Damn Good Solutions for a Better America

By William Marshall

Our country, the beloved USA is in a political and economic mess. The 2020 general election is a must date to start repairs.

The major political and economic problems of America are joined at the hip. While democracy is a political system and capitalism is an economic system, they are intertwined. Both areas are in a downward spiral.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luminare Press
• Release date: Jul 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781643883809

William Marshall

William D. Marshall was fortunate to have grown up on a farm in this great country. He has a background in history, computers and economics, and prizes common sense, economic justice and opportunity for all. He continues to search for the basic causes of problems and try to find good and common solutions.

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Damn Good Solutions for a Better America

Copyright © 2020 by William D. Marshall

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review and the ten extra Table of Contents.

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Design by Claire Flint Last

Luminare Press

442 Charnelton St.

Eugene, OR 97401

www.luminarepress.com

LCCN: 2020909154

ISBN: 978-1-64388-380-9

Dedication

To a new unity of the American people,

which is needed and necessary.

To implementation of these solutions

for a better America.

To changing the course of our ship of state

and correcting the three unsustainable trends.

To providing more political and economic

opportunity for all.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment

Prologue

Chapter One

How to Repair America’s Democracy to Be Better,

for and by the People

Chapter Two

How to Recover Millions of Jobs, Help Restore America’s Middle Class, and Also Reduce Trillions in Debt Over Twenty Years

Chapter Three

How to Avoid Long-term Wars On the Tab; Help Reduce

Waste, Sacrifice, and Suffering; and Also Reduce Trillions

in Debt Over Twenty Years

Chapter Four

How to Improve America’s Capitalism, Help Reduce/Prevent Another 2008 Financial Crisis, and Also Reduce Trillions in

Debt Over Twenty Years

Chapter Five

How to Improve America’s Capitalism, Help Reduce Income Inequality, and Reduce Trillions in Debt in Twenty Years

Chapter Six

How to Balance the Budget by 2024–2026 and Reduce the

Debt to 50 Percent of GDP by 2036–2040

Chapter Seven

Concerns and Other Issues Regarding America’s Future

Epilogue

Will You Help?

Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge and thank the following people for their contribution to this book:

To my recently deceased wife, Roma, who tolerated (put up with) many years of a paperwork mess around my easy chair. Yes, I wrote this book the old-fashioned way in longhand.

To my daughter, Mona, whose viewpoints, help, and suggestions have been invaluable. Without her, this book would have been worthless and achieved nothing.

To my friend Max, who helped to plant the seeds of this book from discussions of possible solutions for our nation’s basic problems.

To our special friend, Patty, who many years ago suggested that there are far too many topics for one book.

To many others and Doug, Jay, and Greg, who have helped shape the contents of this book with their conversations, comments, and suggestions.

Prologue

The focus and purpose of this book is in this prologue: PLEASE READ IT!

I am an old man. I am fortunate to have grown up on a farm in this great country, the United States of America. I have written this book because I am fearful for America, and I care about our nation’s future. We have great problems and critical trends that are not being acknowledged, let alone corrected. I am a person who has a background in history, computers, and economics. I prize common sense, economic justice, and opportunity for all. I am a long-term believer in the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle. As a child, I was curious and always wanted to know why. As an adult, I continue to search for the basic causes of problems and try to find good sense and common solutions.

This book was about ten years in process; that is why you will find some sources of statistical information from the year 2012 or so. My sincere desire is to propose conceptual solutions for America’s biggest problems. It is with a mixture of audacity and humility (what an oxymoron!) that I believe only with your help can we resolve or fix our country’s major problems and achieve a better America! When you reach the end of this book, you will understand what is meant by your help. The Will You Help? section is extremely important!

Here is some insight from about 185 years ago from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America: "The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults."

Her ability to repair her faults; we certainly have a backlog of major repairs! America must have a series of voter mandates of at least 60–75 percent in support of most of the solutions proposed in this book. The 2020 general election is a must date to start repairs.

The major political and economic problems of America are joined at the hip. While democracy is a political system, and capitalism is an economic system, they are intertwined. Our country the beloved USA, is in a political and economic mess. Both areas are in a downward spiral: you know it; I know it; and approximately 80 percent of America agrees with us.

This book tries to identify the basic causes of our nation’s political and economic problems and also provides the needed and basic solutions for a better America. How much better, and how much time is needed—who knows? To change and repair America will require unknown years and even decades. For example, at least four years is needed to achieve a balanced budget and at least fifteen to twenty years to reduce our nation’s debt by one-half or eleven trillion dollars. It will take at least four to eight years to restore our nation’s democracy from the current excessive and corrupted system. Another five to ten years will be required to close down over five hundred overseas military bases and at least four to ten years to provide a better balanced and more equitable capitalism. It won’t be quick or easy!

The Big Picture

Throughout this book, solutions are presented to correct three unsustainable and self-destructive trends. This will require a struggle and time (fifteen to twenty years) to make these needed repairs. Repairs can only be achieved through the UNITY of the people—people who are political and economic moderates, not set on one issue or the extreme left or right factions. Therefore, go to the Epilogue (near the end of the book) now and read and reflect about these three negative trends, which have had accelerated growth during the past forty years. They are unsustainable and must not continue!

Chapter One

How to Repair America’s Democracy to Be Better, for and by the People

The Basic Problem

Mark Twain provided this simple truth: We have the best government money can buy. This is the mother of and at the very center of our nation’s political and economic problems.

This basic truth has become the new reality since the Supreme Court ruling in January 2010. In a landmark ruling called Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, by a five to four vote, the US Supreme Court overturned and reversed approximately one hundred years of law and precedents. The amount of money flowing to campaign funds and lobbying groups more than tripled from nearly $2 billion to $6 billion from the 2012 to the 2016 election!

The Supreme Court’s ruling and interpretation of the First Amendment was to the effect that corporations, unions, and organizations are people and that money is free speech. Our government was founded on the premise of by the people, for the people, which is no longer true. We cannot appeal or change the Supreme Court’s decision; therefore; we must amend the Constitution in order to save and restore our democracy from Mark Twain’s colorful definition.

Amendment I:

Freedom of Religion, Speech, and the Press;

Rights of Assembly and Petition

Amendment I of the Constitution reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

In the above quoted Amendment I, there is nothing that suggests corporations, unions, and organizations are the people. The first three words of our Constitution are We the People. The Supreme Court ruling is that money is free speech and therefore cannot be prohibited or restricted! To me, this ruling is unbelievable. This single ruling of 2010 opened the floodgates to three times more money for the 2016 general election, to over $6 billion.

Under federal law, no one was allowed to contribute more than $5,400 to a candidate in the 2016 election cycle. However, the New York Times disclosed that nearly half of the mega-millions raised by the presidential candidates via super PACs came from a few hundred families. They are the New American Oligarchs. These million dollar PAC checks are going to drive tax policy. A prime example was the December 2017 tax cut as directed by President Trump. Have you heard of quid pro quo? It literally means something for something. You know, and I know, that far too many members of our Congress and our current president are beholden to the big donors, PACs, and their lobbyist groups.

The big question is this: Should control of our nation’s democracy be for sale?

Dictionary Definitions and Discussions

Republic: a state in which sovereignty resides in the people to vote for representatives who represent them in governing.

Democracy: government in which political control is shared by all the people, either directly or by representatives who they elect.

Technically, I am told, we are a republic, but most people think of our nation as a democracy. However, our democracy, especially the federal government, is being corrupted to the core by several factors:

Mega-billions in campaign gifts, money, travel, favors, etc.

Tens of thousands of paid professional lobbyists (usually ex-bureaucrats and politicians).

Long-term politicians who know how to work the system.

The current confidence ratings in our federal government are at an all-time low. Why? Because we are rapidly trending toward a plutocracy with shades of oligarchy. America can neither survive nor afford the best government money can buy.

Plutocracy: a class that controls the government by its wealth; also a state so governed.

We currently are far too close to a plutocracy. This trend must be reversed before it is too late, with more debt and damage. Without question, today in 2020, the plutocracy has undue influence and control over our democracy. Let’s be honest: do we really have a democracy anymore? There is an analogy between the US and Russia. In Russia, during the decades before the collapse of communism, a common expression was they pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work. In America, it becomes more apparent that far too many of our elected representatives only pretend to represent the average Main Street American. Our nation is an example of the frog-in-hot-water analogy. We have slowly evolved into being manipulated and controlled by the plutocracy without fully realizing it. This is worse!

Oligarchy: a form of secretive government in which supreme power and influence are restricted to a few persons.

There are multiple, powerful, nonelected, and semisecretive organizations that reach across national lines. They are the following:

The Trilateral Commission

The Council on Foreign Relations

The World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos

These are smart, powerful, and extremely influential people who have huge economic and political power. We certainly need them to help improve our nation’s democracy and our nation’s economic system, i.e. capitalism. Hopefully, some of them will read this book. Maybe some of them will help reduce the growing and excessive influence and control of plutocracy over our nation’s democracy!

Quotations, Discussions, and Conclusions

"Super PACs can do just about anything they want! Control