Quote:
Originally Posted by BigV
Let me try another tack.
What do you think should have happened starting 21 Jan 2009? What do you think the Obama administration should have done that they did not do?
Another similar question.
What do you think a McCain-Palin administration would have done starting in Jan 2009? How would things have been different?
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I would have kept up our energy requirements. Obama jumped into "green jobs", before considering that Spain did a huge "green jobs" program, and had it backfire horribly on them.
Also, financial instruments that are either a) very highly leveraged, or b) are not dealing with principals (that is, with those who have no "skin in the game"), should be made illegal. These derivatives and etc., are nothing but gambling, without putting your bet on the table, and they WILL come back around and bite you on the bum, from time to time. And take a big bite when they do it.
I would not have given the 500 Million dollars to Salendra, because their business plan was already judged by the Bush administration, to be "too risky". But Obama did it because the owner was a big Obama money "bundler" for his campaign.
I would have started eVerify, to make our jobs start going to citizens and legal residents, only, and decrease our illegal border crossings.
I would NOT have allowed ATF and FBI to run the "Fast and Furious" gun smuggling program - stupid and deadly.
I would not have an "enemies list" where anyone who speaks out against the President (like Joe the Plumber), gets immediately audited by the IRS, etc. Now, Obama is prosecuting whistleblowers with a WWI espionage law!
I would not have put the 249 million dollars into A123 battery company, or allowed the stupid Volt car to be produced - GM loses some $40,000 dollars on each one it sells, and VERY few people want one, because they won't run on anything else but battery power. Their range is about 50 miles - and THAT's IT, until you recharge them for a few hours, at least.
I would have allowed GM to go through regular bankruptcy, and get re-organized, as business law decrees. Not rip off the bond holders and shareholders, and give it to the Unions and the gov't.
I would change the Ted Kennedy citizenship law, where if one member of a family is a citizen, then every member of the family can become one. That is entirely laughable.
I would reform our immigration service, so immigrants (legal), don't have to wait years to be approved.
I would stop the billions of foreign aid we give out every year, on a case by case basis. We need to pay Egypt 400 Million in foreign aid every year, like we need a new hole in our heads.
I would work to have a nation of Palestine be created, in the middle east, but not in Israel. Perhaps in the Sinai next to Israel, and then extending up a bit, toward Jerusalem. The Jews keep Jerusalem, but the Muslims keep access to it, as well as the Jews. The Jews get more of the West Bank area, because it's critical to their strategic safety - from those heights, you can shoot rocks or mortars, onto a great deal of Israel, and the Palestinians have shown an unholy willingness to do launch both, by the thousands.
Despite their behavior, the Palestinians deserve a country of their own, and need to get out of Gaza. We should REALLY help them make their new country. It was passed by the UN, in 1948 - it's well overdue.
These economic sanctions we're taking now against Iran, I would have initiated sooner. The earlier one's were nothing but cotton candy, with no bite to them.
Our Embassies and consulates clearly needed to be either strongly reinforced, or closed. They remind me of the strategy we used against the Japanese in WWII, except we have taken on the role of the Japanese - and Al Qaeda has taken on MacArthur: ridiculous!
The "nation building" efforts we've made in Iraq and Afghanistan, were a huge drain on us. We don't owe these people billions of dollars to reshape their country.
It was a military necessity to take on Al Qaeda. (and the Taliban if they wanted to fight us, as well.) That is all we needed to do. We don't need to be there for 10 years, trying to make a backward tribal country, into a modern one. That is something they must do for themselves.
I would have given more support to the drive to remove polio from the planet. They need more support to finish it off, just like they did with Smallpox.
I would have started a much more aggressive program to help research into stem cells and regeneration of organs - especially Islet of Langerhorn's, (diabetes), kidneys, and hearts.
In fiscal policy, I'd have used the old tried and true approach - cut gov't spending, and cut taxes. Stop the gov't from buying sub prime mortgages. Stop anyone from passing off fraudulent loan applications, without being prosecuted. A fraud is a fraud, period.
Make banks, back into banks, not gambling casinos.
Some stimulus money was needed, but not NEARLY all that Obama gave.
So many things, I can't begin to list them all.
McCain is not a Conservative. He's a middle of the road guy. Palin is a conservative, but had limited experience. John would have gone with a strong stimulus, I'm sure. Not as big as Obama's, but big.
It would have been interesting, but probably not the success we all want.
Great questions!
