Cartwright—The solutions are very simple. First, we need to impose a special gasoline tax on every gallon of gasoline and diesel sold in America. This tax should be punitive. In this instance, yes, you should be punished for your behavior. I’ve long promoted the benefits of higher gasoline prices at the pump. You have people driving less, capital gets invested in alternative energy and alternative transportation means, with fewer cars on the road there will likely be fewer accidents which should lower insurance premiums, and of course pollution is reduced. I’ll gladly pay eight or nine dollars per gallon if it means there are fewer crazy drivers on the road every day and at the same time it helps clean up the air. Continue reading
Category Archives: Thinking Outside The Boxe Symposium
Symposium 2015: Should federal anti-gaming legislation be scrapped?
Cartwright—My right honorable friend here just said it. Legalize it and let government at the local, state, and federal levels tax it. We can’t legislate morality, and I find it quite hypocritical that many states allow people to buy lottery tickets but they don’t allow casinos. Isn’t the lottery considered gambling? Isn’t the lottery a game of chance? Let’s legalize gambling and let the casino operators build casinos where they see fit and where it’s economically feasible for them. This is good business, and it’s good for communities. Each casino in Las Vegas averages over 2,000 employees each. I know there are plenty of communities throughout the United States that would love to have someone come in and create a couple thousand jobs. Continue reading
Symposium 2015: Is it time to end the current Social Security program for citizens under the age of 18?
Cartwright—I’m not suggesting we end benefits for children who are under eighteen and currently receiving survivor benefits until they are eighteen. I don’t think that’s the point of the question. However, I do favor telling people under eighteen that they will not have social security when they reach retirement age and encouraging them to start saving on their own at an early age. There’s no doubt that the current Social Security system is broken and unsustainable. Let’s remember that Social Security wasn’t intended to be a long-term programme to supply for everyone when they reached retirement age. Somewhere along the way the idea of personal responsibility got put by the wayside in favor of another big government, socialist entitlement programme. I recognize that it’s helped a lot of retirees over the years; it’s helped relatives of mine who wouldn’t have been able to survive in retirement without it. Continue reading
Symposium 2015: In light of recent terrorist attacks, should the federal government increase domestic surveillance? How far should a domestic surveillance program be allowed to go?
Cartwright—If you use Facebook or Google or Apple or Amazon and you have a problem with domestic surveillance, you’re out of touch with reality. Facebook, Google, and your cell phone provider know about you and what you do than Uncle Sam does. Do you think the federal government is listening in to the phone calls of nearly 400 million people in America? That’s not happening, but is Google tracking your every move on the internet? You bet your ass they are. Ever get pop-up ads for something you looked at on Amazon a week ago? Think that’s a coincidence? Think again. They know what you’re looking at online. They know what you like, what you want, what your habits and patterns are. They know all this about you. Your cell phone provider may even know where you are right at this moment. Does Uncle Sam know that you looked at a pair of shoes on Amazon last week? Probably not. Continue reading
Symposium 2015: Should the federal government increase progressive taxation or the federal minimum wage as a way to address income inequality?
Cartwright—Neither! Income inequality and the efforts to address this issue are typical socialist arguments and policy initiatives. It’s not for the federal government to redistribute wealth though the Democrats would certainly like nothing more than to legislate income equality via redistribution of wealth. What politicians and those who want income equality fail to understand is that you can’t tax your way to prosperity. At some point, they rich are going to take their money and go somewhere else or worse. They aren’t going to sit idly by while the federal government continues to take more and more from them and punishing them for being successful. Continue reading
How can we hold parents accountable for their children?
If children don’t know how to act in public, it’s because the parents have failed to teach them and to discipline them. This could be a function of just pure ineptitude of the parents or perhaps their parents didn’t teach them. Parents are ultimately responsible for their children’s behavior, and there are really no excuses. There’s no way to penalize the parents as a means of holding them accountable for their kids per se. I think there are several points to make here. Continue reading
Digger Cartwright 