The GOP Guide to the crazy ideas of Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich
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[QUOTE]Newt Gingrich may capture the Republican nomination. He may not.
But one thing is for sure: Gingrich is an ideas man. And they're not just any ideas. They are big -- really big.
"You're right," Gingrich told his opponents during a recent debate. "I think grandiose thoughts. This is a grandiose country of big people doing big things, and we need leadership prepared to take on big projects."
Here are a few of his "grandiose" ideas for the economy.
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[B]Space Mirrors[/B]
Gingrich's website reveals 19 books authored by the former house speaker on subjects ranging from health care policy to the Battle of Gettysburg.
One not listed: "Window of Opportunity: A Blueprint for the Future," published in the 80s. On the cover, Gingrich is listed as "Chairman of the Congressional Space Caucus."
In the book, Gingrich endorses the idea that a large array of mirrors could provide extra light so as to allow "farmers in high altitudes to plant their wheat earlier."
"A mirror system in space could provide the light equivalent of many full moons so that there would be no need for nighttime lighting of the highways," Gingrich writes, according to an excerpt posted by PolitiFact. "Ambient light covering entire areas could reduce the current danger of criminals lurking in the darkness."
"Mirrors could be arranged to light given metropolitan areas only during particular periods, so there would be darkness late at night for sleeping," he continued.
[/release][release][B]Moon, mars and statehood[/B]
Gingrich wants to go to the moon. And Mars. And build a network of space stations.
And he wants the private sector to do it.
"We will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American." he said last week.
He also resurrected an idea from earlier in his career: "When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon they can petition to become a state."
All the space talk is providing fodder for Gingrich's political rivals, who are skeptical the private industry will devote capital with limited prospects for return on investment.
"If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say' you're fired.'" Mitt Romney said during a recent debate. "The idea that corporate America wants to go off to the moon and build a colony there, it may be a big idea, but it's not a good idea."
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[B]Back to the gold standard[/B]
The United States needs a "commission on gold to look at the whole concept of how do we get back to hard money."
Is that you Ron Paul? Nope. It's Gingrich.
The former Speaker of the House has spoken in favor of a "hard money" policy in the past, but went further in a foreign policy forum in South Carolina in January.
Gingrich would model his "gold commission" after one put in place after Ronald Reagan was elected, when the nation was battling double-digit inflation. Even then, the commission overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a return to the gold standard.
Only two members of the 17-member commission endorsed a return to the gold standard -- and one of them was Paul.
More recently, the University of Chicago posed the same question to a group of 40 economists. None endorsed a return to gold.
"Why tie to gold? Why not 1982 Bordeaux?" quipped Richard Thaler, a professor at the university's Booth School of Business.
[/release][release][B]Employ poor children as school janitors[/B]
The Georgia native floated what he described as an "extraordinarily radical proposal" in November that would allow poor children to find work as janitors in their own schools.
"I tried for years to have a very simple model," Gingrich said. "Most of these schools ought to get rid of their unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school."
Of course, that would run afoul of longstanding laws designed to prohibit the exploitation of children.
Gingrich characterized those laws as "truly stupid."
"It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children, first of all, in child laws, which are truly stupid," he said.
[/release][release][B]Socialists in the CBO[/B]
Gingrich is not a fan of the number crunching policy wonks who work in the Congressional Budget Office.
"The Congressional Budget Office is a reactionary socialist institution which does not believe in economic growth, does not believe in innovation and does not believe in data that it has not internally generated," Gingrich said during a speech in New Hampshire late last year.
The CBO's mission is to provide Congress with information on budgets and the impact that legislation will have on government finances.
Respected by politicians on both sides of the aisle, the CBO acts as an official scorekeeper of sorts on budget issues. The agency is frequently described as "nonpartisan" and "objective."
This reporter was unable to find any CBO employees who would admit ties to the Socialist Party.
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Source: [url]http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/news/economy/1201/gallery.gingrich-economy-ideas/?hpt=hp_t2[/url]
He can't make the moon a US state. Once off the planet its UN territory.
WE cosigned the damn thing.
[QUOTE=Swilly;34478899]He can't make the moon a US state. Once off the planet its UN territory.
WE cosigned the damn thing.[/QUOTE]
We cosigned it, therefore we own it. Duh.
Oh [B]MAN[/B].
I fucking love the idea of a permanent base on the moon, but the second I read "When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon they can petition to become a state." I just started cracking up.
Oh Gingrich.
Does he actually consider the feasibility of these things, or does he just assume it'll happen because he said it?
[QUOTE=QwertySecond;34479779]Does he actually consider the feasibility of these things, or does he just assume it'll happen because he said it?[/QUOTE]
We're not electing him President, we're electing him King of Earth. His second term, we're going to elect him to be a deity.
[QUOTE=Swilly;34478899]He can't make the moon a US state. Once off the planet its UN territory.
WE cosigned the damn thing.[/QUOTE]
All human and no nation ones any celestial body. EACH PERSON OWNS THE UNIVERSE!
[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;34479947]All human and no nation ones any celestial body. EACH PERSON OWNS THE UNIVERSE![/QUOTE]
Makes sense. I did buy a star once from some guy on the radio. Got a certificate and everything! :v:
why are all the nuggets of good ideas coated in manure
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;34480145]why are all the nuggets of good ideas coated in manure[/QUOTE]
Oh that's not manure, that's coprolite, fossilized manure.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;34479894]We're not electing him President, we're electing him King of Earth.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091026094541/half-life/en/images/e/e2/Wallace_Breen_breencast_bust.jpg[/img]
King, administrator... Close enough.
[QUOTE=ewitwins;34479206]Oh [B]MAN[/B].
I fucking love the idea of a permanent base on the moon, but the second I read "When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon they can petition to become a state." I just started cracking up.
Oh Gingrich.[/QUOTE]
That also seems [b]HIGHLY[/b] dangerous.
Think about the cheeseman!
I'll vote for him if he does all this and also makes the Unicorn an endangered species.
[QUOTE]Employ poor children as school janitors[/QUOTE]
Wow, just wow.
My favorite part is when he doesn't explain why we should colonize the moon. He simply wants to colonize there for no foreseeable reason.
What's the point of switching from fiat to gold standard, anyway? The same market forces that change the value of gold already change the value of money. It's better to have the value of currency not be dependent on material goods so that it is less likely to be impacted by dramatic market shifts, such as, say, a gold bubble burst.
[QUOTE][B][I]Space Mirrors[/I][/B][/QUOTE]
I'm sorry, but that actually doesn't sound like that terrible of an idea. I mean, the feasibility is dubious just because of what it would cost to assemble that shit in orbit at present, in addition to fuel, but I have no idea if the light provided by a..."mirror moon" angled at a major metropolitan area would, over several decades, recoup costs. You'd never do it the way he describes it, but just making a large reflective satellite or a few hanging out over the lagrange points isn't a horrible idea.
[quote=Newt Gingrich] "When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon they can petition to become a state." [/quote]
In other news, Newt Gingrich has suggested that Germany becomes a US state.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;34479894]We're not electing him President, we're electing him King of Earth. His second term, we're going to elect him to be a deity.[/QUOTE]
Warhammer 40K anyone?
[QUOTE=ewitwins;34479206]Oh [B]MAN[/B].
I fucking love the idea of a permanent base on the moon, but the second I read "When we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon they can petition to become a state." I just started cracking up.
Oh Gingrich.[/QUOTE]
It isnt the northwest passage, that isnt happening within 8 years. A funcyioning moon base is possible, hell maybe 30 people by 8 years. But his plans are ridiculous, he doesnt understand anything about building and funding a base on the moon, let alone a state.
I want one though, but its going to be for researchers and scientists not others.
Those space mirrors reminds me of the futurama episode where they make a giant mirror to detour the sunlight to cool the earth but it backfires and starts acting like a giant magnifying glass.
The school janitor thing isn't as crazy as it sounds.
My old school in england used to hire students as cleaning support staff.
My sister used to do it, she got paid like £6.50 a day for pushing a mop around for 45 minutes at the end of school.
[QUOTE=NoDachi;34493841]The school janitor thing isn't as crazy as it sounds.
My old school in england used to hire students as cleaning support staff.
My sister used to do it, she got paid like £6.50 a day for pushing a mop around for 45 minutes at the end of school.[/QUOTE]
Remember: as long as all the work is on school grounds, it's not child labor.
[QUOTE=Run&Gun12;34482638]My favorite part is when he doesn't explain why we should colonize the moon. He simply wants to colonize there for no foreseeable reason.[/QUOTE]
Really, we need a reason to colonize the moon? If you say so. It would be a good place to either exile all the American douche-bags, morons, and 1st world whiners. If that's a waste, it could be where everyone else can retreat from said douche-bags, morons, and whiners.
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