What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Issues thread- Results (what are the most pressing issues) in thread. (2 Viewers)

timschochet said:
How will our lives be improved in a clear, tangible way if there is no annual deficit? 
Click to expand...
We are saving ourselves or a future generation from a financial collapse of epic proportions.  Much like climate change, it’s a ticking time bomb that will go off.  

 
1. Climate Change

2. Healthcare

3. BIG

4. Wealth Inequality (what hack said)

These have the greatest impact to the most people so these would be my focus.

As to fatguy's comment - I get what he's saying but to flip it around, we have the chaos that is going on and we are still chugging along.  I think it shows a combination of how fragile we are and how we are almost "too big to fail" - we need to correct some things but I don't see it as the biggest priority.  I would revise that if something happens in the 2020 election that makes me reevaluate.

 
stlrams said:
We are not talking about him in this thread....take it somewhere else. 
Click to expand...
Seems like a legitimate position.  I could easily be talked into that being my top political priority in terms of how I vote in the next election.

 
Henry Ford said:
My personal list, though I've likely forgotten something important.

1. Environmental Policy - This is the number one issue facing humanity right now.  Not just coastal communities, but everyone. It includes investing in making the U.S. one of the forefronts for development of cleaner energy tech, which would ensure American leadership into the next century, and cleaning up pollution in the air, soil, and water.   And refusing to do business with countries that don't work to clean up their messes in international spaces.

2. Healthcare - not health insurance, healthcare.  We need, as a society, to decide that everyone gets access to healthcare.  Including and especially mental healthcare. This is not just a moral issue, it's a crime reduction issue and an economic growth issue.

3. Social Safety Net In General - goes with healthcare, and is the backbone of lowering crime rates - especially crimes of desperation - in this country, and is also an economic growth issue.

4. Infrastructure - self explanatory.

5. Money In Politics - we have to do something about this.  The country spent $2.4 billion on the 2016 presidential race.  That's ridiculous.  That much money means big donors, pacs, and multinational corporations have insane amounts of influence on policy.  That has to change.
Click to expand...
You and I are pretty much in agreement here - my only quibble is that while I think Infrastructure is very important, I would push it down the list.  It seems like we manage to get stuff taken care of if/when it gets bad enough - generally speaking of course.

 
AAABatteries said:
 It seems like we manage to get stuff taken care of if/when it gets bad enough - generally speaking of course.
Click to expand...
That's not a great way to manage things. Costly and inefficient at best. Catastrophic outcomes at worst. Energy (generation and distribution), cybersecurity, network infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, water utilization/infrastructure - all these things are in desperate need of overhauls and improvements.

 
Godsbrother said:
MY #1 issue is getting rid of Trump and restoring some semblance of sanity and integrity to the oval office.
Click to expand...
Again, I'm willing to revisit this in 13 months but right now I think we just play out the string and see where we are at - I do fear what a lame duck Trump could be capable of trying but quite a bit of the "bad" stuff he's tried has been shot down.  I think if the Dems do well in 2020 it will embolden Republicans to put Trump in check if he manages to win next November.

 
Gr00vus said:
That's not a great way to manage things. Costly and inefficient at best. Catastrophic outcomes at worst. Energy (generation and distribution), cybersecurity, network infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, water utilization/infrastructure - all these things are in desperate need of overhauls and improvements.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree but we were asked to prioritize, I'm not downplaying it and thankfully we have the ability to multitask, even if we never do it.  I just don't think it's more important than the things I listed.  Things keep moving along and while there's the occasional issue for the most part once it reaches critical mass we react.  You are completely correct that it's not a great way to tackle things but it's better than never getting done.

 
timschochet said:
The criticism I have read against the fair tax is that it's based on consumption, and that it would therefore favor the wealthy at the expense of the poor. What say you to this?
Click to expand...
Food (groceries) and clothing would be exempt from the Fair tax.  For other stuff there are ways to fix this such as periodic rebates to the poor.  

 
Henry Ford said:
5. Money In Politics - we have to do something about this.  The country spent $2.4 billion on the 2016 presidential race.  That's ridiculous.  
Click to expand...
Relative to the overall federal budget and/or GDP, that is a ridiculous amount.  Ridiculously small, that is.  (That paper was published in 2003 under the old policy regime, but the basic point remains -- it's very difficult to explain why there is so little money in politics unless you view political donations as mostly a consumption good).

 
Godsbrother said:
MY #1 issue is getting rid of Trump and restoring some semblance of sanity and integrity to the oval office.
Click to expand...
This is basically it for me too.  I care about lots of policy issues, but Item #1 is restoring the democratic norms that have been eroded during this administration.  If the Democrats nominate a candidate who will commit to that, I'll take policy losses in other areas.  

 
IvanKaramazov said:
Relative to the overall federal budget and/or GDP, that is a ridiculous amount.  Ridiculously small, that is.  (That paper was published in 2003 under the old policy regime, but the basic point remains -- it's very difficult to explain why there is so little money in politics unless you view political donations as mostly a consumption good).
Click to expand...
1. We're not talking about federal budget money.  We're talking about money in general.  

2. That's one race in 2016.  

Edit: and 3. that paper was from 2003.  The 2000 Presidential election cost about a billion dollars less.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
IvanKaramazov said:
This is basically it for me too.  I care about lots of policy issues, but Item #1 is restoring the democratic norms that have been eroded during this administration.  If the Democrats nominate a candidate who will commit to that, I'll take policy losses in other areas.  
Click to expand...
Strictly for the purpose of this thread, let's assume that Trump doesn't exist.

So what then are the issues that are important to you?

 
At the risk of boring everyone by beating the election reform drum yet again, a couple of basic things we can do will mitigate (not solve) the huge problem of money's influence on elections. We can increase the size of the House and we can create multi-member districts in a whole bunch of states. Substantially increasing the number of Reps in Congress makes each seat slightly less valuable to win and multi-member districts (with single transferable voting) lowers the threshhold for getting elected and makes it more possible for new parties without the backing of wealthy donors to establish themselves and actually elect candidates.

 
These came to mind first

#1 - Money in politics - Nothing else really truly matters until we stop politicians from being bought off.  But good luck with a solution when the people that make the laws are the ones involved in being bought.

#2 - Taxes - All these programs that people want and to pay for it by "taxing the wealthy" is mostly nonsense when the filthy rich have so many tax breaks at their disposal.  Fix the tax code and then start figuring out what programs should be funded.

#3 - Healthcare Industry - This isn't just about health insurance companies.  It's about the ridiculous cost of drugs, doctors forcing patients in for office visits before seeing specialists (with stupid co-pays since ObamaCare), and stupid costs for health procedures.    Put some price control on this crap instead of arguing about single payer or the health insurance companies first.

 
Godsbrother said:
MY #1 issue is getting rid of Trump and restoring some semblance of sanity and integrity to the oval office.
Click to expand...


IvanKaramazov said:
This is basically it for me too.  I care about lots of policy issues, but Item #1 is restoring the democratic norms that have been eroded during this administration.  If the Democrats nominate a candidate who will commit to that, I'll take policy losses in other areas.  
Click to expand...
I would have to imagine that a candidate that HAS A PLAN TO ADDRESS the majority of the issues discussed in this thread should be able to defeat Trump 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
KiddLattimer said:
I would have to imagine that a candidate that tackles the majority of the issues discussed in this thread should be able to defeat Trump 
Click to expand...
Wait.  So a candidate that solves climate change, universal medicare, social secutiry reform, rebuilds our infrastructure, creates a "fair" fair tax and legalizes pot could defeat Trump?   Man I don't know..that seems like a stretch to me.   

 
supermike80 said:
Wait.  So a candidate that solves climate change, universal medicare, social secutiry reform, rebuilds our infrastructure, creates a "fair" fair tax and legalizes pot could defeat Trump?   Man I don't know..that seems like a stretch to me.   
Click to expand...
Right, I definitely meant they had to solve it on day one. 

 
KiddLattimer said:
Right, I definitely meant they had to solve it on day one. 
Click to expand...
I'm glad he pointed that out, then.  Until he did, I didn't realize that by "tackle" you meant "solve."  You should be more careful with your words.  If I may be so bold, I understand that there's someone who has the very best words you may want to hire if he's out of a job in a year or so.

 
Henry Ford said:
I'm glad he pointed that out, then.  Until he did, I didn't realize that by "tackle" you meant "solve."  You should be more careful with your words.  If I may be so bold, I understand that there's someone who has the very best words you may want to hire if he's out of a job in a year or so.
Click to expand...
I have the most luxurious words, they're perfect really

 
Ok back to the topic or Timmy will get really really upset soon.

Gotta say climate change, while important, isn't top on my list.  Most of mine are financial.

Social Secrity

Medicare

Probably because I am getting closer to retirement.    G

 
Last edited by a moderator:
IvanKaramazov said:
Relative to the overall federal budget and/or GDP, that is a ridiculous amount.  Ridiculously small, that is.  (That paper was published in 2003 under the old policy regime, but the basic point remains -- it's very difficult to explain why there is so little money in politics unless you view political donations as mostly a consumption good).
Click to expand...
You may have already seen this, but we as a nation spend more on almonds than we do on politics. (Not just political campaigns, but also PACs, lobbying, think tanks, advocacy organizations...)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ramblin Wreck said:
These came to mind first

#1 - Money in politics - Nothing else really truly matters until we stop politicians from being bought off.  But good luck with a solution when the people that make the laws are the ones involved in being bought.

#2 - Taxes - All these programs that people want and to pay for it by "taxing the wealthy" is mostly nonsense when the filthy rich have so many tax breaks at their disposal.  Fix the tax code and then start figuring out what programs should be funded.

#3 - Healthcare Industry - This isn't just about health insurance companies.  It's about the ridiculous cost of drugs, doctors forcing patients in for office visits before seeing specialists (with stupid co-pays since ObamaCare), and stupid costs for health procedures.    Put some price control on this crap instead of arguing about single payer or the health insurance companies first.
Click to expand...
Great list.  
 

Add education reform/spending to this list and I’m all about it.  

 
I love pairing almonds and Riesling. But I'm entering the "daily glass of red wine, leer at middle-aged neighborhood ladies, be rude to people higher up the economic ladder than me" stage of life.

 
My list.

1. Democracy -- remove barriers to voting, deter foreign interference in elections, improve transparency and oversight...

2. Homelessness.

3. Criminal justice reform (including drug policy -- harm reduction rather than criminal prosecution).

4. Climate change.

5. Free Speech.

6. Unemployment.

7. Immigration.

8. Animal rights (factory farms).

9. Healthcare cost containment.

10. Education cost containment.

 
Maurile Tremblay said:
My list.

1. Democracy -- remove barriers to voting, deter foreign interference in elections, improve transparency and oversight...

2. Homelessness.

3. Criminal justice reform (including drug policy -- harm reduction rather than criminal prosecution).

4. Climate change.

5. Free Speech.

6. Unemployment.

7. Immigration.

8. Animal rights (factory farms).

9. Healthcare cost containment.

10. Education cost containment.
Click to expand...
I have a feeling that 3, 6, 7, 9, and 10 would do a lot for 2.  And 1, frankly.

 
roadkill1292 said:
I love pairing almonds and Riesling. But I'm entering the "daily glass of red wine, leer at middle-aged neighborhood ladies, be rude to people higher up the economic ladder than me" stage of life.
Click to expand...
i like mustard pretzels and pinot noir

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

GordonGekko
The Official "Political Tweets That REALLY Didn't Age Well" Thread (10/15/22 1:23 PST)
Replies
22
Views
827
GordonGekko
GordonGekko
glvsav37
Hulu and the Political Ads Issue
2
Replies
67
Views
2K
Desert_Power
Desert_Power
timschochet
The Joe Biden Thread- things are looking up
16 17 18
Replies
880
Views
16K
DocHolliday
DocHolliday

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 3 (members: 0, guests: 3)
Top