Entries in the Category "The Economy"
A conservative solution to America's health insurance problems
America has a problem. Not everyone can get health insurance. I have a plan that takes a common sense approach to health coverage in America. Our nation can solve this problem without having to create an inefficient government program. In order to best understand my plan, one must understand my perspective as a college student, why government run universal health care cannot work, and my plan to fix America’s health insurance system.
First of all, one must view this problem through my perspective in order to best understand my thinking. I am 21 years old. I am a college student working towards an undergraduate degree in engineering. I also have a chronic medical condition called Crohn’s disease that requires a bimonthly IV treatment. This treatment can cost in upwards of $7,000 dollars an infusion. This boils down $42,000 a year. Right now insurance covers it. However, I will no longer be eligible for my parents’ medical insurance once I reach the age of 23 years old. I will not graduate until I am 24. There is a program called COBRA that allows me to extend that coverage, but one can only utilize this program for two years. This means that I would have a lapse in coverage if I were to pursue a more advanced degree. I cannot afford a $40,000 education and $42,000 in medical bills, so a graduate degree is completely out of the question for me. My problems would not stop at the end of that lapse in coverage. Assuming I can somehow come up with the money to pay for my treatment throughout a graduate degree program, after six months off of insurance, my Crohn’s disease will be a pre-existing condition. This means that even when I graduate and get insured, I will have to wait a year for my new insurance to even begin to cover any medical expenses related to the disease.
Hillary Clinton and John Kerry are always talking up a universal health care program. That sounds so perfect. Under their plan everyone would have free medical insurance. No one would have to pay for any prescriptions, hospital visits, or surgeries. This sounds great to the casual observer; however, upon further examination, it is far less beneficial than it sounds. First of all, taxes would have to be raised astronomically to fund such a program. This would place even more burden on domestic businesses where it is already difficult to compete in a global economy with current taxes and regulations. It would be even more difficult to compete because more taxes would further increase the cost for product development and production. More importantly, a universal health care system would disrupt the most powerful medical system in the world. Right now, hospitals are competing to provide the most advanced treatments to draw customers. If a socialized health care system is put in place, competition would be replaced with government regulations. This would greatly hinder future advances in medicine. Most importantly, this would result in patients receiving the cheapest treatments and not the best treatments. This is clear in the treatment of Crohn’s disease in Canada where the health care system is socialized. The government will not pay for the regular IV treatments that I receive. They will only pay for much cheaper treatments like prednisone. While prednisone is only twenty dollars, it can destroy one’s bones and liver. It also can lead to extreme anger, mood swings, weight gain, acne, glaucoma, ulcers, abdominal pain, cataracts, insomnia, horrible infections, diabetes, and hypertension. Even with all those side effects, it only works in some cases. In my case, my body did not respond to it at all. With the treatment that I am currently receiving, Remicade, I have been nearly symptom free for almost five years. Some people from Canada are so desperate to get Remicade treatments that they travel to the Cleveland Clinic to receive treatments at their own expense. This is not acceptable. I cannot even imagine having to live without my medication. My life would be absolutely miserable.
I have a plan that could fix the problem with health care without having to socialize it. The concept is quite simple. The biggest problem with America’s health insurance system is the necessity to be part of a group to get affordable coverage. As a college student, once I am off my parents’ coverage, I have nowhere to turn to. Even if I wanted to pay a premium rate, I could not get coverage. My plan would effectively get rid of that problem. The expected outcome is to allow United States citizens to purchase an individual, affordable health insurance plan through a private company. In order to accomplish that, the federal or state congress will first determine minimal standards for two types of coverage: minimal coverage and premium coverage. After that is set, they will set up a linear tax cut system. This system would provide a certain amount of tax relief to health insurance companies who provide individual plans that meet the standards set. The system would be linear because the amount of tax relief would be proportional to the number of people insured. This would encourage competition between the insurance companies to receive the maximum tax break. Competition ensures the best value for the consumers. It is also necessary for the government to require that the company offer the two plans for the same price to all members. This will help to ensure that people with chronic conditions will be able to afford coverage as well. It is necessary that a dialog take place to determine what level of tax cuts are necessary for the insurance companies to participate.
This plan would create and utilize the same capitalistic environment that has made our country such a great and powerful nation. This would make insurance companies compete for tax breaks. Any time companies are competing, the consumer wins. This would allow any citizen of the United States of America to get health coverage at an affordable rate without the creation of an inefficient government program. With the available coverage, the life expectancy and overall health of our nation will likely improve. The tax cuts provided to the insurance companies would also help to improve economic conditions. It would put money back into our economy to help create economic growth. The most important thing about this plan is that all of these results could be achieved without disrupting the operation of our globally superior medical institutions.
A conservative solution America's health insurance problems
America has a problem. Not everyone can get health insurance. I have a plan that takes a common sense approach to health coverage in America. Our nation can solve this problem without having to create an inefficient government program. In order to best understand my plan, one must understand my perspective as a college student, why government run universal health care cannot work, and my plan to fix America’s health insurance system.
First of all, one must view this problem through my perspective in order to best understand my thinking. I am 21 years old. I am a college student working towards an undergraduate degree in engineering. I also have a chronic medical condition called Crohn’s disease that requires a bimonthly IV treatment. This treatment can cost in upwards of $7,000 dollars an infusion. This boils down $42,000 a year. Right now insurance covers it. However, I will no longer be eligible for my parents’ medical insurance once I reach the age of 23 years old. I will not graduate until I am 24. There is a program called COBRA that allows me to extend that coverage, but one can only utilize this program for two years. This means that I would have a lapse in coverage if I were to pursue a more advanced degree. I cannot afford a $40,000 education and $42,000 in medical bills, so a graduate degree is completely out of the question for me. My problems would not stop at the end of that lapse in coverage. Assuming I can somehow come up with the money to pay for my treatment throughout a graduate degree program, after six months off of insurance, my Crohn’s disease will be a pre-existing condition. This means that even when I graduate and get insured, I will have to wait a year for my new insurance to even begin to cover any medical expenses related to the disease.
Hillary Clinton and John Kerry are always talking up a universal health care program. That sounds so perfect. Under their plan everyone would have free medical insurance. No one would have to pay for any prescriptions, hospital visits, or surgeries. This sounds great to the casual observer; however, upon further examination, it is far less beneficial than it sounds. First of all, taxes would have to be raised astronomically to fund such a program. This would place even more burden on domestic businesses where it is already difficult to compete in a global economy with current taxes and regulations. It would be even more difficult to compete because more taxes would further increase the cost for product development and production. More importantly, a universal health care system would disrupt the most powerful medical system in the world. Right now, hospitals are competing to provide the most advanced treatments to draw customers. If a socialized health care system is put in place, competition would be replaced with government regulations. This would greatly hinder future advances in medicine. Most importantly, this would result in patients receiving the cheapest treatments and not the best treatments. This is clear in the treatment of Crohn’s disease in Canada where the health care system is socialized. The government will not pay for the regular IV treatments that I receive. They will only pay for much cheaper treatments like prednisone. While prednisone is only twenty dollars, it can destroy one’s bones and liver. It also can lead to extreme anger, mood swings, weight gain, acne, glaucoma, ulcers, abdominal pain, cataracts, insomnia, horrible infections, diabetes, and hypertension. Even with all those side effects, it only works in some cases. In my case, my body did not respond to it at all. With the treatment that I am currently receiving, Remicade, I have been nearly symptom free for almost five years. Some people from Canada are so desperate to get Remicade treatments that they travel to the Cleveland Clinic to receive treatments at their own expense. This is not acceptable. I cannot even imagine having to live without my medication. My life would be absolutely miserable.
I have a plan that could fix the problem with health care without having to socialize it. The concept is quite simple. The biggest problem with America’s health insurance system is the necessity to be part of a group to get affordable coverage. As a college student, once I am off my parents’ coverage, I have nowhere to turn to. Even if I wanted to pay a premium rate, I could not get coverage. My plan would effectively get rid of that problem. The expected outcome is to allow United States citizens to purchase an individual, affordable health insurance plan through a private company. In order to accomplish that, the federal or state congress will first determine minimal standards for two types of coverage: minimal coverage and premium coverage. After that is set, they will set up a linear tax cut system. This system would provide a certain amount of tax relief to health insurance companies who provide individual plans that meet the standards set. The system would be linear because the amount of tax relief would be proportional to the number of people insured. This would encourage competition between the insurance companies to receive the maximum tax break. Competition ensures the best value for the consumers. It is also necessary for the government to require that the company offer the two plans for the same price to all members. This will help to ensure that people with chronic conditions will be able to afford coverage as well. It is necessary that a dialog take place to determine what level of tax cuts are necessary for the insurance companies to participate.
This plan would create and utilize the same capitalistic environment that has made our country such a great and powerful nation. This would make insurance companies compete for tax breaks. Any time companies are competing, the consumer wins. This would allow any citizen of the United States of America to get health coverage at an affordable rate without the creation of an inefficient government program. With the available coverage, the life expectancy and overall health of our nation will likely improve. The tax cuts provided to the insurance companies would also help to improve economic conditions. It would put money back into our economy to help create economic growth. The most important thing about this plan is that all of these results could be achieved without disrupting the operation of our globally superior medical institutions.
The trade deficit can be fixed
The trade deficit can be fixed, but not by democrats. Let’s face it… it’s cheaper to make things in China. American products are too expensive to make. The only way we are going to even out the deficit is by lowering taxes. Products made in the USA are taxed at all stages of the game that makes it difficult to compete in the global economy. That is why we need to maintain a republican majority in this year’s congressional elections. We also need to take this into account in 2008. We need to elect someone which a conservative backbone who will stand by the principles of conservatism by cutting taxes and cutting spending.
Tax Cuts Bring in More Tax Revenue AGAIN!
It's funny how this always works... Taxes get cut... then tax revenues go up. This is MORE proof that the tax cuts are working. The New York Times has reported that the deficit has shrunk by 100 billion dollars despite the War in Iraq and the Hurricane Katrina recovery. This is NOT the first time this has happened. This is a recurring trend. Taxes are cut... total taxes collected goes up. That is what happens when the economy improves from tax cuts. Why is it that the Democrats always just want to raise taxes? Why can they not be more open minded? Once the budget is balanced, we can use the increased tax revenue from tax cuts to fund more tax cuts. If we can convince congress to reduce spending more and further reduce the size the government, we can then afford to cut taxes even more. Tax cuts are key to the success of our economy domestically and especially internationally. We will be much stronger competitors on the world market if we can reduce the tax burden on our businesses. You want to stop outsourcing? I sure do. I am going to be a Computer Engineer. Computer Engineering jobs are being shipped to India and China on a daily basis. There is a solution to this problem and it’s nothing the democrats can do with their political thinking. The only way the companies will stop leaving this country is if we reduce the tax burden so that they can afford to pay their American employees.
121,000 new jobs in June!
Employers boosted payrolls by 121,000 in June! This is higher than last month's reported numbers. How can anyone say that our economy is bad when the unemployment rate is at 4.6% (about as low as it can go), we are creating new jobs every month, and every other economic indicator indicates a growing and stable economy? What does it take for an economy to be "strong" in the eyes of a liberal? I know the answer! When a democrat is in office to take credit for it. Sorry libs... your cover is being blown... our economy is awesome and you can't pretend it isn't anymore.
Economy grows at 5.6%!
Amid implication that the economy is not growing anymore, the GDP is up by 5.6%, the biggest gain in 2.5 years. People need to realize that one cannot say the economy is bad because the unemployment level has not dropped. The natural unemployment rate is around 5% in the US. In a healthy US economy, there is an unemployment rate around 5% as there is right now. Basically, there are always people between jobs. Once one dips below the natural unemployment rate, inflation will take over. That is one reason why we are seeing some mild inflation right now. We have reached that threshold of natural unemployment. Everyone is looking for the “boom” of the 90’s. That is not good for the long term. A healthy unemployment rate around 5% will ensure long term economic prosperity.
Senator Voinovich votes AGAINST removal of death tax
Senator Voinovich was one of only two Republicans (the other being Chafee (RI)) to vote against the removal of the death tax. Way to show your true colors. Since he is part of my district, I call for a new candidate to run in his place. I am sick of his liberal votes. I don't see how he calls himself a Republican. He is not conservative at all. He is independent at best.
BIGGEST GDP GROWTH IN 2.5 YEARS!
THE ECONOMY IS BOOMING! The 1st quarter GDP growth was the fastest in 2.5 years at a whopping 5.3%. The economy keeps showing more and more signs of strength. Remember that it posted these numbers despite high energy prices. It will be interesting to see if the liberals ever acknowledge the fact that Bush’s economic strategy worked. I encourage you to look at the article. It follows the same liberal media template that all positive economic articles follow. A positive first, random negative economic news second… However, it is becoming harder and harder for the liberal press to actually find negative economic data. The time may come where they don’t have anything negative to report if the Republicans can gain a CONSERVATIVE majority in the senate or at least maintain their Republican majority. I’m telling you… the democrats are in for a big surprise come November. When people go to the polls… their wallets will speak. The economy is strong just as the support for the Republicans will be.
NEW HOMES SALES JUMP! (wait.... wasn't this a bubble?)
The housing markets continue to go against the liberal media's pessimistic forecasts as the housing markets take a jump up this month.
The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes increased by 4.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.198 million units, the highest rate since last December.
Now I want you to read this article. I find it ridiculous how the media CANNOT report any good economic news without digging for the one obscure economic that is not reporting good numbers. It's funny how they're bringing up manufacturing in an article about new homes.
Liberal media template for good economy outlooks:
1) BRIEFLY state what is good.
2) Find the 3 out of 1,000,000 things about the economy that are actually bad and talk about those to make sure the last thing the reader sees is how bad our economy is.
That can only hide if for so long. Come November, the American people will vote with their wallets. Despite GOP problems, the Republicans will not lose their majority in the house or senate because our economy is ROLLING!
Our conservative voice is being heard by President Bush!
According to this article President Bush has threatened to veto the 106 Billion dollar war and Katrina bill. He has finally admitted that congress is spending WAY TOO MUCH! I am hoping that this is a trend that will continue. To ensure this, we must stand united and voice our opinion. The Republicans want to get re-elected. If they want our votes (the fiscal conservatives), they must make us happy. They haven't yet... but it is starting to show promise.
The $106bn Senate emergency spending bill is $15bn larger than legislation already approved by the House of Representatives. It includes many items that opponents say should not be included in emergency legislation, such as $4bn in farm subsidies and $700m for what has been dubbed Mississippi's "Road to Nowhere", a project favoured by the state's senators to relocate a recently repaired railroad line.
In a statement issued on Tuesday night, the White House said Mr Bush would not approve the legislation if it exceeds $92.2bn, a target that would require the Senate to cut some $14bn from the bill.
All I have to say... is it's about time Bush is strong enough to stand up against the pork barrel spending in Congress.
Oil prices up... but what should the government do about it?
Did you know that taxes account for 25-35% of gas prices? Here is the most obvious example I could find. It is a few years old, but the taxes remain about the same so it doesn't matter. This one is based on 1.60 a gallon.
Now... everyone is complaining about gas prices... what if those taxes went away? We would be paying 2 dollars a gallon. Do you realize the government actually makes MORE MONEY than the oil industry off a gallon of gas? The government loves to point the finger at "big oil." The real problem is "big government." The democrats want to tax anything and everything. I think that they should have a price breakdown for a gallon of gas at every pump. I wonder if the citizens would vote for a democrat ever again...
It is so ridiculous that they are blaming "big oil." First of all... let me remind you that the government makes more money than the oil industry. Second of all, do they realize how capitalism works? If we want the price to go down (ignoring the ridiculous taxes), the only way is to cut demand. As the prices go up... America will switch to more fuel efficient cars. This will lower the demand and bring the prices down. America needs to realize that the oil companies are in this business to MAKE MONEY. If you buy less of their product because of the high prices... they will lower the price. It's how capitalism works.
I find it funny how they target the oil business. What about the cigarette industry? Their corporate higher-ups probably make just as much money. Why aren't they questioning them?....For the same reason why they talk about fixing the "gas problem." They want to collect the taxes on their products.
What does all of this mean? We need to lower taxes in a lot of places. The Bush tax cuts were a good start. Granted, we need to cut spending too... but it's a start. Taxes are strangling our economy. I think the next tax cut should be on gasoline. It is totally ridiculous that the government is making more money of gas than the oil companies.
What happened to the 10 point contract with america?
What happened to the contract with America? Back in the 90's the republicans called for fiscal responsibility... now with a president and congress that is republican for the first time since then... we have a huge deficit. We passed a ridiculous highway bill... have a new cabinet department... have accepted that FIMA pays for everything...
article
Graham and Schumer postpone foolish china tariff bill
This bill that has been proposed by Schumer and Graham is one of the most foolish bills to hit the senate floor in a while. We are a government promoting free trade. Why are we even thinking about putting tariffs on a country that we trade with on such a large scale? It is China's cheap prices that allow almost all Americans to have fancy electronics and other luxuries in their home.
How can we promote free trade when we are passing legislation that does the opposite? If we put tariffs on their stuff... they will retaliate by penalizing our businesses with tariffs. This is not a good idea.
MORE GOOD NEWS FOR THE ECONOMY
The US economy is reaching full employment. This article paints a pretty picture of post graduation job placement.
article
BILL Clinton supports the UAE port deal
It turns out Bill Clinton advised the UAE company on how to tame the fears of politicians like his wife. Even though I hate to admit it... Bill Clinton is right sometimes. One thing this does show is that it's not Bush. I know you Dems love Clinton like us Republicans love Reagan... so you should respect his stance on this matter.
Bill Clinton, former US president, advised top officials from Dubai two weeks ago on how to address growing US concerns over the acquisition of five US container terminals by DP World.
Mr Clinton, who this week called the United Arab Emirates a “good ally to America”, advised Dubai’s leaders to propose a 45-day delay to allow for an intensive investigation of the acquisition, according to his spokesman.
Line Item Veto Will Help Cut Spending
There has been one big problem in congress lately... piggybacking spending bills. They have been repeatedly lumping foolish spending with crucial spending. This could be fixed by giving the president the right to use a line item veto. This would allow him to veto parts of spending bills so that congress cannot piggyback worthless spending on crucial bills. I am not a constitutional scholar... but I believe that this would require an amendment.
It is time for the Republicans to use their economic principles
It is time for the Republicans to use their majority. As Republicans, we worked hard in 2004 to get a majority in congress and a Republican president. We were pitched the traditional Republican economics... small government... low spending... less taxes. Since 2004, there has been MINIMAL reduced spending. It is time for the Republicans to do what we put them in office to do... cut spending and cut taxes. They need to realize that it will be unpopular amongst the people who voted democrat. However, the same majority that elected them in 2004 will re-elect them in 2006 and 2008 if they follow through. George Bush is not innocent on this. He needs to put the democrat created scandals behind him and rally the troops. He needs to demand reductions in social programs and other spending. He needs to veto anything like the highway bill that comes to his desk. If the Republicans do not follow their economic principles, 2006 and 2008 could be a lot closer than it should be.
Economists predict economy to roar in 2006
I find it hilarious how the AFB is handling this story. This is a very optimistic forcast... yet... of course... the article has to end with the few negative things presented. They say that there is only a 15% chance our economy will start the downward swing in 2006 and only 25% that it will occur in 2007. The economists are seeing that our economy is resilient. Our forth quarter was weakened by disasters... however the economy has recovered. The economic outlook is excelent. The Bush economics are working.
Isn't the housing boom supposed to end?
There has been ANOTHER record high set for housing construction in January.
Oil Companies post biggest profits ever
Ah... the beauty of capitalism. Supply + demand = price. The demand drops... so does the price. Of course... everyone is going to complain that they have to pay 2.25 a gallon to run their SUV's... but they are the problem. The beauty of capitalism is that if as a nation, we conserve gas more, the price will go down. SUVs getting 0.000005 miles per gallon make the demand much higher. Rather than complaining to Congress trying to get them to take a Communist stance on gas, Americans should buy more efficient cars. This will lower the price in the long run.
Can the government help? Yes. We need to increase domestic drilling and refining. We haven't built a new refinery in many years. We need to drill in ANWR... I know the tree huggers hate it... but if you look at the statistics...The Caribou population has NOT decreased around the other pipelines. There are mounting political tensions with Iran that can greatly reduce our supply. The population has actually increased. The fact of the matter is, we need to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Our economy will be more stable.
Yet ANOTHER positive economic indicator
Once again we have reached a statistical milestone with our economy. How long will it take for the liberals in America to accept that Bush's economic plan is working?
The number of U.S. workers making new claims for unemployment benefits tumbled unexpectedly last week to 271,000, their lowest level in nearly six years, the government said on Thursday in a report suggesting a robust la
Bush's economic strategy proves to be right after dow hits 11,000 for first time since 9/11
Here is yet ANOTHER indicator that our economy is booming.
The economy IS booming....
I received much criticism about saying that our economy is booming... WAKE UP! As much as the liberal media tries to downplay it, the economy grew 4.3 percent in the 3rd quarter. link to article
"GDP reading shows economy humming at a solid clip with few signs that inflation's a major problem."- CNN.com
New Home Sales Unexpectedly Surge in Oct.
Online Sales Surged on 'Cyber Monday,' Visa Says
How can people complain about our economy? We had a disastrous hurricane season and our economy was resilient and it is still booming.
Who says our economy is bad?
Billions of dollars of welfare down the drain!
Poverty rates have remained steady around twelve percent for the past twenty years (http://www.census.gov). Social programs like welfare have been funded by the Federal Government throughout all of these years. According to the programs philosophies, the rate should be dropping. It is time we stop pouring money into a hopeless cause. It is time for a readjustment of strategy.
There are many reasons why welfare related programs do not work. In some cases welfare can be a good thing. There are people who legitimately need it. However, while the idea of giving tax money to the poor looks great on paper, the welfare system provides no motivation to get off the system. Part of the reason for this is that welfare provides no means of getting out of poverty. It provides temporary financial assistance, but it does nothing to prevent poverty in the future. This becomes a problem because it does not address the causes for the poverty in the first place. Welfare is a short term fix with little to address the long term.
One of the biggest problems is that welfare does not control how money is spent. A welfare recipient who is poor because of an addiction to drugs or gambling could simply purchase drugs or gamble with it. Nothing is stopping them from doing that. These programs do not address the issues causing the problems. It just merely supplies money to fuel them.
By far the biggest problem is that the next generation in a poor family on welfare is often trapped by the culture of poverty. In some cases, people choose to stay on welfare rather than getting a job since it is more convenient. While this is not a commonplace, it does occur. When this happens, the children see their parent or parents putting food on the table without having to hold a job. Since children tend to learn demeanors from their parents, this can lead them to believe that they should not have to work for their money either. A similar problem is that a lot of parents living legitimately on welfare cannot provide the same path to success for their children as a wealthier family. There are some programs that help for this; however, it is still difficult for a child to become successful coming out of a financially unsuccessful family. As one can see, it is not easy to get out of the welfare loop if one is born into it.
There are new strategies that we need to implement to fix the problems with welfare. It should not be eradicated all together. Welfare should remain, but it should be greatly reduced from its current form. First of all, there needs to be protections so that the money is spent wisely. The current system just gives a check that can be cashed and spent on anything. An excellent solution to this would be a debit card that can be spent on only certain things. Social programs like food stamps have already implemented a similar system to prevent misuse. Implementation of this would prevent the poor from using their funds on things that are not necessary.
The way that the budgets are configured for these programs also needs revisiting. As of right now, the budget goes up by a given percentage every year. It needs to be an “as needed” increase instead of being independent of enrollment. This would promote more responsible distribution and management of funds.
The most important aspect of the new system is its long term strategy. It is necessary that the maximum time spent on welfare is reduced. In order to make this possible, an exit strategy must be formulated. The best way to accomplish this is a two part plan. First it is necessary to use a portion of money saved by the proposed reduced spending to offer more tax incentives to business and tax cuts to the citizens. This will result in economic growth just as George W. Bush’s tax cuts turned the recession into a period of economic growth in record time (it was the shortest recession on record). This economic growth would create jobs. To ensure that the poor are qualified for these jobs, the second part of my plan will be implemented. The other portion of the money saved must be spent on expansion programs similar to the Pell Grants (grants that help pay for college). The only way we are going to beat poverty is to give the children of poor families the same opportunities to succeed as the wealthy.
The new strategy is a shift from the old short term Band-Aid fix. However, a Band-Aid cannot heal the wounds that currently exist. The only way to fix the problem of poverty is to shrink the short term fixes and expand the fixes that are geared for long term. Educating the poor will help them come out of poverty and sustain their own financial well-being. This is why the strategy should shift from welfare to a more education oriented, fiscally conservative, and economic growth centric approach. Reduced spending, reduced taxes, and increased educational assistance is the answer to poverty.
One thing is clear. The current system is not functioning. The poverty rates have been holding steady despite fifty years of the welfare approach. Agree or disagree with my solution, it is clear that the current system is not working and it is time for change.