Healthcare problem and social security

Let's be honest about a few points. The Republicans do not want healthcare for everyone. If you cannot afford it, you must go without. Sure they can give you tax credits, but only the wealthy would be able to afford to pay the premiums. The Democrats could come out with bonus points if they can stick together and pull this off.

I don't see how we cannot have some form of socialized healthcare. The Republicans complain about putting the government between the people and their doctor, but right now either you have no doctor or the insurance company is between the people and their doctor and the insurance company has reasons to say no - it's called profit. I heard that the insurance companies only pay 80% of premiums on healthcare which is why they are afraid of the government payer option which would be more efficient because they wouldn't have such large salaries going to executives.

We are a wealthy country, but we are getting less so if so much of the resources are not distributed more evenly. I'm not talking about taking from the rich and giving to the poor, but rather having the rich pay more. It makes society richer in the end.

And while we're on the topic of paying your fair share, it appears that one third of income in the US goes to executives or other highly paid individuals. Seems like such a shame to have so much money concentrated into so few hands. It's the making of a revolution.

With social security taxes being capped so that the rich don't significantly contribute into the Social Security Trust Fund, no wonder the fund will be broke. Might be good to tap into that income stream to keep social security solvent or to keep the government solvent. With so few individuals making so much money, that could tapped without affecting the middle class.

Cap and trade

Politicians want to limit pollution by imposing a cap and trade system on the country. They basically cap the amount of pollution permitted and allow companies to trade for the credits to pollute. If I'm a company that pollutes, I have two options. I can buy credits so I can pollute or I can buy technology that prevents the pollution so I don't need as many credits.

There is a flaw to this. If other countries do not cap and trade or tax pollution, it becomes cheaper to build/pollute overseas and ship the finished products here. Take something as simple as gasoline. The cap and trade system requires the refineries to buy credits because making gasoline is polluting. However, shipping the finished product to the US from an overseas refinery does not require the purchase of credits.

Loopholes like this end up shipping manufacturing jobs overseas to someplace where the production of the finished product is cheaper due to multiple factors like cheap labor, fewer regulatory burdens, and unnecessary carbon credits.

Perhaps we should just tax gasoline/coal/natural gas and tax the goods of any country that does not have a sufficient tax on their carbon resources.

This would level the playing field and make the rules easy for everyone. It would also promote green energy production and fuel efficiency.