Potential POTUS candidates in 2016:
Ben Carson, doctor, possessing huge amounts of common sense, no political experience (like current POTUS).
Hilary Clinton, sham, possessing no amount of common sense, lots of political experience that was used to escape Whitewater, Vince Foster death, Benghazi, and claim residency in NY to reach the Senate, because Arkansans know better..
Sarah Palin, whom, by Obama's record these past six years, apparently has more common sense than originally given credit for
Mitt Romney who apparently can't find work elsewhere.
Donald Trump, who at least has run a corporation of fair size, so he would be knowledgeable about tax code loopholes, hiring independent contractors instead of full-time workers that would deserve benefits and a living wage.

Man, I hope someone else declares

Picking up snippets of POTUS SOTU speech. (I love govt. talk)

Never heard the phrase "living wage jobs" mentioned, just that the unemployment rate is, allegedly, dropping.

Living wage jobs return when we drop the robotics trend and return manufacturing to America. Technology has put so many people out of work it isn't funny. I know that last sentence could spark a healthy debate.

Free community college. Hmm. Kicker to that is the state will have to contribute. Fat chance. They won't contribute to healthcare, which affects far more folks.

Combat in Afghanistan is over, except for those 15k troops we still have there. Pretty sure they aren't handing out candy.

Most of America's problems gathered under one roof last night. The Supreme Court, in bed with Big Business. The House and Senate, stuck with centuries-old operating rules and traditions that bind them from any real substantial change for the better. A President unable to lead. All three branches standing there in front of each other, smiling. Why? 545 people charged with the responsibility of running the affairs for a porous country of 312m, depending on how many illegals entered last night. How hard is this?

The gulf between the lower and upper classes in America probably has never been this wide. Forget the middle class that once tidily supported both, it is gone. Gone. In its place we seem to have a structure in which the rich on Wall St. get richer by buying companies, splitting them up, laying off the employees, and making a killing on the stock prices. The profit from having created nothing but misery for those directly affected, is then placed in off-shore bank accounts, using every available tax loophole on the books. A second set of books NOT for show to the govt is always a good idea, too.

We seem to have a structure whereby the balance of power among our three branches of fed. govt seems to have all but disappeared. Congress refuses to work with the President, who must then cut Executive Orders to get much of anything done; and over at the Court, the Nine Blind Mice are kowtowing to Big Business and rolling back nearly every law passed, that attempted to eliminate Jim Crow. Our schools are more segregated than before. Campaign contribution limits have been removed. In other words, the 3-branch system of checks and balances has failed all of us.

We fix a crumbling infrastructure by: not sending $6B from a supposedly empty U.S. Treasury, to fight Ebola on another continent somewhere. At the same time, our govt found millions for police cameras, though their court-worthiness seems in question; and millions to house thousands of illegals on our military bases. In the meantime, our homeless, our mentally ill, our poor wander the streets looking for food shelter, clothing, hope, opportunity.

In the meantime, our Congress passed last Spring, a comprehensive Farm Bill that, oh by the way, cut $8B from the Food Stamp Program, while continuing an 80 year old program to pay farmers not to grow crops. There is your partial answer to fixing social welfare for you.

In the meantime, you and I are subsidizing Big Oil, farmers both corporate and family, and yes, even Wal-Mart ($7.8B for them alone. Go figure)

In the meantime, Sandy Hook storm survivors are not being given grants from their own govt to re-build what insurance won't cover, but rather are being given loans they cannot afford to begin to pay back. Foreign aid to countries who hate us cotinues, however.

Schools continue to lay off staff, yet remain bulky in overhead depts. On this side of the river, Il has 862 school districts. That is an avg of somewhere in the vicinity of $80k annual salary for each superintendent, plus secretaries, asst. supts. and their secretaries, their office buildings, parking lots, fences, office supplies, cars, computers, software, etc. Here in Clinton Co., there are 12 such districts, for just, count 'em, 20 schools. One of those 12 districts is bemoaning laying off staff, but refuses to consdier consolidation down to say, 4 districts. The savings of the 8 supts'. positions alone would be about $640k annually. But, nope, no one wants to change the status quo. Around here, a citizen's group is going to try for the fourth time this coming Spring, to raise local taxes instead. Amazing.

I taught in AZ for the last 10 of my 20 years in that state. Property taxes there are roughly a fourth of what they are in IL. Teacher salaries are abysmal, teacher turnover rate is high, and student achievement is low. AZ schools have also had state funds withheld and re-directed elsewhere, for years. Their most recent example was in their news last week, when it was revealed the statehouse folks found over $800k to spend on new furnishings.

Fix the infrastructure? Fund schools properly? Better government? All possible. Without citizen involvement and state and national leadership consisting of mostly common sense, nothing will change. We all will sit here next Dec shaking our heads at the year just concluded, bemoaning the facts that nothing changed, nothing improved.

Just my opinion, of course.