Some more things we ought to agree on.....

...beginning from my earlier post, let's build on some other things that all Americans, liberal or conservative, ought to agree on.

11.  Crimes committed by the government--be it the EPA's pollution of the Animas River or the BATFE's infamous "Fast and Furious" program that got 300 Mexican citizens and at least one border patrol agent killed--need to be prosecuted with the same vigor as those committed by non-government employees.

12.  Whether our medical expenses are tax deductible or not should not depend on whether an employer is paying them for us.  Either all are fully deductible, including FICA, or none should be.

(easy way to implement this would be to expand HSAs)

13.  The poor and middle class ought not be forced to subsidize hybrid and electric vehicles for the upper middle class and the wealthy.

14.  The poor and middle class ought not be forced to subsidize child care for the wealthy. 

15.  EPA regulations ought to consider the overall contributors to pollution before singling out one contributor--a great example is proposed ozone regulations that set limits at the environmental background level. 

16.  Calculations of ROI for public transit projects ought to include the capital cost and reasonable opportunity cost/interest, and efficiency calculations ought to include a factor for depreciating the capital necessary to build the project.  This is especially important for light rail projects, where a lot of concrete and steel doesn't move very many people.

17.  Electric car "eMPG" ought to include the conversion efficiency of the power plant, which is typically 30-40%.  (in other words, the Tesla's eMPG is not 89; but rather 30, or really about 20 when you account for the fact that nighttime power generation is done with coal)