To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Entitlements & the Fiscal Cliff
George Will has described government as a "geyser of entitlements." We the People demand that Senators and Representatives act on at least one of the following before any cuts to or changes of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, or SNAP can occur:
1. Corporate Entitlements: Companies like Abbott Laboratories, Boeing Co., Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility, GE and Boeing don't pay federal taxes:
Congress must establish a corporate tax rate commensurate with individual tax rates and must enforce the collection of those taxes from all corporations. Corporations that do not pay, must be fined in the amount that would be their tax burden.
2. Corporate Entitlements, part 2: Corporations seem to support the single payer health care system as evidenced by their continued outsourcing of jobs to countries that have a single payer system.
Similar to the provision in the Affordable Care Act, for every outsourced job, the corporation will be fined $3000.
3. Congressional Entitlements: Roughly 62% of bankruptcies occur because of medical bills and the vast majority of people who eventually declare bankruptcy had healthcare coverage. Congress, which enjoys the gold standard of healthcare benefits, can neither understand nor act on concerns appropriately.
No Senator or Representative will enjoy health care benefits better than the average American. This should be easy to establish by simply ending their current coverage and allowing them to participate in programs just like ours for which they pay the same rates we do.
4. Congressional Entitlements, part 2: Retired Senators and Representatives should receive social security -- rather than pensions -- equal to the average American's benefit. It may seem unfair to change their retirement benefits after they have been promised those pensions for so much of their careers, but as they have been so clearly stating, these are dire times and everyone must accept the changes that are necessary.
5. Congressional entitlements, part 3. Senators and Representatives should be paid salaries equal to the average Americans but no more. They will understand how best to govern when they are actually governing for themselves, too.
6. Speculation Entitlements: Speculators don't need lower tax rates as encouragement to speculate with other people's money. They must be taxed at the rate they are earning no matter how that money is earned.
1. Corporate Entitlements: Companies like Abbott Laboratories, Boeing Co., Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility, GE and Boeing don't pay federal taxes:
Congress must establish a corporate tax rate commensurate with individual tax rates and must enforce the collection of those taxes from all corporations. Corporations that do not pay, must be fined in the amount that would be their tax burden.
2. Corporate Entitlements, part 2: Corporations seem to support the single payer health care system as evidenced by their continued outsourcing of jobs to countries that have a single payer system.
Similar to the provision in the Affordable Care Act, for every outsourced job, the corporation will be fined $3000.
3. Congressional Entitlements: Roughly 62% of bankruptcies occur because of medical bills and the vast majority of people who eventually declare bankruptcy had healthcare coverage. Congress, which enjoys the gold standard of healthcare benefits, can neither understand nor act on concerns appropriately.
No Senator or Representative will enjoy health care benefits better than the average American. This should be easy to establish by simply ending their current coverage and allowing them to participate in programs just like ours for which they pay the same rates we do.
4. Congressional Entitlements, part 2: Retired Senators and Representatives should receive social security -- rather than pensions -- equal to the average American's benefit. It may seem unfair to change their retirement benefits after they have been promised those pensions for so much of their careers, but as they have been so clearly stating, these are dire times and everyone must accept the changes that are necessary.
5. Congressional entitlements, part 3. Senators and Representatives should be paid salaries equal to the average Americans but no more. They will understand how best to govern when they are actually governing for themselves, too.
6. Speculation Entitlements: Speculators don't need lower tax rates as encouragement to speculate with other people's money. They must be taxed at the rate they are earning no matter how that money is earned.
Why is this important?
Since virtually everyone is contemplating so-called entitlements as we teeter on the edge of financial Armageddon, we, the voters of the United States of American, demand our elected Senators and Representatives to consider the following entitlements: