Sharing Thoughts and Ideas - 2019 and newer

  Fraud in Minnesota state programs is an issue that is brought up frequently while I am visiting voters at the door. Eliminating fraud must be stopped. As a first step to educate myself, I conducted the ChatGPT.com inquiry pasted below. Much may already be done to control fraud by the time I take office in January 2027, but rest assured, this will continue to be one of my key issues while bringing our state expenses to match our revenues that the state collects. That said, it is premature to speculate exactly what improvements will still be needed by 2027. However, had I been in office earlier this year, I would have joined the bipartisan group of Senators who successfully passed the bill that would have created an independent office of Inspector General to root out fraud. Unfortunately, the bill died in the House due to united DFL opposition pushed by Gov. Walz. While it is critical to set up our systems to prevent fraud from happening in the first place, it is also critical to e...

With the large and growing U.S. national debt and continued annual budget deficits, we will ultimately need to make policy changes. While some of the reduction in the deficits might be done by reducing programs and efficiencies, it is likely that there would need to be some tax increases. So, that raises the question of what kind of taxes could be raised. Trump is attempting to raise taxes on U.S. citizens by increasing taxes through tariffs (although he may mistakenly believe that the other countries are paying the tariffs). In another post, I raise the possibility that the U.S. could adopt the Value Added Tax (VAT) as most European countries do. So, that raises the question of how two different types of taxes that could be paid by Americans (the VAT and tariffs) compare and contrast. The following Chatgpt.com prompts on August 1 may be of interest. Food for thought on the national scene. Prompt: Compare and contrast the value added tax and tariffs for who indirectly and ultimately pa...