Several countries, including Finland, India and Brazil, have experimented with a UBI system but have not implemented a permanent program. Proponents of UBI argue that it will reduce or eliminate poverty by providing everyone with a basic income to cover housing and food. In May , the Obama Administration announced new regulations that would increase the number of American entitled to receive time-and-a-half overtime pay.
The Labor department estimates that 4. Labor unions represent workers in many industries in the United States. Their role is to bargain over wages, benefits, working conditions for their membership. A farm subsidy is a form of financial aid paid to farmers by the government. The purpose of the aid can be to supplement their income or influence the cost and supply of agricultural products. In March , the Carrier air conditioning company announced it would move 1, jobs from the U.
In November U. Proponents argue that the deal prevented jobs from moving overseas and will help grow the U. An offshore or foreign bank account is a bank account you have outside of your country of residence. The benefits of an offshore bank account include tax reduction, privacy, currency diversification, asset protection from lawsuits, and reducing your political risk. In April , Wikileaks released The document exposed how world leaders and wealthy individuals hide money in secret offshore tax shelters.
The release of the documents renewed proposals for laws banning the use of offshore accounts and tax havens. Proponents of the of the ban argue they should be outlawed because they have a long history of being vehicles for tax evasion, money laundering, illicit arms dealing and funding terrorism. A tariff is a tax on imports or exports between countries. The proposed tariffs would increase the cost of aluminum and steel imports into the United States. In promoting the plan, Trump predicted that the tariffs would revive the U.
Supporters of the tariffs argue that U. Supporters note that governments in countries like Japan and China provide subsidies to manufacturers. These subsidies, they argue, allow the manufacturers to then undercut the price of U. Supporters include Republicans and Democrats from the Midwest and unions who represent factory workers. Opponents argue that the tariffs will hurt U. Capital gains are the profits earned from the the sale of stocks, bonds and properties. Supporters of the increase argue that capital gains should be taxed like any other income and should be raised to at least Opponents of an increase argue that taxing capital gains will discourage investments in the U.
Most local governments in the United States impose a property tax as a principal source of revenue. This tax may be imposed on real estate or personal property. The tax is nearly always computed as the fair market value of the property times an assessment ratio times a tax rate. Values are determined by local officials, and may be disputed by property owners. A primary advantage of a property tax over a sales tax or income tax is that the revenue always equals the tax levy, unlike the other taxes, which can result in shortfalls producing budget deficits.
The property tax always produces the required revenue for municipalities' tax levies. In 5, estates in the U. The Federal Reserve is the central banking system of the US government. An audit would determine if the accounting records the bank makes public are true and give Congress an insight into how the bank is run. A tariff is a tax levied on the import and exports of goods in international trade.
The China - U. Proponents of tariffs argue that China breaks trade rules by subsidizing its exports, manipulating its currency and stealing intellectual property from the U. Opponents argue that tariffs will cause a dramatic rise in the cost of goods for U. An economic stimulus is a monetary or fiscal policy enacted by governments with the intent of stabilizing their economies during a fiscal crisis. The policies include an increase in government spending on infrastructure, tax cuts and lowering interest rates. In response to the financial crisis Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of The Act included increased spending on energy, infrastructure, education, health and unemployment benefits.
Bitcoin is a type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank. Bitcoins are stored in a digital wallet, which is like a virtual bank account that allows users to send or receive bitcoins and pay for goods or services.
When the government employee retires they are able to receive periodic payments from the fund in order to support themselves. As the birth rate continues to fall and the life expectancy rises governments worldwide are predicting funding shortfalls for pensioners. Total unfunded pension liability for all U.
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The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade deal that would make it easier for American companies to sell their goods and services in Pacific Rim countries. The deal will benefit American service companies who will be able to open up operations in Asian and South American countries. Opponents argue that this bill will incentivize US companies to move service and manufacturing jobs overseas.
Online retailers would be responsible for collecting the taxes and distributing them to state and local governments. Proponents of the bill include brick and mortar retailers who argue that exempting online retailers from sales taxes penalizes traditional stores who are forced to charge customers higher prices due to cover the tax.
Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers should treat all data on the internet equally. Proponents of net neutrality laws argue that they balance the rights and duties of individuals, governments and corporations, while ensuring that the Internet continues to be an open and decentralized network. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings caused several states and cities to pass strict gun control measures. In response, state lawmakers in gun friendly states in the South and West passed bills that would strengthen Stand Your Ground laws and allow weapons in most public places.
In , 21 states passed laws that expanded the rights of gun owners allowing them to possess firearms in churches, bars, schools and college campuses. The federal government has not passed any gun control measures since the Brady Bill and 42 states now allow the possession of assault rifles.
Affirmative action is a policy that encourages the increased representation of members of a minority group. In , Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act which banned the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain drugs. The act ranked drugs by their potential for abuse and placed them into five categories.
Two of the most widely used drugs in the U. Ballot measures in several states including Colorado, Washington and Oregon have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. After the March 22nd terrorist attacks in Belgium, Republican U.
Shortly after, Senate Democrats introduced a measure that would have restricted anyone on the federal terrorism watch list, also known as the no-fly list, from being able to purchase firearms in the U. In , the U. Senate rejected a Constitutional Amendment which would have allowed Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the burning or desecration of the U.
A term limit is a law that limits the amount of time a political representative may hold an elected office. The law protects gun manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products. The law was passed in response to a series of lawsuits filed against the gun industry in the late s which claimed gun-makers and sellers were not doing enough to prevent crimes committed with their products. Proponents of the law argue that lawsuits will discourage gun manufacturers from supplying stores who sell guns that end up being used in violent crimes.
House of Representatives Judiciary committee that they censor content for political reasons. During the hearing Republican members of Congress criticized the social media companies for politically motivated practices in removing some content, a charge the companies rejected. Under a provision of the Patriot Act the NSA is allowed to collect phone metadata — the numbers, time stamps, and duration of a call, but not its actual content.
Opponents include civil liberties advocates and Senator Rand Paul who argue that the collection is unconstitutional since it is done without a warrant. Currently, the redistricting of congressional boundaries is controlled by state legislature every ten years. Gerrymandering is the redrawing of districts with the intent of benefiting a political party. It is most often implemented by state political parties with the intent of marginalizing districts of voters who represent the minority party.
To gain extra seats, the incumbent party will redraw voting districts so that voters of the minority party will be grouped into smaller districts with less seats. Critics of gerrymandering say these practices allow incumbent representatives to choose their voters instead of voters choosing them. Eminent domain is the power of a state or a national government to take private property for public use. It can be legislatively delegated by state governments to municipalities, government subdivisions, or even to private persons or corporations, when they are authorized to exercise the functions of public character.
Opponents, including Conservatives and Libertarians in New Hampshire, oppose giving the government the power to seize property for private projects, like casinos. Former Florida Governor Bush recently told CBS News that the current basic retirement age of 65 needs to go to 68 or 70 as a way to sustain Social Security for those now under The Social Security retirement age is based on a sliding scale which takes into account when the recipient was born and whether they want to retire early in return for a reduction in monthly benefits.
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The current age to begin receiving benefits is set at 65 for those born prior to Under current law, it rises gradually to age 67 for those born in or later. Air Force announced that it had selected Boeing to build the next generation of Air Force One aircraft. Two new aircraft will be built and will enter service in The defense department estimates that the two new planes will cost U.
In December , President-elect Donald Trump announced that costs for the project were out of control and he would cancel the plane order once he took office. Edward Snowden is a former National Security Agency contractor who turned over classified documents revealing a board global surveillance program previously unknown to anyone outside the intelligence community. The proposed plan would use tax credits to finance individual insurance purchases and cut federal payments to states which have been used to expand Medicaid.
They demanded that the new plan should remove the ACA requirement that health insurers could not discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions. Under the ACA health insurers cannot deny coverage or charge higher premiums to individuals who have pre-existing conditions.
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Opponents argue that the requirement will raise costs for insurers and cause them to drop out of the ACA healthcare exchange. In September of , US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released a proposal that would create an oversight panel that would protect U. Proponents of drug price regulation argue that drug makers raise prices to benefit the value of their stock and invest little of their profits in the development and research of new drugs. Opponents of regulation argue that consumers rely on drug companies to develop new drugs and limiting prices will prevent new lifesaving drugs from being developed.
The Affordable Care Act is a federal statute signed into law in that introduces a sweeping overhaul of the nation's healthcare system. The act grants the federal government significant regulatory powers and price controls over U.
Single-payer healthcare is a system where every citizen pays the government to provide core healthcare services for all residents. Under this system the government may provide the care themselves or pay a private healthcare provider to do so. In a single-payer system all residents receive healthcare regardless of age, income or health status. Countries with single-payer healthcare systems include the U. When the Affordable Care Act Obamacare was enacted in it required all states to expand their Medicaid programs to include people with incomes slightly higher than those allowed under traditional Medicaid, as well as groups, like childless adults, that had not previously been covered.
In the Supreme Court ruled that forcing States to expand their Medicaid coverage was unconstitutional. Since then 22 states have expanded their coverage and more than 35 have opted not to do so. Proponents of the expansion argue that it will lower healthcare costs for everyone by reducing the number of Americans without health insurance. In , officials in the U. In 64, people died in the U. To combat the epidemic cities including Vancouver, BC and Sydney, AUS opened safe havens where addicts can inject drugs under the supervision of medical professionals. The safe havens reduce the overdose death rate by insuring the addicted patients are given drugs that are not contaminated or poisoned.
Since 5, people have overdosed at a safe haven in Sydney, Australia but no one has died. Proponents argue that the safe havens are the only proven solution to lower the overdose fatality rate and prevent the spread of diseases like HIV-AIDS. In January , the Trump administration announced that it would allow U. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that helps with medical costs for low-income Americans. Each state determines its own requirements for Medicaid eligibility. In most states children from low-income households, pregnant women and low-income seniors are covered.
Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, like nursing home care and personal care services. The government is currently prohibited by law from negotiating drug prices for Medicare. Medicare Part D is a federal government program which subsidizes the costs of prescriptions drugs for people enrolled in Medicare. Opponents of Medicare Part D argue that it should be changed to allow the federal government to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies.
Last Spring the U. Proponents argue that current student loan interest rates are nearly double normal interest rates and should be lowered to provide relief for millions of low-income borrowers. The Common Core State Standards Initiative is an education initiative that details what K students should know in English and Math at the end of each grade.
Charter schools are tax payer funded K schools that are managed by private companies. Charter schools are approved and governed by city, county or state governments. Beneficiaries of private schools include real-estate investors who typically own the buildings and land where the schools are housed. Opponents of charter schools argue that they take money away from the public education system and enrich private companies and real estate investors who own the land where the schools are built.
Proponents argue that students in charter schools consistently have higher test scores than public school students and note that there are millions of students across the U. Military service is not required in the U. The organization's objectives include promoting peace and security, protecting human rights and the environment and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict. President Obama recently declared that the U. Those in favor of accepting refugees believe that the U. Opponents argue that the U.
After the September 11, terror attacks the George W. The authorization approved the use of many techniques including beatings, binding in stress positions, hooding, sleep deprivation and waterboarding. In President Obama signed an executive order banning the use torture by the U. In the use of torture became a topic during the Presidential race when candidate Donald Trump suggested it should be used against the Islamic State. Opponents of torture argue that the U. Foreign electoral interventions are attempts by governments, covertly or overtly, to influence elections in another country.
A study by Dov H. Levin concluded that the country intervening in most foreign elections was the United States with 81 interventions, followed by Russia including the former Soviet Union with 36 interventions from to In July U. Representative Ro Khanna introduced an amendment that would have prevented U. The amendment would ban U.
Opponents argue that the amendment would send a message to other foreign countries that the U. In , the George W. Bush administration issued the Torture Memos which argued for a narrow definition of torture under U. In January of , North Korea announced that it detonated its first hydrogen bomb. CBS News reported that the U. The blast was in single-digit kilotons, and a thermonuclear device is measured in megatons.
Proponents of military strikes argue that North Korea crossed a line with its latest test and must be stopped at all costs. Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles deployed by U. In December President Obama ordered the restoration of full democratic relations with Cuba. Proponents of relations with Cuba argue that U. The declaration would give the President more authority to carry out broader attacks on the militant group without Congressional approval. Opponents argue that the order would give the President too much power by eliminating Congressional oversight. After the November 13th attacks in Paris several Presidential candidates gave new positions on how the U.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4th, One of the most celebrated of those ideas is Time, Death and Judgment , a large canvas which hangs in the Watts Gallery, built by Watts in the Surrey countryside, where he lived during the last part of his life. Judgment takes the form of a monumental female figure armed with a set of scales to weigh the souls of all-comers. The idea was to provide moral succour to a roiling East End populace that was about to be plunged into further horror by Jack the Ripper.
This sort of painterly preachiness was wearing thin by the dawn of the new century. Its implacable Grim Reaper is unmoved by wealth, youth or beauty but offers a peaceful end to those in pain. A painting such as Mammon shows Watts pushing beyond his earlier sculptural realism to test how far he can warp and stretch the human form. In addition, the surfaces of Watts paintings are often scarred and ridged, as if pulling away from the flat canvas. It is exactly this continuation that struck president of the RA Christopher Le Brun , when, as a young artist in the early s, he first encountered Watts after making the pilgrimage to the Watts Gallery in Surrey.
For a period in the s, Watts even abandoned allegory in favour of urgent social realism. The Irish Famine depicts a young family evicted from their home. In at the age of 46 he married the year-old actor Ellen Terry, who had been his model. In his Pygmalion fantasy, Watts would take a beautiful working-class girl and educate her into ladyhood. But Terry was too difficult, too interesting and above all too talented to be saved from herself.
After 10 awkward months in a hothouse marriage, she left Watts and embarked on the business of becoming the preeminent Shakespearean actor of her age. The turbulence of that time did at least produce what remains for many the most exquisite painting Watts ever produced.