Advice For President Elect Obama

By Author: Mel Joelle
Total Articles: 4328
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Dear President Elect Obama,

I know you are busy selecting members of your team but ultimately the country and the world will look to you for policy. I thought I'd share with you my thoughts and hopefully actually hear back from you. I will limit this to Elections and the Economy and write you again on other key areas.

ELECTION LAW

1. Make all Federal Elections publicly funded. There is only one special interest group: The People. Each of the candidates from the two major parties should have access to an equal amount of funding for their campaign. In this way, the competition will be about ideas and policy and not about fund raising and where the funds came from. Even if all of the elections cost 2+ billion dollars over a 4 year span, it would be all public money, contributed progressively by the people. Lobbyists can still lobby but they will have to lobby with ideas only and not campaign contributions.
2. Fix the ongoing issues with election voting machines. Surely there is technology that can effectively deal with this once and for all. It makes no sense that we can't quickly deal ...
... with this so that the voters can gain the confidence it needs about the voting process.

THE ECONOMY

1. Eliminate the Corporate Tax. It only results in decreased profits, less investment, fewer jobs and increased consumer prices. Capital will travel to where it is treated best and we have one of the highest corporate taxes in the world. We want to keep jobs in this country. The first step is to keep capital in this country.
2. Lower and eventually eliminate the Capital Gains Tax. If we are to continue to tax the earned income of Americans, why then can it be morally or economically justified to tax the net income again if someone actually goes out and makes a profit from investing their hard earned money in our American system. Again, capital will go where it is treated best. Our international competitors treat capital better than we are and this needs to change in the growing global economy. At the very least eliminate the tax for investments held at least one year. You may wish to tax short term capital gains to guard against excessive speculation.
3. Make the auto industry provide reorganization plans that must be voted on by shareholders, the Congress and signed by you before agreeing to any loan amount. It is a must that all cost elements including labor contracts be included in the reorganization. There can be no question that the labor contracts are part of the problem and they must be a part of the solution. If the UAW continues to play hardball, we the people have to play hardball too. As Reagan before you with Federal Aviation Workers, you may have to make a tough decision. Regardless, the auto industry can only be helped if they are willing and able to take decisive, generational action to become market-focused. They may be too big to fail; but so is America. We have to demand better.
4. Banking and Finance - if the banks still do not lend after we have provided the capital injections, then government has to step in to create work-outs on a case by case basis to provide a path for people to save their homes. The same will likely have to be done for commercial real estate as well.
5. Immediately reinstate the up-tick rule for short sales on Wall Street. While that is not the sole cause of this huge bear market, the absence of this rule can exacerbate the pain of falling stock prices.
6. Immediately name the successor to Christopher Cox what he did with the uptick rule was insane and he should not be in that job for even one more day. Convince President Bush to do it now.
7. Cut the marginal rate on Income Taxes for ALL Americans. Ethically and morally, tax policy should apply equally to everyone. We are not lower class Americans, middle class Americans and upper class Americans we are Americans.
8. Increase the retirement age to 70. The life expectancy has dramatically increased since Social Security first was enacted and the retirement age needs to reflect that. You will need to phase this in and I suggest that you change this starting with all people born since 1950 or 1960 depending on the math. Regardless, this must be done to reflect the reality of life expectancy, the benefits of work, and the long term solvency and relevancy of the Social Security System.
9. Improve the investment performance of the Social Security System. The return on this investment of worker's money is abysmal. If the government is to require this of all Americans then it needs to perform better as a retirement vehicle. If these funds were merely invested in Treasury Bonds and Notes, the system would have much more money for retirees.
10. Allow up to 40% of the Social Security Tax personally controlled so that Americans can make their own choices to build their own retirement.
11. Create the following incentives:
1. Income Tax Credit of $10,000.00 for purchase of cars that get 40+ miles per gallon.
2. Add a Gas Guzzler tax of 10% for any car getting under 15mpg.
3. Reinstate the 10% Investment Tax Credit for Equipment, Technology originally instated by JFK. Why we got rid of that I will never know. Its a great way of stimulating all manner of things in our economy.
4. Give SubChapter S Corporations and LLC's a 10% tax credit for the first 2 years for all new workers hired.
5. Allow SubChapter S Corporations to carryover at least 5% of their income on their books into the new tax year without having to pay on that balance on their personal tax returns.
6. Eliminate the AMT. This is a great example of why all tax policy should be indexed for inflation.
12. Make all changes to the tax code indexed for inflation so that Congress doesn't have an inflation-incentive.
13. Don't let the oil price decline fool you. We need to drill there can be no question. We need nuclear power, we need gas liquefaction, we need solar, we need wind, we need natural gas. You should meet with Boone Pickens as I think he has a plan that is well worth seriously considering.
14. Yes, build and repair bridges and roads, but also invest in the infrastructure of the internet and connectivity. The faster we are, the more connected we are, the more we can do in a faster time period.
15. Create incentives to get the best and the brightest from overseas to come and live in America and become Americans. We need them.

President-Elect Obama, I like many, but not all of your choices you have made so far. I am feeling more comfortable with you as I see that you are putting a great deal of thought into your choices. It is my hope that the you will include these ideas in your policies. I believe all of these ideas are good for all Americans and the nation as a whole.

I will write further to you in the near future.
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