Payroll tax

A family of four with an income of $64,000 will pay no federal or state income tax but they will pay $4,900 in payroll tax (social security and Medicare). If the goal is to help middle and low income families then reduce the payroll tax. As easy to do it is to say that the first $25,000 of earned income is exempt from payroll tax. This will save each family $1,900 per year. It is not like changing tax rates where those who pay the most get the biggest breaks as this would just be cross the board $1,900 to every one. Government officials will not like this since it doesn't send money to Washington for them to redistribute as they see fit meaning the best way to get votes.

Immigrants by county

The number of legal immigrants coming to the US is at record levels. If Trump wants to use a merit based system the number of immigrants will not change but the educational level of immigrants will change. Merit based means selecting people based on their education and skills which means many more from Asia. Asian have skills like STEM and are badly needed. They also earn more money and are self supporting. And there is a racial quality in that they have brown skins. In 2016, the top country of origin for new immigrants coming into the U.S. was India, with 126,000 people, followed by Mexico (124,000), China (121,000) and Cuba (41,000).

Party changes

Congressional approval has been less than 20% for the past ten years and thus the election of Trump was one of the more significant events of recent history. One of his campaign promises was to change the way Washington operates and he has certainly done that. First off he realigned the Republican party by challenging the establishment by moving away from the old party standbys of reforming entitlement programs and moaning over the deficit. These things were talked about for forty years but nothing was done about them. His changes are mentioned everyday in the press as they refer to him as un-presidential and they are correct. Now as people gear up for 2020 the changes in the Democratic party are coming to light. The movement toward socialism is the most obvious but other changes seen as extreme are also part of the new party, things like late term abortions and cutting defense Many of the new ideas put forth by young democrats are somewhat frightening to the established party members. Talk of impeachment, getting rid of ICE, Medicare for all and wealth tax are seen as too extreme by the old guard. The Democratic party is about to take on a new face.

Fossil fuels

Since people are not interested in nuclear power, to move completely away from fossil fuels means to increase wind and solar, one of which is dependent on wind and the other on sunlight. 80% of current wind production is in 12 states and that is for a reason. It's where the wind blows. It is too costly to store electricity so both of these methods rely on backup sources which today means fossil fuels. Energy should come from all available sources but wind and solar cannot replace fossil fuels. One concern as wind and solar increase is the amount of rare earth metals needed and how mining of these metals harms the environment. Solar is great for homes and businesses or other stationary buildings. To operate semi trucks and locomotives on batteries is too costly and airplanes are out of the question. Operating ocean vessels including military is OK using nuclear fuels. The obvious move to improve air quality and reduce CO2 is to use natural gas for transportation.

Rep. Cortez

It was reported that Trump received $2 billion dollars in free advertising during the campaign. He accomplished this by making controversial statements which often times flew in the face of conventional wisdom and political correctness and while the Washington experts laughed at his naivety many voters saw a breath of fresh air in his contempt for the establishment. Newly elected Representative Cortez is following in Trumps footsteps by making unusual statements that the press jumps on with both feet. She has made such a big splash in the media that others are joining forces with her and many are playing the game of one-upmanship. 70% tax rate soon went to 90% and then added a wealth tax. Getting rid of fossil fuels went from 20 years to 12 years. Free tuition expanded to canceling student debt. $500 per month to poor people became a guaranteed job for everyone. Reducing defense spending grew into cutting defense by half. With almost 2 year left before the election it is hard to imagine what the issues will be at that time. Since no party is concerned about the deficit the sky is the limit.

The poor

I was born in 1937 and for you younger people that was in the midst of the Great Depression. It was a time when being poor was not a big deal because everyone was poor. I was fortunate because my dad was a milkman and kept his job. Many of our neighbors had gardens which later became victory gardens when the war started. They had no jobs so my dad would buy vegetables from them which gave them cash to get things like salt and lard for cooking. Some people lived on farms and they were a little better off since they could raise chickens and pigs and had a cow for milk and cheese. People canned much of their produce to carry them over through the winter. Many of the poor people today are not much better off but they feel worse because there are so many rich people.

School

Students are often times never told the reasons behind school assignments. The first two years of school you learn to read and the rest of your life you read to learn. This same theme will occur at all levels of education and even more so after school is over. They don't study history, geography and other courses so they can remember facts but rather to develop mental discipline. In every setting they learn to read and the write down what they read. It is called reading comprehension and it is the purpose for going to school. Once this discipline is acquired then they are ready to select their career path. If you go to the community college to learn to be a welder, they do not hand you a torch but rather a book and then they say read this and write down what you read. When you go to work at your chosen profession the boss will hand you an project and then you read it and write down what you read. Long after you forgot about the French revolution and the parts of the cell you will still have the mental power to read and write down what you read. When students are told this school makes more sense.