South Dakota Voices Response: Mark, thank you for joining us. The problem has been occurring for decades (lots of Democrats and Republicans during that period). What specific policy changes would help solve the problem? Who could carry the legislation?
Email comment from MB: “Talk to Trump and the Republicans. There the ones that ran up the cost when Joe Biden was in office, because they didnt know what to do. Joe comes in stops the country from falling on its face and then Trump has us falling on our faces again”
You write this: "$3.8 billion in U.S. tax dollars are flowing to Israel each year so they can bomb the Palestinians." My suggestion: dig deeper into the USD that goes to Israel. As with many of our allies, the benefits go both ways. In this case, we can strengthen a strong ally in a part of the world where we have few like-minded allies. I don't believe that we give the money for the purpose you state, and I know the people group is not as you state. There is no such legal entity as "Palestinians". The area is Gaza, and the terrorist group Israel is continually defending itself against, is Hamas.
Having lived in Jerusalem for 6 years in the 1970s, I know that the Palestinians call themselves that. They are an ethnic group, self-identified, though not a state.
Inflation is driven by the debt from too much government intervention in the economy (38%), and by our countless Pyrrhic military interventions (undeclared wars) certainly from Vietnam to the present. USA wins many battles but ends up pulling out (perhaps declaring some kind of victory) with unnecessary casualties and humongous additions to our national debt. This has weakened our nation internally as described and more, such as the loss of a social cohesion once existing despite political differences. Due to our military interventions, we also have imported many people as refugees from those bombed out places, like the Vietnamese, Hmong, Somalis and others. Some become American in values, others don't. Uncontrolled immigration has only exacerbated the collapse of our cultural cohesion, agreement on the basic principles of what it means to be an American - in addition to the economic consequences you noted.
Some observations from a mother of five (three of which are adults):
It's time for a paradigm shift. No longer is going to college an automatic "win" - yet the education system continues to treat that as the gold star and ultimate goal. Instead of expecting a young person to choose a career and sink tens of thousands of dollars into it before he/she has much life experience, why not give them some time to see what life outside of the classroom is like?
Maybe it's time to bring back multi-generational households? Or at least not shove the kids out the door the instant they turn 18. Why not allow them to live at home for a couple of years? Adult offspring can pay rent, which parents could use to pay off the home mortgage early (which benefits the kids down the line). It is much more cost effective to share rent & living expenses (utilities & food) with more people after all.
Lastly, young adults should not expect to match the lifestyle of people who have been building up their home & material wealth for 20-30 years. (it would also help if more new construction was smaller homes of say 700-900 sq ft with room to build on or a basement to finish later).
PS I'm also on-board with reducing social welfare, etc. - but the reason we have all of that is partially due to expectations. We can start managing expectations in our homes more easily than we can change policy. If we change the mindset of the next generation we have better odds that the policy will also change...if we haven't managed to do it by then.
South Dakota Voices Response: Mark, thank you for joining us. The problem has been occurring for decades (lots of Democrats and Republicans during that period). What specific policy changes would help solve the problem? Who could carry the legislation?
Email comment from MB: “Talk to Trump and the Republicans. There the ones that ran up the cost when Joe Biden was in office, because they didnt know what to do. Joe comes in stops the country from falling on its face and then Trump has us falling on our faces again”
You write this: "$3.8 billion in U.S. tax dollars are flowing to Israel each year so they can bomb the Palestinians." My suggestion: dig deeper into the USD that goes to Israel. As with many of our allies, the benefits go both ways. In this case, we can strengthen a strong ally in a part of the world where we have few like-minded allies. I don't believe that we give the money for the purpose you state, and I know the people group is not as you state. There is no such legal entity as "Palestinians". The area is Gaza, and the terrorist group Israel is continually defending itself against, is Hamas.
Having lived in Jerusalem for 6 years in the 1970s, I know that the Palestinians call themselves that. They are an ethnic group, self-identified, though not a state.
Inflation is driven by the debt from too much government intervention in the economy (38%), and by our countless Pyrrhic military interventions (undeclared wars) certainly from Vietnam to the present. USA wins many battles but ends up pulling out (perhaps declaring some kind of victory) with unnecessary casualties and humongous additions to our national debt. This has weakened our nation internally as described and more, such as the loss of a social cohesion once existing despite political differences. Due to our military interventions, we also have imported many people as refugees from those bombed out places, like the Vietnamese, Hmong, Somalis and others. Some become American in values, others don't. Uncontrolled immigration has only exacerbated the collapse of our cultural cohesion, agreement on the basic principles of what it means to be an American - in addition to the economic consequences you noted.
Some observations from a mother of five (three of which are adults):
It's time for a paradigm shift. No longer is going to college an automatic "win" - yet the education system continues to treat that as the gold star and ultimate goal. Instead of expecting a young person to choose a career and sink tens of thousands of dollars into it before he/she has much life experience, why not give them some time to see what life outside of the classroom is like?
Maybe it's time to bring back multi-generational households? Or at least not shove the kids out the door the instant they turn 18. Why not allow them to live at home for a couple of years? Adult offspring can pay rent, which parents could use to pay off the home mortgage early (which benefits the kids down the line). It is much more cost effective to share rent & living expenses (utilities & food) with more people after all.
Lastly, young adults should not expect to match the lifestyle of people who have been building up their home & material wealth for 20-30 years. (it would also help if more new construction was smaller homes of say 700-900 sq ft with room to build on or a basement to finish later).
PS I'm also on-board with reducing social welfare, etc. - but the reason we have all of that is partially due to expectations. We can start managing expectations in our homes more easily than we can change policy. If we change the mindset of the next generation we have better odds that the policy will also change...if we haven't managed to do it by then.
Typo or auto correct: You wrote, "...allow some counties to use our tax dollars..." I think you meant countries.