The one thing you don't want is a balanced budget amendment. Think about the consequences and where we would be today if we'd have had a balanced budget amendment in 2008! In a perfect world with perfect people, a balanced budget amendment would be a great idea. But this is not a perfect world with perfect people. Fix government first. Then there will be time enough to consider a balanced budget amendment.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/97944-emulate-sweden-not-japan http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/business/economy/news.php?q=1232657388 A bit dated perhaps, but still relevant points.
"The U.S. will not become Argentina, nor Greece, nor Spain, nor Italy, not Portugal, nor Ireland -- not for the foreseeable future anyway. " that is not true. the US is made up of 50 Greeces know as states. exact timing is unknowable but your refusal, to recognize this fact , previously mentioned,does not speak well for your sense of realism. of course california as usual is in the forefront. once the states start lining up for bailouts to pay the gov't sector the dollar will collapse just like the Argentinian peso. even now the dollar is a weak currency in spite of the fact that the euro is a garbage currency.
Precisely. Illinois is in worse shape than California. Teachers, Fireman, Policrman, etc get a pension well over 100k per year when they retire. In comparison my Dad's pension is 25k per year + 25k social security + whatever he's required to withdraw from his IRAs. That's a reasonable pension. 100k to retire is pure insanity. Pensions and Medicare are going break the state that's already 16B in debt. Unfortunately, Illinois can't print money.
Just that I think we have the largest consumer base in the world (spending $$ total) and we need to charge entry in order for those consumers to be on the list of some companies. We need to say "You can play in this market, but you need to have some employees here - you can't send them off to some place cheaper."
"Fix government first." that is liking having the fox guard the chicken coop. what a joke. you are for big well paid government. 1st you have a balanced budget amendment balance on the back of government workers. everything will the work out.