with no domestic or foreign debt – we would have the strongest currency in the world.  This would truly make us the home of the most financially independent citizens of any major country in the world and protect the prosperity of future generations.
  
  
• Defend America First - In order to achieve the goals of Re-Building America, we must refine the meaning of “providing for the common defense.”  We can no longer afford the luxury of being “policemen of the world”. The emerging economic powers of the world today – China, India, Brazil, Russia – do not have troops stationed all over the world, at the expense of their citizens lives and their national resources.  Instead, they are focused on growing their domestic economies and improving the well-being of their citizens.  Economic freedom is fundamental to a free society, and we must focus our scarce financial resources on the direct benefits to our own country and its citizens.  Bring our troops home, except in those instances that have strategic significance to outlying US security interests. Those countries that enjoy the benefit of the presence of US troops, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Europe, Korea and Japan, should help defray the costs of those troops.  Otherwise, bring them home.  Focus on our technological skills in improving US security and intelligence, and re-deploy these valuable human resources to the growth and well being of the US economy while dramatically cutting our deficit with these savings.  This is an imperative component of the “Rebuild America” plan.
  
  
• Simplify Taxation - Americans believe in fairness, and paying their fair share of taxes, especially when a strong economy brings them income.  However, there is a multi-billion dollar economy that exists outside the tax code – cash paying, under the radar, and not bearing its fair share of the cost of running this country.  A national sales tax, in conjunction with a simple flat tax system for all citizens, will not only capture these uncollected dollars today, but simplify filing for everyone.  Those at poverty level or below would get refunds, and all others would pay on a simple flat rate, ranging from 10% to 25% of income.  This would eliminate the confusing, expensive annual ordeal of calculating taxes, and would save individual taxpayers billions of tax preparation costs in the process.  Another positive result would be the elimination of billions of dollars in costs for collections by the IRS or other taxpayer funded agencies.
  
  
• Reform Health Care - Any plan to Rebuild America must “promote the general welfare,” and in this instance, the reform of health care is the most pressing need.  However, true health care reform must attack costs first, then use these savings to expand coverage to the uninsured or under insured population beyond that level provided today.  The surest way to reduce health care cost is promote competition between providers. We can accomplish this by removing all barriers between states, with insurers throughout the US bidding for the business of all Americans, regardless of where they live. An old adage says, “The solution to high prices is high prices.” We need to let the free market do its work in lowering health costs through competitive processes.  Tort reform must also be a part of improving our healthcare system.
   
• Tort Reform - We must remove the incentives not only for excessive testing ordered by physicians as a courtroom defense, but to deter frivolous lawsuits and excessive demands on the court systems. A part of the solution may be found  by introducing a “loser pays” system such as that in the UK if the cases are found to be frivolous and without merit.  No US citizen should ever be denied his or her day in court, but a reasonable threshold of need should be established for the filing of these cases that clog our court systems, drain resources from the medical community, and raise our healthcare costs.
   
• Reform Social Security -The integrity of the Social Security system must be preserved, but not with all costs currently a part of the program.  Social Security recipients who have paid into the system their entire working lives deserve the peace of mind knowing those payments will be made, but should not be guaranteed full annual cost of living increases guaranteed throughout their lives.  Typical pension plans don’t do this, and Social Security was not intended to guarantee you the exact same purchasing power in retirement as you had while working full time.  Cost of living adjustments should be capped at one half of inflation, and the age of full retirement eligibility needs to be extended to insure the long term viability of the social security system.  
    
  This plan to Freeze the Budget Now and Re-Build America as an Economic Powerhouse hinges on the adoption of the principles set forth above.  We began as a nation with a purity of purpose.  We urgently need to return to this purity of purpose, with a powerful, simple, and non-negotiable promise from our elected representatives in all levels of government – balance the budget, treat every state and its citizens equitably in paying our fair share of taxes in a simple, easy to understand system and return our country to the core values of independence, fairness, and equality upon which it was founded.  After all, we citizens of the United States of America “hold these truths to be self evident”. We must forge a future that is free of reliance on any critical need other than the willpower, tenacity and creativity of the American people.  In doing so, we will surely "Secure the blessing of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Use the attached links to easily find and email your Congressional Representative or US Senator and demand that Congress Freeze the Budget Now!