Every year the management of businesses, both large and small, throughout the country take time to analyze the current business market and also to predict what the future might hold in the next few years.  Then they make management decisions based on those predictions.  If a company decides to expand, but then congress or the president says they want to change capital gains rates, pass a cap and trade bill to increase energy costs, pass a health care bill, provide cash stimulus to some companies, change tax codes, tax the rich, tax corporations, etc, etc, etc.  And then on a daily basis (it seems) change the details of each proposal; how is a business supposed to make plans regarding all these changes?  The answer is….. They don’t.  They wait to do anything until congress and the president either pass their changes or fail to do so.  How can we ask a business owner to perform if they never know the rules of the game, nor the boundaries to the field? 

I am proposing a change in the way we do business in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.  We absolutely have to make sure that all businesses know the playing field that they are to operate under.  These proposals and measures as laid out encompass many things that one may, at first glance, not think have anything to do with business and the economic health of our country.  But read the document, and then just don’t take my word for what I say, think yourself about how things in our country are interrelated.  Understand though that these measures need to be taken TOGETHER, and implemented in their entirety.  We can not set up more systems where we give with one hand and take away with another.  We can’t, as President Obama recently explained, let the Bush tax cuts expire but provide capital to small businesses.  Both those plans hit the same people, our business owners.  We need to create an environment that is stable, and conductive to good business practices to promote job creation and wealth building for our country.  This framework needs to be in place at least 7 consecutive years to allow businesses to plan longer term.   

With this in Mind I propose the following to promote business and economic development within our country and state.  

The first 5 items listed are designed to provide a base line to America so we know exactly where we are financially as a nation.  How can we make a comprehensive plan if we don’t know how many people we have to serve or how much money we already owe to creditors and programs?

1.     Close our borders.  Require all illegal aliens to register within 120 days of closing the border.  Individuals not registered are sent home immediately, when encountered in normal government activities  No favoritism, whether they are an illegal who walks across our border, sails here from Cuba, or comes on a student visa and they decide to stay.  Then do nothing.  We can have the “what to do with illegal immigrants debate later,” but right now we need to get the economy running.    Pass the New IDEA Act, and require the use of E-verify.

2. Congress needs to appoint a panel of independent auditors to look into the Federal Reserve, Tarp, Stimulus spending, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.  Until this is completed all these agencies are to freeze spending.
3. The Federal Reserve needs to be 100% open and transparent with every expenditure published online, or it needs to be dissolved.  No more printing money without congressional approval.
4. The Federal government is to commission an independent audit to look at all federal agencies similar to the military base closing commissions to see if programs can, or need to be, eliminated
5. The Federal Government must provide a balanced budget and all federal agencies (with the exception of national defense) must publish their operating budgets online for citizen review.  All off budget programs are to be included.

6. Freeze all Federal spending.  No pork barrel spending nor attached unrelated spending to any military bills.  Return all unused stimulus and TARP money to the people.  Develop a priorities list of United States expenditures.
7. Make the Bush tax cuts permanent.  Additionally we need to reduce the lowest 2 tax brackets by 2% each, the middle 2 tax brackets by 3% each and the upper 2 brackets by 5% each.  The effect of this will be to increase the amount of money in the hands of all Americans and provide stimulus for spending, both on a personal level and inside businesses.  This will also promote job creation and allow Americans more use of their own money in the most efficient fashion possible.
8. Allow American Corporations with foreign operations to repatriate foreign profits with a small 5.25% tax instead of the 35% currently required. 
9. Simplify the tax code.  Businesses spend 5 billion hours each year planning and preparing taxes.  That is a lot of wasted time and money that could be used to develop new products, or provide better services. Businesses and individuals should have an option of a one page return with a flat rate payment not to exceed 14%. 
10. Reduce capital gains rates to 0% for the next 3 years and then provide a rate of no more than 10% for at least the next 10 years. 
11. Make the federal R & D tax credits permanent, instead of re-authorizing it every few years.
12. Allow businesses and individuals to depreciate up to 3 million dollars of capital improvements in a single year or in a time frame of their choice, if construction or purchase begins before 2013.
13. Repeal the death tax.  This tax hits family owned businesses and farms especially hard
14. The United States must be independent from all other countries for its energy needs.  Drill here, drill now and drill often.  Open our huge reserves of coal and natural gas. Open Yuccca Mountain as a nuclear reprocessing facility not as a nuclear waste depository and build at least 20 nuclear plants.
15. The federal government is to immediately sell all of the private assets it has taken over in the last few years. As well as Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
16. Workers need to have individual retirement accounts and should be allowed to take a portion of their withholding and apply it to these accounts.  We should also triple annual limits for tax-deductible retirement accounts and Roth IRA’s.  Over the next 25 years social security needs to be phased out.  Provide full benefits for the next 15 years then phase them out at 10% per year until all retirement accounts are private property and fully controlled by individual Americans.
17.  Individuals and businesses need portable health care with as many options as possible.  Health savings accounts should be allowed for all with individuals being able to purchase the coverage limits of their choice.  State mandates need to be abolished and individuals need to be able to purchase insurance across state lines.  Over the next 25 years Medicare needs to be phased out. Provide full benefits for the next 15 years then phase them out at 10% per year until all medical accounts are private property and fully controlled by individual Americans.
18. When we use our military it needs to be used with massive force, no more measured or proportional responses, nor asking our allies to do the same.  Let the commanders do the job they were tasked with, then let them bring our soldiers home.
19. Streamline all local, state and particularly federal building approval processes for industrial, commercial, and residential building projects.
20. Rework the endangered species act to take into account a greater respect for the impact of listings on humans and economics.
21. And finally…tell me what you think we need to add.