Join and support Laurence Kotlikoff for President

Our country is in deep trouble and our politicians are making things worse. It's time for bold new leadership to fix America.

Issues

Relations With China

China's population is four times that of the United States, and China has the world's second largest economy. Yes, China is still a developing country, whose living standard is less than one fifth ours. But output per person is growing at a tremendous rate. As a result, China will inevitably become the world's largest economy.

Tax Reform

Our tax system is terribly unfair, horribly inefficient, incredibly complex, and designed to discourage work and saving. It needs to be replaced from the ground up. The Purple Tax Plan described at www.thepurpletaxplan.org replaces the federal corporate income tax, the federal personal income tax, and the federal estate and gift tax with a highly progressive consumption tax and a highly progressive inheritance tax. It also makes the payroll tax highly progressive.

Fixing Healthcare

Everyone needs a basic health insurance plan, and government (federal and state) needs to be directly involved in providing it. But our four government healthcare programs -- the tax subsidy to employer-based healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid, and the new health exchanges -- are driving us broke.

Fixing Social Security

Social Security is America's most cherished public policy. But the system is in grave financial trouble that can no longer be ignored. Indeed, Social Security is in worse financial shape now than in 1983 when the Greenspan Commission "fixed" the system's finances. According to the Social Security Trustees (see Table IVB6 in the 2011 Trustees Report), the system is 29 percent underfunded, notwithstanding its $2.6 trillion Trust Fund.

Energy and the Environment

America's excessive dependence on dirty energy, i.e., gasoline, oil, coal, and natural gas must end. It is damaging our health and that of our children and gravely threatening our planet's climate and future. Our dependence on foreign oil is funding our enemies, entrapping us in costly military adventures, and contributing to our massive trade deficit. Moreover, high oil prices are sustaining autocracies in Iran, Saudia Arabia, Russia, Venezuela, and other countries.

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Why Kotlikoff in 2012?

Our country's problems are severe and getting worse. No candidate has all the answers. But the problems we face are primarily economic ones and may be better addressed by someone who has spent his life focused on our economic problems and their solutions. No economist has, to my knowledge, ever run for President. In recent years, we've had a nuclear engineer, an actor, two businessmen, and two lawyers. In their hands, the economy has done very poorly on a number of critical dimensions. In particular, none has come to grips with the country's long-term fiscal insolvency.

We've also been very badly served by the two parties' primary concern -- obtaining and maintaining power. This may work for them, but it's certainly not working for us. It's time to elect someone with fresh, bold ideas that will appeal to all segments of society -- someone with the courage to both articulate and implement what's really needed to fix America.