americans elect question responses ver 1.0

8/3/2019 Americans Elect Question Responses Ver 1.0

1/11

Responses to the Americans Elect Questions published on January 5th

by the Campaign to Elect Mike Ballantine President 2012. January 9,2012

Economy

What do you think are the most important steps government can take to

promote job creation?

Normally, the government/Federal Reserve can rely on lowering interest rates

to give the economy a boost and create jobs. Generally, construction will respond

positively and the economy will begin to improve or manufacturers will start to

rebuild inventories. However, over the past 10 years, America has lost 50,000

factories, limiting the ability of manufacturers to respond sufficiently to pull us out

of our current slump. Further, the downturn was largely caused by a collapse in the

housing market. With 18 million homes unsold by some estimates, the housing

market is too sluggish to get the economy moving.

To compensate, we need to rebuild the confidence of homeowners to

encourage them to stop paying down their housing debt and to start spending

again. We do this by reducing the outstanding principal balances on underwater

mortgages by adjusting mortgages through a Federal Reserve buyback and

reissuance program. Whereas the anticipated cost of this program is $1.5 trillion, it

will reverse the continued decline in housing prices and allow confidence to return.This program is supported by a large number of economists including Alan Blinder,

Martin Feldstein, and Paul Krugman.

The second step we need is to create aggregate demand in the economy.

We do this by initiating a job creation program for specific infrastructure projects

and desirable investments in industries. Specifically, there are $2 trillion in road

improvements and bridge repair projects that need to be undertaken over the next

5 years as well as a host of investments in clean-energy that could be started using

agency guarantees. Additionally, we believe that the nation should engage in asustained effort to bring High-Speed Rail to the United States by building two

intercontinental lines connecting both coasts. One of the key stumbling blocks for

the Federal Reserve is maintaining the zero % interest rate policy which limits the

ability of the FED to devalue the dollar to promote exports. We propose that we

avoid this problem by investing in a new space industry that does not compete with


2/11


3/11

nation trillions and the potential for mass clean-up issues in mining and oil

development present a social reason for imposing some additional costs on

industry. We propose reducing some regulations in education to streamline the

process and allow local school officials to make appropriate decisions regarding

standards and curriculum. To flatten the playing field we propose renegotiatingsome of our trade related treaties such as the WTO to include fair wage issues,

worker safety, equal opportunity and pollution regulation enforcement.

How do you propose we reduce the national debt, and how much should

the national debt be considered in economic recovery plans?

Realistically, there is no simple way to reduce the national debt. When our

administration takes office, the national debt is expected to climb to $16 trillion and

if amortized over 30 years, it would take an estimated $1 trillion a year in additional

taxes. Our campaign offers a novel but controversial plan to reduce half the

national debt by exploiting our shale-oil resources in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

Currently, there is an estimated 1.5 trillion recoverable barrels of oil and we

propose a national project to build the infrastructure to process this oil in a safe-

environmentally friendly way producing 10 million barrels of oil per day. The nation

will allocate a $25 per barrel tax to reduce the national debt on the production from

this project. According to a RAND study, the current estimate for production costs

at the 10 million barrel rate is between $45 and $48 per barrel.

A second requirement would be that unless there is an economic contraction

of 2% or more taxes cannot be cut resulting in a deficit. Any surplus will

automatically be allocated to reducing the deficit. This is unlikely to amount to

much over the years for obvious political reasons.

Healthcare

What role should the federal government play in the healthcare industry?

Is healthcare a right?

Almost every western nation provides healthcare for its citizens, despite this

America clings to an uneconomical health delivery system that puts the burden on

employers to support a shrinking system. Roughly 40% of Americans are supported

by government programs, 15% on Federal and State health programs, and 35% by

private insurance. With government already the largest provider of health

insurance, continuing to provide health insurance privately places a greater share of


4/11

the cost on a shrinking workforce. This is unsustainable in the long run and in fact

part of our competitive issue with China. We believe to lower costs and provide

equal access for all Americans, America should adopt a universal health plan with a

single-payer. This plan would provide a basic level of coverage for all Americans,

residents, and guests. This eliminates many of the duplicative costs and overlapsamong the various government run programs as well as the high administrative

costs of private insurance companies. Further, we believe that substantial cost

savings can be found once the system is consolidated through rationalizing many

unnecessary procedures. A simple comparison between the Canadian and United

Kingdom health programs and the American one will provide reasonable cost

comparisons to point out inefficient delivery systems.

The Constitution of the United States demands/guarantees the right to life,

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. No one can pursue happiness if he or she is

denied basic health care. Given that costs have driven it beyond the reach of most

low-income Americans, a two-tiered class of citizenry has developed with 50 million

Americans abandoned to mercy of others. We would consolidate Medicare,

Medicaid, Veterans Assistance, and Federal and State Health Insurance Programs

into one new program. This would be paid for by a 10% national sales tax on all

goods and service excluding produce, milk/cheese, and bread.

What do you think is driving the rapid growth of health care costs, and

how would you slow it down?

These costs are driven by the lack of negotiation by people using health

insurance. Instead of evaluating costs, health insurance companies simply pass on

new costs to policy holders knowing they are unable to effectively shop for

alternative products. When Medicare costs exceed reimbursements, the unpaid

portions are charged to private insurers pushing cuts from Washington back onto

private employers. Implementing a Medicare for all and then rationalizing costs is

the quickest way to bring health care costs down. Promoting smaller neighborhoodclinics over hospital monopolies will allow better cost-sharing and lower expenses

throughout the system.

Would you support putting some kind of cap on what the government

spends on Medicare?


5/11

By moving Medicare fees to a consumption-based revenue stream, it is

expected that revenues will match growth in society. We propose a 10% national

sales tax which would act as a cap on total spending. Americans would be

encouraged to purchase supplemental coverage for additional requirements beyond

the basic program.Should the government require that all citizens have healthcare

insurance? If so, what is your thought about a premium support model

similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program?

We do not support a requirement that all citizens have health insurance

unless there is a government provider option. If a Medicare for All program cannot

get approval, we support allowing individuals the right to purchase Medicare on

their own. The fees would be based on income of the participants.

Education

Why aren't our K-12 schools preparing graduates to compete in the global

economy, and what would you do as president to lift their performance?

The American school system is designed for students who will be successful

in college and ignores the needs of technical or vocational students. It is almost a

golden rule that only learner-centered environments are appropriate when in fact

many at risk students might be better served in teacher-centered environments

typically found in Asia. Students lack the foundation skills but are some howexpected to understand the analytical and applications issues because of social

promotion. Sir Ken Robinson in his speech before the RSA made it poignantly clear

that America has to change from a factory model to a more individualized delivery

system.

As President, I would propose legislation to establish an IEP program for every

student employing 10 primary templates. Over time, students would need to

master specific subjects and skills to advance to the next level. Student progress

would be measured weekly and intervention strategies developed to help students

falling behind. Merit testing would take place at two points, 8th grade and again at

12th grade to receive a diploma. Schools would offer three diplomas, vocational,

technical, and academic and students graduating successfully would receive a

bonus payment to encourage students to remain in school. Another area of concern

are our ELL students and they would receive a broader program mirroring the


6/11

successful Canadian program of 90/10. Schools would have access to online

systems to promote dual language instruction cost effectively eventually leading to

Virtual Reality instruction in most public schools. This will lower the cost of delivery

and provide a broader base of instruction capability. All students would begin to

use electronic notebooks in school eliminating textbooks and automatingassessments. These programs would be funded by a transfer of $100 billion per

year from our defense budget to education.

Why do you think college costs keep rising? Are students getting their

moneys worth, and what would you do to slow down cost growth?

There are no cost containment systems in the university program.

Universities offer a hundred different majors and then provide qualified teaching

staff to support them. This is incredibly inefficient and does not offer any real

benefit to students. Instead programs should be consolidated to allow greater

participation at a few key schools in less popular programs. The government can

encourage this by tying financial aid to specific results instead of an average price

for all students. For example, if history majors from school A typically earn

$30,000 per year after graduation, then the government could set the maximum

tuition fee it will support at $15,000 or $20,000, etc. This would force schools to

offer programs at prices that reflect future earnings and the ability of students to

repay the tuition fees. A factor could be included to reflect the actual success ratio

of students to equalize fees for profit schools and with non-profit schools. Tying

costs to outcomes is the best way to get costs under control. This would force

universities to economize and reduce duplicative staff. Specific allowances could be

made for unusual majors that are desirable but not popular based on historical

influences.

What would you do to improve workforce development and job training

opportunities for U.S. workers?

By adjusting the high school track of most students to reflect merit, highschool students could enroll in apprenticeship programs through employment tax

subsidies. Students would continue to finish high school while working part-time in

the vocational and technical tracks. Providing students training during high school

is more cost effective than after graduation when they may have personal

responsibilities that prevent them from working and studying at the same time.


7/11

During the phase-in, it would be necessary to provide scholarships and other

programs to inner-city students who have been failed by the system. We propose a

Marshall Plan for our inner-city youth that would send 1 million young adults back

to school for two years.

EnergyIs U.S. energy independence a feasible goal and, if so, how would you

achieve it? How would you reduce our reliance on foreign oil?

Energy independence is a political issue more than a practical issue. There is

ample petroleum reserves in the Gulf, ANWAR and the shale-oil deposits to meet

Americas energy requirements at current consumption for a very long time. The

primary impediment is the inability of private companies to meet the expectations

of environmentalists. We propose that this issue be looked at in light of including

NAFTA resources to achieve energy independence. The first step in this process is

to prepare a development plan for the Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah sites to include

piping in sufficient water, constructing several nuclear power plants, water

treatment facilities, road and rail infrastructure, and housing for several hundred

thousand people. Once the plan is approved , then create a government-owned

entity to manage the process, borrow the development funds from the market

through a long-term agency bond issue, and begin issuing contracts to private

contractors to complete the infrastructure and prepare the site. It is estimated that

site development will take from 5 to 6 years to complete at which point we can

begin producing oil at an accelerating rate over the next 3 - 5 years achieving 10

million barrels per day production capacity. This project will create 800,000 jobs.

In the interim, we would support construction of large solar-mirror farms in

the Southwest and a DC transmission system to distribute power to key points in

the mid-west and the northeast. As capacity came online, we would purchase

existing coal power plants and decommission them to prevent large fluctuations in

prices avoiding any potential crash in energy prices. Other technologies includingbio-algae and geo-thermal power would be accelerated to provide additional

emissions free/carbon neutral production.

What steps will you take to make this nation's growing energy demand

more sustainable?


8/11

We would promote a million electric cars per year market by subsidizing

lithium batteries and encouraging car owners to switch to more fuel-efficient models

in line with the current CAF program. We would also support the movement of the

service industry to a Virtual Reality platform to allow workers to work from home

reducing the number of daily commuters. Only by changing social habits can wemake significant progress in reducing energy consumption.

How important is reducing carbon emissions, and how would you go about

it? In addition to renewable fuels, do you believe natural gas and nuclear

energy should play a larger role in Americas energy mix?The most recent performance of US negotiators in Durban was appalling.

Whereas, many people dispute global warming or climate change there is no

dispute that CO2 is building up in our atmosphere and this build-up presents serious

challenges for future generations. With limited methods to extract CO2 from the

atmosphere, it is incumbent on countries to begin reducing carbon emissions as

well as create carbon-sinks to reduce atmospheric concentrations. Further, as the

historical major emitter of carbon it is the responsibility of America to lead the world

regardless of Chinese and Indian participation. This does not mean that we

handicap our industries, simply begin producing our energy with emissions-free

technologies.

As stated earlier, we propose phasing out coal powered power plants andredeploying coal miners into the new shale-oil industry as well as construct two

coal-gasification plants to enable us to sequester the CO2 production from coal

processing at two locations. A second step would be to begin planting land set

aside in various agricultural programs as low producing with trees and paying

farmers to manage new forests. A third step would be to reduce the amount of

acreage available for grazing on federal lands and plant additional trees.

Eventually, we hope to plant 200 million acres with new forest allowing us to offset

half our current carbon emissions for 40 years with the hope that we could reduceour carbon emissions by 50 % over the next ten years.

We would like to see nuclear power used in carbon intensive industries to

reduce overall emissions but sparingly until we either develop a waste processing

system for nuclear waste or alternative nuclear power systems such as Thorium

processing. We do not support wide spread fracking and would prefer to see


9/11

activity reduced to a more manageable and sustainable level taking care to avoid

polluting groundwater sources. The current gold rush mentality will inevitably lead

to future problems that the taxpayer will be expected to absorb.

Foreign Policy

What circumstances justify U.S. military intervention? Do you think

America should continue to play a leading role in world affairs, or lay

down some of those responsibilities?

The US military should only intervene in Central America as part of a regional

effort and if an ally is under direct attack. Whereas, Presidents have justified

intervention on the grounds of national interest or to prevent genocide, we believe

this type of intervention can be better handled by regional organizations like the

African Union and ASEAN. American intervention over the past 60 years has yielded

very few resolutions to conflicts and has often had a negative outcome instead of

the hoped for positive one. America finds itself at odds with a majority of the nation

states in the middle-east and reacting belligerently with China in the Pacific region.

To rebuild relationships with international organizations, we propose the removal of

the majority of our overseas deployments and an offer to provide support to

regional organizations to solve regional problems and humanitarian assistance.

America can no longer afford an offensive based military posture and must

regroup and reposition its resources to specific high value activities. We believethat developing countries will respond positively to this repositioning and enhance

our ability to negotiate bilateral agreements in the future. To demonstrate our new

leadership we propose allocating $50 billion to a carbon reduction program as a

carrot to engage our current trading partners in stronger trade agreements by

providing them with American technology.

The current confrontational nature of our relationship with Iran is a major

concern and the ratcheting down of tensions would be a primary issue for our new

administration. America lived with a nuclear Soviet Union as well as a nuclear North

Korea. We can live with a nuclear Iran as well. Israel will be encouraged to either

agree to a two-state solution or begin the process of integrating the Palestinians

into their own population in a single state solution; two people, one land.


10/11

We will be proposing a defense budget equal to 2% of GDP and a major

reduction of our armed forces to a peacetime level, eliminating the ability of the

military to fight two conflicts. We believe that by having a large idle military, we

encourage the use of the military instead of making the effort diplomatically to

resolve our problems. No nation possesses the capacity to become a military threatto the United States in the next 10 years and our large military is more destabilizing

than beneficial.

Is Americas enormous trade deficit with China a problem? How would you

boost U.S. exports and encourage China and other countries to buy more

from us?

China presents many challenges as well as opportunities. Unless America is

prepared to engage in brinksmanship in its trade relations with China it will bedifficult to change the current trade deficit issue. That is why we believe that a

fundamental reform of WTO is necessary to limit Chinas ability to continue to under

price American exporters. As long as the US maintains a reserve currency status for

the dollar, we are unable to effectively increase our exports when other countries

can devalue their currency and we have no way to offset their actions. We will look

for fair-trade issues to be added to the WTO or be prepared to withdrawal from the

WTO in 2015.

We will propose a carbon import tax on all goods as part of a revision of theWTO that will reflect the carbon emissions content of all exported goods. These

funds will be used to support developing countries efforts to reduce their carbon

footprint and prevent manufacturing from seeking the most pollution friendly

nations. Initially, this may appear to impact us more but it will provide a limit on

China and Indias ability to leverage their vast population and increase their carbon

emissions without sacrificing their ability to export.

Unless the US adopts a different currency for internal accounting it is nearly

impossible to increase exports significantly. The reserve status of the dollar results

in the US becoming the buyer of last resort as developing countries seek hard

currency to support infrastructure programs. Instead of focusing on increasing

exports initially, we believe a sustained job creation program as well as investments

in clean-energy and space technologies will create sufficient markets to create


11/11

employment. Once the long-term construction of High Speed Rail, regular lunar

traffic and Mars exploration, and conversion of urban centers to high-density ultra-

modern centers begins, America should produce sufficient jobs each year to

maintain full-employment. Essentially, the creation of our space industry will act as

our export safety-valve, much like the opening of the New World by Columbus didfor Europe.

americans elect question responses ver 1.0

Documents