Change.

• Zid wrote on 2010-12-22 23:46

  Quote from Humility;257258:

  - What do you think the biggest problem with the United states is?

  
  
  Economy and the diverting of funds into less-than-needed places.
  
  

  Quote from Humility;257258:

  - How can it be fixed?

  
  
  I'm no economist (I barely passed that class). But at the state it's in, I really can't think of a simple start other than stopping some fundings.
  
  

  Quote from Humility;257258:

  - What are some things that REALLY need to be changed?

  
  
  How we view the government, and what we should be expecting. The taxes need to be reconsidered too.
  
  

  Quote from Humility;257258:

  Bonus : what's your definition of freedom?
  what are the limits?

  
  
  Freedom means...
  
  Well, this is just my opinion, but it's just the expression of your personality without fear of being silenced, but within respectable bounds. Has to be a proper and respected expression though (Let's not yell a false alarm "Fire!" in the concert again, folks).
• wolfram wrote on 2010-12-23 16:59

  Quote from Osayidan;257969:

  I saw a documentary about some economist guy who investigated the total revenues of each city/state that he could get his hands on. I forgot the name of the document he requested from them but they usually don't just hand it out, I think he had to use some social engineering to get it, it has all the tax and other revenues for the city/state. He did the math with what he was able to get and the numbers were ridiculous.
  
  Just individual states like new york and california were generating more revenue than the GDP, but none of that revenue was reported. I think I fell asleep while watching it so I don't have much details D:
  Would be interesting to find it again.

  
  
  Actually all government bodies in the United States have to compile a comprehensive annual financial report of all revenues and expenditures. It is freely available to anyone, but most likely they'll just link it in their website and require you to print it out. Honestly its just a very thick book full of numbers, that would put anyone to sleep, if you tried to read every page.
  
  Let me redefine that, if government ever loans, gives, or grants you money, you are required to publish an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for every fiscal year that you accept the monies and for it to be publicly available upon request.
  
  They even have to list what went wrong financially, what risk they are willing to take, if anything is being done to minimize that risk. Plus they need a 3rd party to review the Report before it can be published.
• Teaberry wrote on 2010-12-24 02:05
  - What do you think the biggest problem with the United states is?
  
  Congress. More specifically, how dysfunctional it is. We can't fix anything else until Congress is in line. Not a single thing. Seriously, when was the last time you turned on the news and saw that Congress was doing something good for America? (The health care 'reform' is debatable.)
  
  - How can it be fixed?
  
  Stop the bipartisan bull****. No, really. The media isn't helping, turning everything into an extreme left or extreme right view with exaggerated facts and interviews. The right has Glenn Beck and Fox News, while the left has Keith Olbermann and Prison Planet/Info Wars, etc. It's the same exact thing on both sides and it isn't helping a bit towards getting our government back into something that works.
  
  Democracy is already one of the slowest forms of government. We need to stop making it even slower with party bickering and do what's right.
  
  - What are some things that REALLY need to be changed?
  
  Everything that stands in stark contrast to our constitution. All the bills that take away our liberties, all the laws that put certain people above the law. Our public representatives need to start representing us instead of becoming the voice of the rich. So long as America is run by capitalism (not even a form a government, seriously?) instead of democracy we're pretty much a corporatocracy. (SN: Eff you spell check, it's a word.)
  
  Now, I'm not a politician, nor am I a polysci major, so I really don't know the particulars here. I just know that 'we the people' have seemingly lost our voice and it's a bad thing. A very bad thing.
  
  
  Bonus : what's your definition of freedom?
  what are the limits?
  
  That's a question I couldn't even begin to answer right now, so I'll leave this quote:
  

  Quote from Ben Franklin:

  They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  The definition of freedom can be a gray area, but the fact that we've forfeited our right to it is pretty clear. We've done nothing but give up 'essential liberties' in the hysteria of 9/11.