[firstdown]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

- The first order of business would be to let the Bush tax cuts expire. Personal tax rates in the U.S. are at their lowest level in nearly 60 years, yet the economy has been as sluggish as it's been in recent history. Based on one study I was reading, the Bush tax cuts cost $2.5 trillion from 2001-2010, add on to that interest payments for another $379 billion because the cuts were deficit financed and not paid for. A drop in the bucket maybe, but still. I'm interested to see if anyone has another number that's different for the same time period.

- The Obama administration has failed miserably at addressing the foreclosure crisis. No discernable policy to keep people in their homes, and more importantly, pressuring the cash rich banks to work with homeowners to stay out of foreclosure. I'm not sure what the exact solution is, but as long as the crisis extends we can forget about any kind of long-term economic recovery.

- We have something like 600 military bases abroad (the exact number may be as high as 700); mostly in Europe and Asia. The cost of operating these bases aren't exactly driving our deficit woes, but bringing home all of that personnel would certainly boost the economy over time and cut costs on the margins. Like others have mentioned, we need to scale back military spending significantly. I think the president has done a good job pushing the START treaty through and reducing the costs we spend on nukes. If he gets re-elected, he should continue to work with Russia to reduce our nuclear arsenal. It goes without saying, it's high time to leave Iraq and Afghanistan.

- In terms of energy. Drilling really doesn't affect gas prices in my opinion. It takes years, nearly ten years, for the produced oil to come online and even then, OPEC plays a major role in inventory and the price of oil. That said, it's a good step but probably scaring off oil speculators more than anything else.

Are we still building Nukes? I don't think they are so that treaty will probably cost money for us before it saves any money.