I AM STILL THE DICTATER ( I wish)

Just a few more things I would do ----

1) Campaign finance reform : If you can't vote for them, you can't contribute to their campaign. That means no more corporate or labor union involment. Limit individual contributions to 2000.00 dollars.

2) Tax simplification: Eliminate the schedule A. Eliminate charitable contributions ( to much cheating). One page return with with schedules attached for interest, dividends and capital gain/loss. Phase out the earned income ( tax) credit. Again, to much cheating.

3) Corporate tax reform: Dividends to be payed from gross profits (before taxable income)
No more double taxation of dividends. The enormous advantages of this simple rule are too numerous to mention but your dictator would be quite willing to discuss this further should anyone care to ask.

4) Do away with the minimum wage. This would allow marginal workers to be hired for jobs that now go unfilled. Perhaps you don't remember the old days when teenagers would fill your gas tank, clean the windshield and check the oil and air. Way back in those days, a dime or quarter tip was expected. Do you recall the old folks in the elevators directing you to the correct floor.

This is the end of the dictator series. It is by no means the end of the ukases I would issue.

CONTROLING THE FEDERAL BUDGET (I AM THE DICTATOR )

This is a no brainer for anyone with a grain of sense. That would be too much to expect of our elected officials. Here are a few simple ideas which would save billions.

1) Do away with the so called earmarks. They used to be called pork but that term got a bad reputation so , in their infinite wisdom, our congress decided to rename it. No one was fooled.

2)Give the president (the dictator if I have my way ) the line item veto so he ( I ) can eliminate the stupidest items in the budget proposals. You may not believe this but the departments are required to spend all the money allotted to them. I would change that rule also.

3) Do away with the cost of living increases for everybody, including congress, government employees, social security recipients and other so called entitlement payments.

4) Do away with foreign aid, especially to counties that are not our friends.

5) Phase out the earned income (tax) credit. Much of the money returned to the lower income filers is filed fraudulently.

6)Gradually increase the age of retirement for social security recipients. Everyone knows that the system is going broke but no one is doing anything about it.

So that is a start. We will have saved many billions of dollars. I have many other ideas but I leave it to my faithful readers to give me their suggestions.

IF I WERE A DICTATOR ( Cont. )

IF I WERE A DICTATOR ( Cont. )

I must go back to the immigration subject, albeit having much to say about other topics.
In answer to the commentary of some of my faithful readers I state the following :
1) We are not running out all the illegals. Quite the contrary. We are giving these scofflaws a chance to legalize their stay. But we don't particularly want them here permanently or even to give them citizenship. We do want them to do the dirty work ( Agriculture, construction, etc.)
and so give them two years to stay. Then they may return after one year ( or six months)
for another two years work. How humane can a dictator be ?

IF I WERE A DICTATOR

A recurring dream of mine has me in charge of the US government. I am in complete control and am able to solve almost all the problems that plague our wonderful country. There are 5 problems that seem to require my immediate attention.

1) Immigration : Build a great double wall across the borders and put plenty of guards along it. National guard and army could be employed. No more Mr. nice guy. Get tough on the miscreants that are caught.
Those illegal immigrants already here would be required to register and be issued an identification, Without this documents they would not be able to work or rent dwellings or receive any benefits. If caught, the non registered ones would be subject to deportation at once.
Those who register would be allowed two years to stay and then be required to return to their country of origin for at least one year and be allowed back in for a two year period upon presentation of the registry document.. Children born of illegals would no have US citizenship.
Problem solved. QED

I will discuss spending control in the next IF I WERE A DICTATOR blog.

A NEW ADD ICTION

It's bad enough that many of us are addicted to alcohol, drugs, tobacco, food and the list goes on. Now I have discovered, to my dismay, that there are other, heretofore unexpected habituating things, to wit, BOGGLE. The old game, is with a boxful of letters which when shaken allows one to select words. It is a fine competitive pastime, lots of fun with any number of players involved. Mildly addictive. The new game is on the computer. It shakes the computer picture of the box and comes up with the letters. It then selects a competitor and gives one three minutes to select what words one can find. The more games one wins, the harder he competition. I need help. I cannot stop playing. At night,w hen I should be asleep, I play the game in my mind. I no longer read or even watch TV. It's boggle time, day or night. I want to thank my dear daughter Margie for starting me on this ruinous path.

BACK TO NORMMAL

Still recovering from the Christmas new year celebrations.
How wonderful to have large portions of family and friends
around but after a week it is a relief to be alone again/ Jan, bless her,
has already re exhausted herself, undoing all the decorations she spent many hours putting up just a few days ago.
We spent many happy hours playing Boggle on the computer. As many as 10 at a time gathered about, shouting out words they were able to spot on the screen. The typist had to be quick to get them all down. It is unbelievable how quickly the kids can type, faster I think than one can talk. Poker and Wii and jigsaw puzzles kept us busy. We ate out frequently. Never a dull moment.
On another subject: I am objecting once again on English language usage.
Will everyone quit saying "very unique" and "more unique". Am I the only one left in the world who knows that unique means one of a kind? One could correctly say
"almost unique" or better yet rare, or unusual.