Great America

By Great America I do not mean the amusement parks.... I mean to talk about our wonderful country, The US of A. We were great, we are great... and we will be great because of wonderful citizens and plentiful land and natural resources as well as good fortune. Yes - we are fortunate to have within our borders plenty!

We may lack certain things sometimes. International food distribution means we can have tomatoes all year round. We can get certain precious metals by trading important things such as foods and we have ways of supplying our energy needs both by using carbon-based fuels and renewables.

What we sometimes lack is a certain WILL TO DO... To do what is difficult because economics suggests "easier" ways to get things done. Sometimes that economics is a TRADE WAR.

War ... war, war.... Really? Easy to win? Are there ever winners? Who loses and when? For how long? War is just not really good. Or necessary! Being offensive is considered wrong and the USA is very capable of defending itself!

SO - what is my concern when it comes to GREAT AMERICA? My concern is that SHOULDing other nations is just as bad and non-productive as when any of us tells a friend, spouse, child, etc to do what the SHOULD.... Few of us for only a limited amount of time get to effectively tell another what they should do... A child should not play with fire. A child should get an education. A child should do this and that... but once any child becomes an adult telling them what they should do is less and less likely to get the results appropriate. This is also the case for nations.. especially mature and powerful nations.

Today the USA and China are fighting a war on the economic fronts. Each side wants the other to do this or that. In other words, for instance, the USA thinks China should stop breaching intellectual property rights. China may think the USA should share information freely and transparently. There are other issues... but I think each side has a set of SHOULDS for the other side with the goal of gaining some advantage.

What WE in the USA can do is we can do what we have done best for years -- encourage science and technology and innovation and outside-the-box thinking. Free thinking!

What else we in the USA can do is make living and working in the USA better for all. According to the numbers, i.e. statistics showing how wealth is distributed today compared with the 1950's and other times ... wealth is more concentrated in the hands of a few and less spread around to workers and others.  A taxation system which to some extent leveled the playing field, so to speak, and redistributed some wealth to the poor and disadvantaged has changed. Taxes have fallen for all, perhaps, but mostly for the rich and in many cases where services have diminished for ordinary folks such services are able to be paid for privately and for private purposes by the rich. Consider how the rich can buy the best health care, the best education, and the best police. Yes - private police!!!

America is great when it is great for all or at least most Americans. Most/all Americans need good health care, good education for their children, good policing of their communities.

The way to get what all Americans need is to get the money to pay for all this and that means higher tax receipts and that is most easily affordable by those people making in excess of 500 thousand dollars a year and/or who have assets in excess of 5 million dollars. Don't you think such people can live well with such money and how many of us have close that amount on which to live and eat. There is a lot of excess out there which shared would benefit a lot of people. And that would be GREAT!