America has always been a nation of people with great ideas and yet we sometimes come up with some really bad ones.\u00a0 The following are just a couple examples of what I consider to be good ideas compared to bad.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that most of you can think of many others, but these two have been eating at me for a few days now so I thought I would share them.<\/p>\n
BAD IDEA<\/b><\/p>\n
In response to the twelve mass shootings in America in 2012, not the least of which being the school shooting just before Christmas, some people want to arm teachers, while others want to put armed guards in every school so that if a gunman shows up, there is also someone on the school grounds with a gun to shoot back.\u00a0 The folks who subscribe to this view say that if teachers or someone else in the school were armed that an intruder would possibly turn tale and run when confronted or worse case be shot by the armed school personnel.\u00a0 Sounds like a really good idea right?\u00a0 Maybe, maybe not!\u00a0 What happens when someone shows up at a school and a gun battle between the good guys and bad guys breaks out?\u00a0 Ever heard of Friendly Fire?\u00a0 Friendly Fire happens when bystanders get caught in the cross fire between combatants or the person on your team takes a bullet from your gun or you from theirs in the melee.\u00a0 What happens if a group of kids get caught in the crossfire between combatants?\u00a0 Better still, what happens when a fight breaks out in a Junior High or High School and one of the parties takes a swipe at the teacher or security guard with a gun and that person feels threatened?\u00a0 Is it ok for them to shoot the unarmed student?\u00a0 I can see scenarios where someone takes a gun away from the armed person and now you\u2019ve really got problems.\u00a0 No matter how well intentioned, arming someone inside a school or on school grounds is a really bad idea!<\/p>\n
As long as we\u2019re talking about the bad ideas when it comes to guns, the thought that we can regulate our way out of this box is also a bad idea.\u00a0 There are five times as many guns as people in America, so if we banned the sale of all guns today there would still be plenty of guns to go around.\u00a0 There is no doubt that some sort of regulation is going to pass congress, but realistically that isn\u2019t going to fix the problem anymore than arming teachers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
GOOD IDEA<\/b><\/p>\n
I recently saw a segment on Good Morning America about a school in a Chicago suburb that appears to have security measures in place that are significantly less costly and appear to work better than turning someone with a gun loose in a school.\u00a0 This school has a security buzzer on the front door with bullet resistant glass in it and everyone attempting to enter the school has to buzz at the exterior doo.\u00a0 When the buzzer sounds, a person inside the school ask the person to hold their ID up to a video camera and state their business through the intercom system.\u00a0 If the person has a valid reason for being at the school, they are buzzed into the second layer of security where they provide a clerical person with a copy of their ID which is scanned into a computer prior to allowing them into the school.\u00a0 In addition to these security measures the school has security cameras in every hallway and every classroom.\u00a0 Classroom doors can be locked from inside the room which allows the teacher to lock intruders out if necessary.\u00a0 This may not be the total answer, but I assure you it\u2019s a significantly better solution than putting people with guns in schools.<\/p>\n
BAD IDEA<\/b> – Social Security Tax Reduction<\/p>\n
On January 1st<\/sup> of this year, the Social Security and Medicare tax returned to 15.3% and all you saw were news stories about how everyone\u2019s taxes were going up.\u00a0 The truth is that until two years ago when president Obama and the congress thought it would be a good idea to lower the rate by 2%, I don\u2019t ever remember a time when the tax wasn\u2019t 15.3%.\u00a0 As an employee you pay 7.65% and your employer pays the other 7.65% totaling the full 15.3%.\u00a0 One would think that in a country where we\u2019re constantly arguing about Social Security and Medicare solvency that those running the country would realize that it wasn\u2019t a good idea to take billions out of the system by lowing the tax rate for two years but that\u2019s what happens when we elect panderers.\u00a0 We all liked the extra few bucks in our pay checks but how much difference did that small amount really make?\u00a0 Reducing what we pay in Social Security was just a bad idea, but in a country where we like our free stuff, we\u2019ll take whatever we can get right!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n GOOD IDEA<\/b><\/p>\n Rather than lowering the tax rate on Social Security in an effort to pander to people, here\u2019s a novel idea! Stop borrowing from the trust fund and pay back what has already been borrowed over the last 30 years.\u00a0 If congress would just do that, there wouldn\u2019t be a shortfall and we wouldn\u2019t have to worry about the system going broke.\u00a0 And while you\u2019re at it, let\u2019s kick all of the people collecting Social Security Disability who aren\u2019t really disabled off the system.\u00a0 I guarantee that every one of us can think of at least one or two people collecting disability who could work if they really wanted to.\u00a0 Last summer I hired a guy to mow the lawn at an apartment building that I own, he asked me to pay him in cash because he didn\u2019t want to mess up his disability check from SS.\u00a0 Not only did I not pay him in cash, I just mailed his ass a 1099 for the wages I paid him!\u00a0 Can you say good bye disability check?<\/p>\n I\u2019M JUST SAYIN<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" America has always been a nation of people with great ideas and yet we sometimes come up with some really bad ones.\u00a0 The following are just a couple examples of what I consider to be good ideas compared to bad.\u00a0 … Continue reading