If you want to look at it from a total economy funding issue, then I certainly don't have all the answers but I'd move back the SS age, cut military spending by two thirds, remove the earnings cap on SS, go back to the post World War II income tax rates, install universal health care, make the minimum wage a living wage, close the loopholes on corporate income tax evaders, do away with prescription drug patents and advertising, encourage urban gardening, build more low cost senior housing, increase immigration levels, install SS means testing for all households with more assets than mine, let expat retirees have Medicare benefits, and make more alternative health treatments, like herbs and yoga, mainstream medical treatments.
That's an interesting list. Having committed to this topic so far - I do not know yet if this is a good idea, but so far it's an interesting intellectual exercise for an armchair social policy maker - I gave it some thoughts.
That would help a lot, but I do not think people would like that.
cut military spending by two thirds,
Fine by me.
remove the earnings cap on SS,
We may go that way eventually to raise more money. How much that helps, I do not know.
go back to the post World War II income tax rates,
Meaning 94% top tax rate? Who would want to work if he keeps only 6c on the dollar. Many posters here, myself included, got sick of work although we were taxed nowhere near that. Let's not forget that entrepreneurs who make millions of dollars also create jobs for others. If we tax them too much, they'll quit and we lose. If taxes created prosperity, we would see some highly-taxed European countries doing a lot better than the US.
There are other ways to raise taxes too. How 'bout taxing home price gains? Well, just because one sells a house in an expensive area to move to a lower cost area for retirement does not mean that it should be a tax-free gain.
Tax them all!
install universal health care,
If that means extending Medicare-like benefits to everybody while not knowing how to cut cost, we would bankrupt the US in a few years. Just Medicare for geezers is enough trouble right now.
make the minimum wage a living wage,
Note sure if it really helps, if there are not enough workers.
The minimum wage in the US is US$15K/yr. Australia sets its minimum wage at US$33.3K, and the purchasing power is US$21K. In Japan, it's US$17K/yr, yet due to the higher cost of living, the purchasing power is only equivalent to US$11.5K.
close the loopholes on corporate income tax evaders,
I do not know enough here to comment.
do away with prescription drug patents and advertising,
I do not know about advertising, but if people do not get rewarded for finding new drugs, they would just go into ER, and we have no new drugs. Maybe that works out best. No more expensive drugs (save on costs), and no more life expectancy improvement (save on costs again).
encourage urban gardening,
There's nothing to stop them now. People just don't wanna, and just want to drink Coke, eat potato chips, and watch TV.
build more low cost senior housing,
If and when more people want them, they will get built. For example, there are many enclaves of retire communities in Florida and Arizona where the homes are smaller and less expensive to maintain. Government housing projects have not worked out well.
By the way, for vacation we once stayed for a week in a vacation property built with park model homes. We had never been in one, and were amazed that these little homes were so comfortable. Though they were small, as they did not skimp on the quality of the furniture, the kitchen appliances and the bathroom, the small homes did not feel cheap at all. And they are actually more roomy than some tiny apartments or condos in some US cities.
My wife and I agreed that this would be all a retired couple would need. No room for guests, but we could have 2 of these and still save a lot of money over a regular home.
increase immigration levels,
As long as we do not create policies that scare them from coming, like taxing them to death.
People from third-world countries would migrate to a developed country regardless, but if you want to attract more skilled workers, it's better not to make the US into the same place they are trying to get away from.
install SS means testing for all households with more assets than mine,
What's your asset level? People would need to know that to see how theirs compare, to see if they could support this proposal.
let expat retirees have Medicare benefits,
At first, I thought I'd like this. Say, if a US citizen can get a colonoscopy in another country for $200, while it costs $1000 here, why should Medicare not reimburse the $200, and in fact should encourage it?
Then, I thought about how we could control fraud overseas that would be committed by unethical clinics and phony doctors. And then, what's to keep Mr. Jones from colluding with an overseas clinic to claim $1M for a gazillion surgeries and cancer treatments of all sorts that were not done? We cannot even control fraud committed right here in the US.
Low medical costs overseas work only because the private US citizen has to pay out of his own pocket. When OPM (Other people's money) is involved, all sorts of waste and fraud would automatically occur.
and make more alternative health treatments, like herbs and yoga, mainstream medical treatments.
Fine with me if it costs less. If it fixes the ailments, great. If it kills the patients, well, that's good too.
