Ladies and Gentlemen, THIS is a compromise.

We’ve seen two entirely foolish attempts at “compromise” posited by one of my fellow posters. Neither of them satisfies the definition of the word. In fact, reading them, I felt embarrassed and ashamed for the poster.

Here is an omnibus compromise that would save the Federal government trillions per year, decrease poverty, and increase American competitiveness on the world stage. Using this plan, by 2085, the United States would be fiscally solvent.

Overall budgeting:

Budgetary balance would be an overriding requirement. Salary of the elected officials and political appointees of the government would be tied to social programs, if the social programs were cut by a percentage, so are the salaries of all members of Congress, and the President, Vice President, and Cabinet officials.

All federal officials would also be banned from receiving any gifts of any kind from any lobbyist.

Taxation:

First: eliminate all tax breaks across the board and ensure a progressive tax system. Executives and the wealthy would pay a higher rate than the middle class workers would.

Second, increase corporate tax rates and institute penalties for corporations who pass on tax burdens to the consumer in an effort to maintain the same margin of profit.

Agriculture:

Move from a blanket subsidy program to a need-based subsidy program weighted to the family farmers and non-corporate farms.

Defense:

Stop the F-35 program in its entirety. Replace that with 313 F-22s and 2,500 F-16 Block 60s. The F-16 is proven in combat. The high-low mix does not need to have both aircraft stealth-capable. America’s war-fighting strategy relies on taking out air defenses first. Once there are no air-defenses, there is no need to have stealth. Plus stealth hinders the mission of suppressing enemy air defenses, because the SEAD planes bait the SAMs into locking on to be able to destroy them. If the SAMs can’t see the plane, the SEAD plane has to rely on different guidance technology for their weapons.

Reduce the number of USN Carrier groups from ten to nine; the USS George H. W. Bush would not be replaced at the end of its fifty-year service life. Two carriers would be at Oceana, Kitsap, Norfolk, and Mayport each, with one carrier forward-deployed to Yokosuka as usual.

Education

Education is key to this plan’s success. As Obama mentioned in his last State of the Union Address, Americans should have the option of graduating high school with a high school diploma and an Associate’s degree. That will give the American worker an advantage few other countries offer.

Wages:

Over the span of 12 years, increase the minimum wage so that a worker making minimum wage and working forty hours a week is able to live without government assistance.

Welfare:

Instead of the current system, welfare would be reformed into a “workfare” system. This “workfare” system would entail a beneficiary working no less than twenty-five hours and no more than forty hours per week if they are able to work. The work would be public works, public beautification, or conservation work. Each person would not only be working for their benefits, they would also be imparted with on-the-job training that can help them find a job in the private sector and get off public assistance.

Social Security:

Maintain the current system for everyone currently paying in, but close enrollment in the system. For new workers, they would be put into a new system. The new system would default put 10% of a person’s annual income into a personal pension fund. An additional 2.5% would be paid into a general fund. People could decide for themselves how much they want to withhold up to 15%. Additionally, each person would be able to withdraw from the personal fund as much as they want. Upon retirement, each person would receive a monthly amount from their fund equal to their median monthly income over the time they were paying into the system. If someone dies before exhausting their contributions, three-quarters of the benefits are returned to the person’s heirs, if any. The rest, or if the person does not have any heirs, all, of the benefits get turned over to the general fund.

Now, I mentioned the general fund twice. So what is it for? The general fund is there as a safety net of sorts. If someone pays in 10% of their lifetime income into the fund, they can receive payments equal to 100% of their median income from the general fund if their personal fund is exhausted. As withholding percentage decreases, so does the amount of money that a retiree can receive from the general fund to a lowest point of 50% of lifetime median monthly income.

The General Fund would also fund the disability programs SSI and SSDI.

All Americans would have the option, at any time, to cash out of this system and take their money with them to do with what they wish. No one who cashed out would be able to receive assistance from the general fund. They would still be required to pay into the general fund, but at the same 2.5% rate as everyone else.

Healthcare

Use the Obamacare infrastructure to put a public option insurance in place. Extend the coverage to everyone from birth until 18 using a single-payer model. At eighteen, they can choose to keep on the single-payer system, go to the public option, or get private healthcare. If they don't choose, they remain on the single payer, or if their coverage lapses, they drop back into the single-payer system.

The single payer would be for the lowest income people with a sliding scale for payments. The public option would be for the middle class who can't afford a private insurance policy.

Energy policy:

Increase funding for independent academic research into diversified renewable energies such as hydrogen, wind energy, geothermal energy, tidal hydropower, biomass, biofuel, and solar energy.