CREATE A THRIVING ECONOMY

Every day, average Americans face many challenges in our overly regulated economy where government, lobbyists, and special interests continuously conspire to pick winners and losers. From trillions of dollars in government deficits, and trillions more in unfunded liabilities, our government recklessly crowds out funding that would be better served allowing innovation in the marketplace to find solutions to our most pressing issues. To combat these constant rounds of economic and financial crises, we must get government out of our boardrooms and wallets, and allow individuals to decide how to best distribute their hard-earned dollars.

AS PRESIDENT:

• I will close regulatory loopholes that reward firms that have close relationships with government officials, and that stifle both competition and the innovation which competition creates.
• Immediately end all tariffs, which serve only to increase the bottom lines of protected industries, shift labor from more efficient industries while creating a net loss of jobs, and raise prices by lowering the number of alternatives for consumers to choose among. Tariffs are a form of embargo on domestic laborers and consumers, raising the costs of doing business for importers who pass these added costs onto end-buyers.
• In addition to ending special protections such as tariffs for favored industries, I will also encourage Congress to pass legislation prohibiting bailing out firms that engage in irresponsible business and fiscal practices. It is not the role of government to underwrite the fiduciary duty that firms have to their stakeholders.
• I will strongly urge Congress to work with each state to introduce and pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, forever ending the perpetual cycle of deficit spending.

LIMIT FEDERAL EXPENDITURE

No government authority shall exist for combined Federal, State and local government spending, including both discretionary and legislatively mandated, to exceed a Constitutionally prescribed proportion of national income. The Federal government shall only fund federal initiatives at the federal level.

In theory, block grants provide State and local governments with wide discretionary powers on their use. In practice, however, the Federal government retains oversight authority over the spending of these funds, under the guise of preventing waste. This has resulted in a large array of regulations that place the activity of State and local government under federal control.

In addition, State and local governments have often become administrators of many Federal programs ranging from environmental programs to education, welfare, and crime control, especially drug policy. A great number of these programs are funded, in part or in whole, by the Federal government, making states de facto agents of DC. 

We can not continue to allow the competitive democracy between states and the rights of individuals to be coopted by Federal mandate. One-size-fits-all regulations not only fail to take into account local and regional needs, the remove citizen choice from the equation, making State and local governments less responsive the to needs of the individuals within their communities.

AS PRESIDENT:

• I will close regulatory loopholes that reward firms that have close relationships with government officials, and that stifle both competition and the innovation which competition creates.
• Immediately end all tariffs, which serve only to increase the bottom lines of protected industries, shift labor from more efficient industries while creating a net loss of jobs, and raise prices by lowering the number of alternatives for consumers to choose among. Tariffs are a form of embargo on domestic laborers and consumers, raising the costs of doing business for importers who pass these added costs onto end-buyers.
• In addition to ending special protections such as tariffs for favored industries, I will also encourage Congress to pass legislation prohibiting bailing out firms that engage in irresponsible business and fiscal practices. It is not the role of government to underwrite the fiduciary duty that firms have to their stakeholders.
• I will strongly urge Congress to work with each state to introduce and pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, forever ending the perpetual cycle of deficit spending. 
• We will work with Congress to prohibit the Federal government from giving block grants to non-federal agencies contingent on prescribed legislation, regulation or administrative policy.  
• We will also work with Congress to introduce and pass a Constitutional amendment that would cap cooperative spending between Federal, State and local governments, where necessary, to a fixed proportion of total national income. This will allow cooperation where needed, without coopting by the national government.

ELIMINATE THE IRS

Federal government revenue shall be received only from State governments. The Federal government shall have no direct taxation authority over any individual person or entity.

When citizens appear as defendants in criminal hearings, there is a presumption of innocence that, in theory if not always in practice, places the burden of proof on the prosecution. No such presumption of innocence exists in so-called Tax Court, where, unless provided for by statute (for example, an accusation of felony fraud or evasion, where criminal law supersedes tax law), or by ruling from the Tax Court itself, the burden of proof falls on the accused. 

While protections exist against criminal allegations lodged by the Internal Revenue Service, a civil allegation can be at best, a nuisance, and often enough, financially ruinous for the accused. Not only must defendants prove compliance with all regulations alleged violated, they must also comply with IRS requests for documents, meetings, witnesses, interviews, etc., at the accused’s expense.

Current US Tax Code, depending on how one measures it, comprises slightly less than 7,000 pages without prefaces and addendums, to approximately 17000 pages once the Department of Treasury publishes its various advisories and the IRS publishes its additional memoranda, notices and rulings.

We recognize that the Constitution grants Congress the power to levy taxes. However the Sixteenth Amendment, which allows for the direct taxation of individuals without census or apportionment, is not only a violation of individual rights, but a violation of the Revolutionary principle that citizens should have, via their representatives, a say in taxation.

AS PRESIDENT:

• We would encourage Congress to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment immediately.

END MANDATORY INVESTMENT LIKE SOCIAL SECURITY

No person shall be obligated to enter into any financial arrangement, savings program, social program or insurance scheme. Individuals subject to prior compulsory Federal programs shall be offered an equitable, voluntary exit.

There is no politically correct way to say this; Social Security is a Ponzi scheme where payroll taxes from current employees are directly transferred to benefit recipients. Taxpayers are not paying into some national retirement fund that reinvests its proceeds to generate profits and fund their future retirement. They’re directly paying the benefits of current recipients, a scheme which becomes less and less viable as the portion of the population aging into retirement continues to grow faster than the number of workers in the workforce.

As far back as as 2005, nearly 70% of younger workers – those between 18 and 29, favored being allowed to divert at least a portion of their payroll taxes into the stock market and other investment vehicles. This makes sense as, over longer periods of time, an index fund that performs averagely compared to its peer funds would still generate a higher rate of return than the 4.6% that SSA actuaries claim as that program’s rate of return, a rate that grows closer to zero as the program grows nearer to insolvency.

We will end that failing Social Security program, and other social programs, and allow the market to provide better solutions. Of course, we understand that there are currently individuals who depend on these programs, and/or are near retirement and are dependent on them. For this reason, we will arrange for these programs to be phased out over a period of time, to avoid harm to those who currently need them to simply survive, while giving plenty notice to others to arrange their affairs accordingly.

In addition to allowing employees to spend their hard-earned dollars on the retirement investment of their choice, I would also work to increase the contribution limits on Health Savings Accounts, which don’t come close to covering the average cost of healthcare per individual of $13,493.

AS PRESIDENT:

• We will end the failing Social Security program, and other social programs, allowing the market to provide better solutions. Of course, we understand that there are currently individuals who depend on these programs, and/ or are near retirement and are dependent on them. For this reason, we will arrange for these programs to be phased out over a period of time, to avoid harm to those who currently need them to simply survive, while giving plenty notice to others to arrange their affairs accordingly.