Should GMOs be labeled? (HR1599)

“So, I’m for labeling, but think voluntary labeling works better, because it asks companies whether they want to disclose it or not. Because I don’t believe GMOs are inherently more dangerous than their non-GMO counterparts, I don’t think it should be mandatory. So make it voluntary for both sides, so they can either tout that they’re “GMO-free” or that they use “GMOs”. Than, consumers can decide with their dollars which industry they want to support.”

Should airports be required to provide private rooms for nursing mothers? (HR2530)

‘I don’t particularly like when they say things like “would you want to eat in the bathroom?’ No, I don’t want to do that. It is a valid point, though. Public breast-feeding is legally allowed, but not everyone is comfortable doing so in public. This brings about a valid privacy concern.”

Should businesses have stronger trade secret protections? (HR3326)

“If someone has stolen your trade secrets, because they’re trade secrets, there’s a certainty immediacy to it. Once it’s public – well – it’s not a secret anymore.”

Should the Federal Reserve be audited? (S264)

“The Fed just scares me. It has so much influence over our economy, but we don’t really know how it works. Further, there’s just factual items that casts doubt on the legitimacy of the Fed: bill signed on Christmas Eve when many representatives weren’t in DC; income tax instituted the same year; the supposed men who drafted the bill (titans in Finance creating the entity that regulates Finance…); the unusual concentration of bank runs right before the Fed was suggested. If it walks & talks like a bear, is it a bear?”

Should DC residents have easier access to guns? (S874)

“One of the sadder stats to me around guns is the data around suicides. In 2013, we had 11,208 murders using guns. We also had 21,175 suicides using guns. In a 2001 Harvard study, there were 353,613 suicide attempts recorded, of which only 19,849 were from firearms (5.6%). Yet, 55% of suicide deaths were due to firearms (17k out of 31k total deaths).”

Should we have paid sick days? (S497)

“This shows what I don’t like about pure market capitalism, that we would have to legislate something like this. Without compassion within capitalism, where the quality of life is put above pure profits, you need to legislate things like paid sick days.”

Should the names of major donors be disclosed on political ads? (HR2125)

“What Polinav would do if successful is to significantly reduce the impact of money on elections. In that case, I would want to help keep the privacy of those who help pay for these ads. However, in the current political climate where money actually has a lot of influence in the political process, I would want disclosure on who’s paying for them.”

Should former Congress members be prohibited from lobbying Congress? (HR1740)

“In a perfectly moral society, of course, lobbying & Congress could work hand in hand, but there’s just too many opportunities where personal gain can take precedence over the good of the people. It’s also one of those situations where representatives can rationalize giving in to corporations by how little they’re giving up; but the problem becomes how much in aggregate it affects the whole system.”

Should generic drug price increases within Medicaid be limited to inflation? (S1364)

“The reason the prices of these generic drugs have risen is because they can and within a free market economy, of course we should let them! They’ve bought out (or merged with) the competition, so it’s either their drug or nothing else, so they can charge whatever they want for it! They’ve earned the right, according to the free market…but, the big question then becomes whether we want that with our healthcare or not?”

Figuring it all out.

the musings of a hopeful entrepreneur

Month: January 2016