Jeff Bell Blog

The Republican party must lead an initiative to completely reform the immigration law and policy for the United States .  This new law would make it very clear that if you want to become a citizen, then you apply for a temporary work visa, and upon receipt will pay federal income, social security and medicaid taxes. You will be eligible for Medicaid. If after 5 years of employment, without any convictions, the person passes language and citizenship tests, they will be granted full citizenship. I would allow all persons in the USA who entered illegally to immediately be enrolled in this program with two years eliminated from the 5 year element. The Republican Party must champion a  comprehensive Household Tax Reform . The goal is that every citizen pay , excluding only the very old and the very poor, and that those who can pay more should do so without compulsion nor punishment, but rather obligation. This policy must borrow from the simplicity of the Flat Tax and the pr...

My facebook page has been the home of some wonderful debates about our nation and our President. I would like to offer some thoughts about some fundamental "truisms" that seem to be at the core of the challenges we face today. My overall point is that the majority of Americans oppose big and growing government. They oppose high taxes to support big government. Why? Because we value freedom and competition. 1. America is a capitalist and consumerist society. People make choices everyday in a very competitive marketplace for the products and services they want and need. In my lifetime, competition has exploded in every industry -- transportation, food, technolgy, financial services. As consumers and capitalists, the majority of Americans do not believe the federal government provides good value for money. To be very clear, the majority of Americans do not believe that the taxes they pay are effectively nor efficiently spent to provide services they need and want. Inde...

The U.S. Housing market became a "bubble" for the following reason -- people who could not afford the down payment nor the mortgage payment of the home were allowed to borrow anyway. Banking institutions then packaged these mortgages and sold them to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So how did this happen? The United States Government -- Executive Branch since Clinton, and the Legislature -- has promoted home ownership by lowering the financial requirements. In the 1980's, over 80% of homes had a 20% cash downpayment required with a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. By 1992, with the Community Reinvestment Act, Banks were not just ALLOWED to accept 15%, then 10% then 5% then no downpayment, then were told they could generate the loan and then sell it to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Let me go further...Banks were now only allowed to offer variable rate mortgages, but they were encouraged to market products which ASSUMED home price appreciation and a growing economy (because it ...

1. The majority of Americans (hereafter "we") wanted to exit Iraq because it was not clear what we were doing. It is still not clear and there is no certainty of exit. 2. We wanted to get out of Afghanistan, but we now have another Bush/McCain “surge" of 30,000 troops. Even Jon Stewart believes there is little difference between the two on National Security. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnYDOAAHfFo 3. We did not trust President Bush because he had a very small inner circle of advisors. See http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b6b4700a-10fb-11df-9a9e-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1 Barack Obama is even worse. Now there are calls for the ouster of Axelrod, Gibbs, Jarrett and Emanuel. 4. Related to #3, we all felt that Bush was a huge disappointment in NOT being bi-partisan. But Obama is even more partisan than Bush! When was the last time President Obama criticized Congress? Not the Republican Congress, but Congress in general? When was the last time he said he support...

I remember seeing Barack Obama speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I was impressed. I also recall seeing him again in 2006, and can proudly say that on my birthday, professed a belief that he would be a bona fide candidate for the U.S. Presidency. My brother did not agree with me, and I respect his opinion as a teacher of civics, political science and history. As it turns out, I was right. For the past eight years, I have been very disappointed in George W. Bush. I thought he would be a consensus builder, maybe even a healer, after the eight years of bickering during the Clinton Administration. I must admit that I was very bothered by the scandals (Monica, Jennifer, etc.) because I believe in the honor of the Presidency and that beyond what any single administration can do, it must represent the ideals of our society. I was also bothered, however, by the viciousness of the politics during Clinton's two terms. I have to believe in hindsight that this was caused by th...