1. GIVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THEIR PAPERS. If you know quite a few illegals, as I do, you will know that many of them are dying to buy cars, houses and set up companies. Since 9/11, and not being allowed drivers' licenses, these things have become virtually impossible for them to do. Let them do it, and the economy will flourish, as 15 million additional people buy houses, cars and set up companies. What an amazing gift! It's like winning the lottery! And so much easier than arguing about whether fiscal stimulus works or not, or how much we should tax the rich.
I can already hear a few counter-arguments:
a) But they've broken the law! We can't reward that!
I know it's a cheap shot to make comparisons with Hitler, and I try to avoid it in general, but in this case, I'm making an exception. Let me remind you of the Nuremberg Laws. Just because something is a law passed by what is apparently a democracy, and just because you believe in the rule of law, that does not mean that all laws should be respected. Some are grossly discriminatory, and anyone with a conscience should oppose them. Illegal immigrants are people living in this country, many of them working extremely hard, why should they be deprived of basic rights, like driving a car? I'm not a Christian except in a very loose sense of the word, but if I were, I'd find it particularly hard to stand in front of God, on judgment day, and admit that depriving honest people of their papers was something I acquiesced in.
b) They'll take away jobs from poor Americans!
Guys, they're already here. They've already taken those jobs. If you legalize them, if anything they'll compete less for low-paid jobs, because they'll ask employers for health care, they'll pay taxes, they'll refuse to be exploited for less than the minimum wage. So if you're worried about them taking low-paying jobs for goodness' sake use your common sense: it's all the more reason to legalize them.
This partly ties in with no. 2, because as you may or may not know, part of the reason illegal aliens are popular with employers, is that they can't ask for healthcare benefits:
2. ABOLISH EMPLOYER-PROVIDED HEALTHCARE. This employer-based healthcare system is simply the nuttiest part of the American economy, period. In China, Russia and other Socialist countries, they've spent years reforming state-owned enterprises (often under advice from American advisers and bankers) so that companies do NOT provide healthcare. Here in the US, however, it's the norm. Hello? A company is not a good vehicle for providing healthcare. Unless it's a hospital or a doctor's office, it's supposed to be providing other kinds of services, or producing products. Why on earth get them involved in providing something as complicated as healthcare?
Also, the number of people I know who get a job (instead of setting up a business, or being freelance) just because they want the benefits. Imagine if those people didn't have to worry about those benefits, and they could actually do the work they wanted to! And contribute to making the economy more dynamic! Again, complete no-brainer. The healthcare system stifles initiative and economic efficiency.
(I don't want to go on here about the limitations of the US health system, admittedly one of my pet peeves, but you do have to worry about any economy where, when you get prospectuses for adult education courses, one career path which is highlighted as having 'strong growth prospects' in the years to come is the "Health Certification Program" which turns you into a "Certified Billing and Coding Specialist." Enough said.)
And now on to no. 3. This is a recent one for me:
3. BREAK UP THE BANKS. My breakthrough on this topic is actually fairly recent, and prompted by an interview I did with Francis Fukuyama while taking a break from my screaming kids. I drove into the office for a 50 minute rest from "Mummy, I want to watch TV, now!" and was completely blown away by everything he had to say. In particular, Frank completely convinced me that breaking up the banks does have to happen. Wall Street bankers are just too savvy for regulators and rating agencies, and they always will be. The only solution is not to have banks that are too big too fail.
As an aside, I should add that I do think Freddie and Fannie distort the mortgage market, and local banks' ability to think for themselves. Having shopped around for mortgages to finance our house, it seems to be that the core of the mortgage business here, in upstate New York, is about flogging off loans to these government agencies. Suggest a mortgage that doesn't fit their criteria for some reason (like our house doesn't), and most lenders will say no: even if the sensible parameters which a loan should be judged by (how much the underlying asset is worth, the borrower's ability to pay) are completely out of the ballpark. Generally, I'm a somewhat-left-of-centre stay-at-home Mom, but on this one, I'm with the conservatives, abolish Freddie and Fannie!
4. PROBLEMS WITH THE US TAX CODE? NO NEED TO REFORM IT, JUST IMPORT THE BRITISH ONE!
Boy oh boy, Americans sure love exporting their ideas overseas. With the odd exception (100,000+ people dead in Iraq) it's mostly a good thing. But sometimes it's important to realize that life is not a one-way street, and Americans can learn from other places too. My simple solution for the tax code is that rather than reforming the US one, (and, anyway, how can you reform something no one understands in the first place? ) just import the UK one wholesale. The UK system works great. I know. I am an international-type person and I have to fill in both a US tax return (except I can't, so I have to get an accountant to do it for me because it's so complicated, even though I earn less than $40,000 a year, and I don't own a single stock or bond, or have any retirement account) and I fill in a UK one. The UK one takes me 15 minutes to fill in! Earlier this month I did it while my Dad, who was visiting from Italy, was having a beer! Clearly it's a superior system. Also, while the IRS seems like a great place, IMHO the civil servants who staff the UK's Inland Revenue are a more sensible bunch. It might just be worth transporting them across the Atlantic to administrate the new tax code that we've just implemented. Though it's true that might lead to problems with the INS, who are even less efficient than the IRS...
So I'll let that one go for now. But it's all pretty simple really, isn't it, when it comes down to it? Let's get these four things done, and move on already.
Boy oh boy, Americans sure love exporting their ideas overseas. With the odd exception (100,000+ people dead in Iraq) it's mostly a good thing. But sometimes it's important to realize that life is not a one-way street, and Americans can learn from other places too. My simple solution for the tax code is that rather than reforming the US one, (and, anyway, how can you reform something no one understands in the first place? ) just import the UK one wholesale. The UK system works great. I know. I am an international-type person and I have to fill in both a US tax return (except I can't, so I have to get an accountant to do it for me because it's so complicated, even though I earn less than $40,000 a year, and I don't own a single stock or bond, or have any retirement account) and I fill in a UK one. The UK one takes me 15 minutes to fill in! Earlier this month I did it while my Dad, who was visiting from Italy, was having a beer! Clearly it's a superior system. Also, while the IRS seems like a great place, IMHO the civil servants who staff the UK's Inland Revenue are a more sensible bunch. It might just be worth transporting them across the Atlantic to administrate the new tax code that we've just implemented. Though it's true that might lead to problems with the INS, who are even less efficient than the IRS...
So I'll let that one go for now. But it's all pretty simple really, isn't it, when it comes down to it? Let's get these four things done, and move on already.
